Facebook Plea To Stop Taliban Taking Helmand

The southern Afghanistan province where hundreds of British troops were killed is "on the brink" of falling to the Taliban, according to a senior official.

Helmand's deputy governor Mohammad Jan Rasulyar took the unusual step of writing a public plea to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Facebook, warning of the need to take urgent action, following two days of intense fighting which cost the lives of dozens of members of the security forces.

He wrote: "We don't provide food and ammunition to our forces on time, do not evacuate our wounded and martyred soldiers from the battle field, and foreign forces only watch the situation from their bases and don't provide support."

Mr Rasulyar said around 90 soldiers had been killed in fighting near Gereshk, which is near the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah, where British forces had one of their bases.

He described these losses as "an everyday issue" and said there had been a further 44 casualties overnight in Sangin, which was "on the verge of collapse".

In 2006, British troops began an operation to take Helmand from the Taliban and the region, one of Afghanistan's poorest, became the focus of their 13-year stay in the country.

After Britain pulled out late last year, however, the Afghan Security Forces were left largely fighting alone.
Despite extensive training by US and British forces, many doubted their ability to hold the province, which had previously been a Taliban stronghold and the centre of Afghanistan's opium production.

While the Afghan army and police have been weakened by desertions and a lack of supplies, the Taliban has attacked checkpoints, conducted a suicide attack on Gereshk's police chief, and captured the districts of Musa Qalah and Now Zad in Helmand's north.

If Helmand was to fall, it would deliver a massive blow to the government's claim it is keeping the Taliban insurgency under control.

A spokesman for Afghanistan's Army, Mohammad Rasool Zazai, insisted Helmand would never collapse.
Police chief Abul Rahman Sarjang said there are "strong forces" in the province, added they sometimes left areas "for tactical reasons".

He said: "Very soon, we will have major achievements to report."
Underlining the gravity of the situation, US special forces have been reported to have taken part in fighting in Helmand in recent weeks. NATO headquarters in Kabul has not confirmed the reports.

A Pentagon report to Congress last week highlighted major shortcomings with Afghan security forces, despite billions of dollars of foreign aid and training.

Air Drop Warns Ramadi Residents To Leave

The Iraqi military leaflets advised people living in the city that they should depart within 72 hours.

An army officer told Reuters: "It is an indication that a major military operation to retake the city centre will start soon."
 
Last week, Iraqi armed forces said they had made major advances in the vicinity of Ramadi and were now operating on its edge.
They took a key military base from fighters on the western edge of the city after attacking them on two fronts.

Analysts estimate there are between 250 and 300 IS militants in the centre of Ramadi.
The Iraqi forces have been backed up in their fight in Anbar province by coalition airstrikes.
RAF Tornados have been involved in providing close air support in and around Ramadi.

It is not known if coalition jets are likely to be involved in any future planned operation.
The United States and its allies staged 20 strikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria on Friday, including one near the Iraqi city of Fallujah.
The US admitted the latter strike is being investigated as a possible friendly fire incident.

The vast majority of Friday's strikes were carried out against IS in Iraq, with targets near five other cities including Ramadi involved.
Iraq's defence minister Khaled al Obeidi predicted on Saturday that security forces would retake full control of Ramadi by the end of the year.

Man Dies After Being Sucked Into Jet Engine

A man working for Air India has died after being sucked into a jet engine after a "mishap".

The freak accident happened as the plane pushed back for take-off at Mumbai airport, the airline said.
It reportedly happened after the co-pilot of flight Al 619 to the southern city of Hyderabad mistook a signal from ground staff and started the engine.

Maintenance man Ravi Subramanian, who was standing close by, was sucked into the engine and died instantly.
India's national carrier said on Twitter that he had "died in a mishap during pushback of flight AI 619".
The airline sent its "heartfelt condolences" to the man's family and its boss, Ashwani Lohani, said he was "deeply saddened".
A source told the Hindustan Times: "At the moment, we are absolutely clueless on how this person was near the aircraft.

"Only an inquiry can establish whose negligence it was and whether the engine should have been switched on at that time."

The state-run carrier, which has not reported an annual profit since 2007, has been troubled recently by a number of technical glitches and other awkward incidents, including staff turning up late for flights.
The airline made headlines in April when it was forced to ground two of its pilots after the pair started to fight just before take off.

The latest incident comes a week after a turboprop plane owned by budget carrier SpiceJet skidded as it hit a group of wild boars as it came in to land at Jabalpur airport in central India.

Blatter And Platini To Learn Fate After FIFA Probe

Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini will discover whether they are to face lengthy bans from football today when the FIFA ethics committee announces its judgement on allegations of corruption against them.

The FIFA and UEFA presidents, both currently provisionally suspended from football, face multi-year and possibly life bans following an investigation into the circumstances of a £1.35m payment made by Blatter to Platini.

Both men say the payment, which is also the subject of a Swiss criminal investigation, was for consultancy work carried out by Platini for Blatter between 1998 and 2002.

It was not made until February 2011 however, nine years after the work ended, and just three months before a FIFA Presidential election in which Platini, then UEFA president, supported Blatter.

According to Platini's lawyers, the investigatory chamber of the FIFA ethics committee has recommended that both men face bans of around seven years, rising to life if the adjudicatory chamber, chaired by German judge Hans Joachim Eckert, views the payment as corrupt.

Judge Eckert held personal hearings for both men at FIFA headquarters in Zurich last week.
Blatter attended his for around eight hours on Thursday. Platini boycotted his hearing on Friday, describing it as a farce, but his lawyers argued his case for more than nine hours.

If found guilty, both can appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, with Platini already committed to clearing his name in order that he can stand in the FIFA presidential election in February.
Platini claims that he agreed a CHF1m a-year contract with Blatter but was paid only half of that amount at the time, because FIFA was in financial trouble.

He says he then forgot to invoice for the balance until nine years later.
Blatter says he agreed the deal in a verbal contract and that the payment was legitimate.
The deal came to light as part of a criminal investigation by the Swiss attorney general into the award of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournaments.

In a statement Blatter's lawyer, Richard Cullen, said: "President Blatter looks forward to a decision in his favour, because the evidence requires it."

"President Blatter behaved properly and certainly did not violate FIFA’s code of ethics. This investigation should be closed and the suspension lifted," Mr Cullen added.
Blatter is scheduled to hold a news conference in Zurich at 10am GMT, around the time the verdicts are expected.

Platini's lawyer said: "Mr Platini is innocent. That is what we have evidenced to the commission today through witness testimony and a number of other evidences. Now we are hoping that the ethics commission will render the law."

Ancelotti IN, Guardiola OUT: Have Bayern just acquired their Champions League golden ticket?

Bayern Munich have announced Pep Guardiola will leave at the end of the season with Carlo Ancelotti ready to step into his place as coach. Bayern won’t be getting a man like Pep - who has single-handedly redefined the sport on a tactical and strategic level. They will, however, be taking on a very capable replacement who might just be able to deliver what has eluded Pep over the course of his two seasons in charge – the Champions League title.

Pep was initially signed for more than just trophies; he was signed to forge and direct a new top-down football philosophy at Bayern but departs only one measly contract into what Bayern had hoped would be a dynasty. He’s taken the first team on light-years tactically and he’s brought through players but will Pep have done for Bayern by June what Johann Cruyff did in his time at Barcelona? That is impossible. Bayern will not be able to hand over the reins to a Pep disciple and carry on, like Barca did with the late Tito Vilanova.

What, then, has the Pep era brought to Bayern? Remarkable as it may sound, the world’s pre-eminent tactician still has people to convince. The reason is understandable. Given their budget and competitive advantage over the rest of the Bundesliga, the German league title is taken as a near certainty before a ball is kicked in Bavaria - every season. Roughly it goes that Bayern win one and someone else wins it every two years. Indeed, it needs to be a terrible season for them to lose it.

Instead, despite its vagaries and fortune, the Champions League title is the one by which Bayern and their rivals are measured. Win it and they’ve done well; lose it and they haven’t. It’s blunt but accurate for the European super clubs.

Nobody is saying that Ancelotti is a more innovative coach than Guardiola but Bayern are effectively swapping a man who can as good as guarantee the league title for one who gives them a better shot at the Champions League. In the absence of a permanent Pep, one who would associate his name with Bayern forever, that is the best they can do.

Barcelona went on to win the trophy last season after battering Bayern out of sight in the semi-finals. The season before it was Ancelotti-coached Real Madrid who would also go on to claim the cup after beating Bayern convincingly in the last four.

Ancelotti demonstrated in those games that the football vision or philosophy he has is flexible enough to deal with the opponent on the night. He was content to leave the ball to Bayern and attempt to pick off them on the counter. That was an opposite approach to the one he usually used in La Liga. It worked. Pep lost himself in the second leg and Bayern melted down.

Having won the Bundesliga title as early as March with an away win at Hertha Berlin, Pep celebrated long into the night and ceded to his players’ demands for a day off. Then Bayern went soft. They won the league so early that they psychologically clocked out. They dropped points left right and centre in the Bundesliga and were smashed by Real. Pep’s ability to smother an entire league campaign worked against him as his players had long since given up before the semis. Perversely, that’s not a fear for a team coached by Ancelotti.

For him, league titles are a little harder to come by than Pep. He has won only three in his 20-odd years as a coach compared to Pep’s five. The Italian has, though, won three Champions League titles too. As ratios go, that one is pretty rare in the modern game.

Ancelotti’s methods might well be better suited to the vicissitudes of knockout football than the unrelenting monotony of a league campaign. He is a coach whose strengths lie in man-management; making players feel comfortable, at ease, and content to play their own game.

This kind of psychological disarmament is best applied in the Champions League where sometimes players need to be wound down before a big game instead of being wound up. Brian Clough, for example, encouraged his Nottingham Forest players to drink beer on the coach towards the 1979 European Cup final. They won.

Ancelotti left a lasting impact among the players in his last job to the extent that Cristiano Ronaldo described him lately as a big "cute bear" who he missed a lot. James Rodriguez, Sergio Ramos, Marcelo, Toni Kroos and others all publically declared their sadness at his exit. That sort of devotion brought glory to Real, and elsewhere in Ancelotti’s career, and could stand him well in his next assignment at Bayern.

The Champions League is the title Bayern crave above all other. Guardiola will have one more shot at it before he goes. There is plenty of respect for Pep in that Bayern dressing room but is there that same love which carried the players to win a defiant treble for the outgoing Jupp Heynckes?