Blaze News - Pakistan

Coach Carlo Ancelotti is hopeful he will have Neymar available for more minutes in Monday's World Cup round of 32 fixture against Japan in Houston, and believes his Brazil side are ready for anything in what will be a tough knockout fixture. Neymar has ?been working his way back to fitness from a calf injury and managed a little over 15 minutes in the 3-0 victory over Scotland last time out. "In the last week his progress has been significant," Ancelotti told reporters on Sunday. "Unfortunately he could not play longer than 15 minutes before, but he is now doing well enough to play more." Japan beat Brazil 3-2 in a friendly clash in Tokyo in October, and Ancelotti said that game has given him excellent insight into what to expect in Houston, knowing that failure will send his side home early in the tournament. "It was a good experience to know that Japan are one of the best teams in the world," he said. "We have full respect for them and ...

Substitute Gabriel Martinelli scored deep in injury time as Brazil beat a stubborn Japan 2-1 on Monday to roll into the World Cup last 16. Arsenal winger Martinelli struck in the 95th minute in Houston to break Japanese hearts in the most dramatic fashion. The five-time champions will face either the Ivory Coast or Norway in New Jersey on Sunday after edging a captivating knockout encounter. Japan midfielder Kaishu Sano scored a classy solo goal after 29 minutes following a Brazil mistake to stun the huge numbers of fans decked out in yellow. Carlo Ancelotti's men hit back 11 minutes after half-time with a header from veteran Casemiro as Brazil dominated the second period. Then up popped Martinelli right at the death to settle it and send the Brazil fans wild. History was against Japan: they had never won a knockout game at the World Cup while Brazil were record five-time champions. But this is not a vintage Brazil side, even with Ancelotti at the helm, while Japan have...

Some areas in Venezuela devastated by twin earthquakes last Wednesday have yet to receive government aid to help with ‌rescue and recovery efforts, residents in some hard-hit towns said on Monday. In El Junquito, a small mountainous region about 33 kilometres west of Caracas, where Venezuelans often vacation on weekends, residents say they have seen few public officials, while farmers and other residents have been providing basic supplies to the community. "We are waiting for answers, for debris to ​be cleaned up, for inspections, for people who have been really affected to be helped," said Keily Ibarra, a 33-year-old manicurist leading citizen ​complaints to authorities. She called on the government to do "what needs to be done." El Junquito's commercial centre was largely ⁠destroyed by the quakes, with collapsed buildings visible during a Reuters visit. Several residents with nowhere else to go have set up tents in an ​open field, despite the risk ...

Iran urged the US on Sunday to set a timetable for Israel’s “unconditional” withdrawal from occupied Lebanese territories under a war-ending memorandum of understanding signed between Tehran and Washington. “Ending the war and military operations of the Zionist regime against Lebanon, as well as the withdrawal of occupiers from all occupied Lebanese territories, is a necessary condition for reaching a final and sustainable agreement to establish stability in the region,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Bagaei said in a news briefing carried by ISNA News Agency. Bagaei said Tehran considered safeguarding Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as “the dignity and security of all Lebanese people,” as “essential” for the durability of any agreement related to ending the war with the US. Read More: Iran's Khamenei says US-Israeli war crimes must be pursued vigorously in national, international c...

Austria has proposed that the European Union should consider hosting Anthropic within ​the bloc's borders in order to counter efforts ‌by the United States to block foreigners from using the AI company's most advanced models. In a letter to EU Technology Commissioner Henna ​Virkkunen released by the Austrian government, Austria's State ​Secretary for Digitalisation, Alexander Proell, wrote it was ⁠important that Europe was not cut off from major ​innovations. "Let us jointly explore the strategic establishment and participation of ​Anthropic within the European Union. With legal certainty, market access, capital and a set of values that suit this company," Proell ​said in the letter. Read More: Google limits Meta’s use of its Gemini AI models, FT reports He did not say how the ​step could be taken and acknowledged there would be scepticism about whether ‌it ⁠was possible. "The real question is not whether it is easy," Proell wrot...

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US was seeking to arrange a visit to India by President Donald Trump early next year as the two countries work toward a bilateral trade deal, Indian news agency IANS reported on Saturday. Rubio told IANS he was likely to travel to India later this year to prepare for the president's visit, saying, "We're working towards sometime early next year to have the president come." Read More: Indian tech hub names road for Trump, drawing criticism from Modi's BJP Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Trump last week on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in France, where Trump said they had a "very good" conversation. India has been pressing the US for months for a Trump visit, potentially as part of a meeting involving Japan and Australia. India-US ties have been strained over the past year after Washington imposed high tariffs on Indian goods over New Delhi's purchases of Russian oil and i...