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Time of India
6 days ago
- Sport
- Time of India
ISL will happen this season: AIFF president
Iage credit: ISL NEW DELHI: All India Football Federation (AIFF) president Kalyan Chaubey on Thursday assured franchises, players, coaches and other stakeholders that the Indian Super League (ISL) would take place this season, potentially with a slight delay due to ongoing litigation in the Supreme Court. Chaubey also said that a new head coach for the Indian men's football team would be named within the next 10 days after the technical committee submits the names of three shortlisted candidates – GreekCypriot Stephen Constantine, Slovakia's Stefan Tarkovic and home-grown Khalid Jamil – to the AIFF's executive committee (EC) on Wednesday. Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW! 'If the league doesn't take place, not only footballers but the people who are associated with football will be affected. Thousands of people will be affected. So, we will put our best effort to ensure that the league happens,' Chaubey said. Earlier this month, Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), the body that owns and organises ISL, had written to the AIFF and the clubs stating that the league had been kept on hold. In May, the apex court instructed the AIFF and FSDL not to enter into any negotiations until the final verdict on the AIFF constitution comes. ISL typically runs from Sept to April. 'As and when the court's decision comes, the AIFF will take a call, sit with all the stakeholders and ensure how smoothly these tournaments, including ISL, can be conducted,' Chaubey concluded. Catch Rani Rampal's inspiring story on Game On, Episode 4. Watch Here!
Scoop
6 days ago
- Politics
- Scoop
‘The UN Is Here To Do The Right Things': Envoy Colin Stewart Bids Farewell But Keeps The Faith
24 July 2025 ' I started feeling very idealistic about the UN, and I've never lost that feeling,' Mr. Stewart told UN News in an exclusive interview. In early August, he steps down as the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and head of the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP). His departure comes at a moment of cautious optimism on the island. Just last week, the Secretary-General reported that talks between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders were 'constructive', with 'common understanding' on new initiatives. Mr. Stewart called the talks 'an important step' in maintaining momentum. 'We are at a bit of a challenging moment for Cyprus because of upcoming elections in the north and other dynamics,' he explained. 'The intent was to keep the ball rolling and keep the momentum going, and I think that succeeded.' Peace by preventing sparks Looking back at his tenure in Cyprus, Mr. Stewart likened UNFICYP's daily work to stamping out sparks before they ignite. 'There are all sorts of activities happening in the buffer zone every day, each with the potential to escalate,' he said. ' Our job is to prevent those sparks from bursting into flames. When I report to the Security Council that things are calm, it means we have been successful. ' Our job is to prevent sparks from bursting into flames. When I report to the Security Council that things are calm, it means we have been successful. The numbers bear out his point: in more than half a century of UN peacekeeping on the island, not a single shot has been fired between the two militaries. ' Some people ask why the peacekeeping mission is still needed, given that it's been peaceful for 50 years…the answer is simple – it's peaceful because the mission has been doing its job. Without it, the deep mistrust between the sides could easily spiral into confrontation.' Lessons on trust and empathy Mr. Stewart also served as the Special Adviser on Cyprus, leading the Secretary-General's good offices to support a comprehensive settlement. The greatest obstacle, he said, lies not in public sentiment but in political will. ' The people get along fine,' he noted. ' Millions cross from one side to the other every year without incident. But among political leaders, distrust runs so deep that even the idea of compromise is viewed negatively. ' This distrust, he said, is rooted in decades of hardline narratives that portray the other side as an enemy rather than a partner. Breaking those narratives is essential. 'Peacebuilding requires not just negotiation but a willingness to dismantle these rigid narratives and build empathy,' he said. 'And we do this all the time at an individual level. Bring two people who have each lost something in front of each other, and they can quite readily sympathise with each other and share a common grief.' This belief in the power of empathy, he added, resonates far beyond Cyprus: in many conflicts, peace emerges when people begin to recognise the humanity – and suffering – on the other side. Peacekeeping not one-size-fits-all Mr. Stewart's career has given him a panoramic view of peacekeeping's evolution. In Timor-Leste, he saw how UN support can help a fledgling state build resilience. In Addis Ababa, as part of the UN Office to the African Union, he witnessed the power of partnerships. And in Western Sahara, he experienced the limits of peacekeeping when a ceasefire failed to hold. He highlighted that peacekeeping is not a one-size-fits-all mode – it is modular – 'a bit of this and a bit that', tailored to the circumstances and working with a wide range of partners. ' I guess I have lived through the evolution of peacekeeping and seen many different aspects of it, [but] I am ever more convinced that peacekeeping is an absolutely essential tool for the international community. ' A quiet exit Now preparing for life after the UN, Mr. Stewart is clear: he has no plans to return in any advisory or consulting role. 'For me, retirement means retirement,' he said with a smile. 'I want to do all the things I've been postponing for my whole career – live in a house I own, spend time with my teenage son who is going to high school…that is the life that I have in mind.' Idealism remains intact Concluding the interview, I asked if he had any final words. As he looked around for ideas, I suggested, 'maybe your first day on the job.' He recalled his beginning in the United Nations, a journey that started with the referendum for self-determination in Timor-Leste in the 1990s, against the backdrop of intimidation, violence and a fragile security environment. I started off feeling very idealistic about the UN, and I've never lost that UN is here to do good things – the right things 'It was our watch, our responsibility to put on a free and fair vote,' he said, 'and that was going to be impossible under these circumstances.' Yet, despite the odds, the Timorese vote went ahead, and the result was clear — a success against all expectations. ' That was a very heady, exciting experience to start in the UN…it started me off feeling very idealistic about the UN, and I've never lost that feeling that, you know, the UN is here to do good things, to do the right things. ' As he steps away from the UN, Mr. Stewart says that idealism remains intact. ' It might take time, but we will succeed…even though people get discouraged because it's very, very hard for all kinds of reasons that are out of our control, it's a wonderful principle to be serving. So, I leave wishing only the best for my colleagues who will continue the fight. '
Daily Mail
23-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Peter Andre shares striking throwback snap from his heyday as a pop star, with the now 52-year-old rocking a wild haircut
Peter Andre shared a throwback photo from his heyday as a popstar more than 30 years ago to his Instagram on Tuesday. The snap, taken in 1993, showed the singer, now 52, in his early twenties posing for a photo alongside his hairstylist brother Michael Andre. And Peter looked strikingly different all those years ago, with the singer - who at that point hadn't yet released his smash single Mysterious Girl - rocking a particularly wild haircut and a clean-shaven face. Accompanying the photo on his Instagram Stories was Andre's 1993 tune To The Top, which featured on his self-titled debut album released the same year. He captioned the throwback photo: 'My brother Mike and me in 1993'. Peter, from a Greek-Cypriot family, grew up in Australia before first gaining recognition when he featured on the country's talent show New Faces in 1990. He earned a record deal following the series, but it wasn't until five years later that his iconic track, Mysterious Girl, was released. The tune shot to number two on the on the charts, followed by his number one album Natural which dropped a year later. It wasn't until around nine years later however that Peter experienced another increase in popularity when he featured on the 2004 series of ITV's I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!, where he met Katie Price. The pair struck up a whirlwind romance during their time in the jungle, and tied the knot the following year. Their marriage lasted around four years with the couple splitting in 2009, with it long rumoured that Peter and Katie split over her close relationship with dressage rider Andrew Gould. And just weeks ago Katie, now 47, revealed the truth about the speculation during an appearance on Paul C Brunson's We Need To Talk podcast. 'We broke up because he thought I was having an affair with my dressage rider, and I've never slept with him. I just kept my horse there, and I was happy keeping my horse there, and he was married,' she said. 'But when me and Pete split, because he used to keep saying, "That's it. I've had enough. I've had enough". It got to a point where I went, "Well f***ing divorce me". And I remember the day, because then I flew to the Maldives with the kids. 'That day, I'm at the airport, it's all on Sky News, it wasn't mutual at all. And then I released a statement saying I don't want to split with Pete, it's Pete that's splitting with me. Until this day, me and Pete have never sat down and spoken about it. 'It's all through lawyers. I've never sat down with him, we probably would've sorted it out but we were kept apart.' And Peter later opened up about navigating exes and break ups in his column for Now! Magazine. Addressing Zara McDermott's ex and new boyfriend coming face to face recently, he shared: 'Sam Thompson and Louis Tomlinson were both at Soccer Aid together for an incredible cause. The fact they've both been involved with Zara McDermott at some point is secondary for me. 'I think people will always try to make a fuss about dramas with exes, but we don't know what happened, and having been part of Soccer Aid in the past, I know people just focus on the game and the cause, everything else is left off the pitch. That's how it should be.' Peter later found love again with Dr Emily MacDonagh, 35, with the couple tying the knot in 2015. They went onto welcome three children, Amelia, 11, Theodore, eight, Arabella, one, while Andre also shares Junior, 20, and Princess, 18, with Katie.
21-07-2025
- Politics
Turkey's president says his support for a two-state deal on ethnically split Cyprus is absolute
NICOSIA, Cyprus -- Turkish Cypriots on Sunday celebrated Turkey's military invasion of Cyprus that cleaved the island nation along ethnic lines 51 years ago. Turkey's president reaffirmed his full backing for a controversial peace deal that envisions the establishment of two separate states. It's a proposal that the majority Greek Cypriots in the island's internationally recognized southern part reject out of hand. It would formalize Cyprus' partition and give Turkey a permanent foothold they see as a bid for control of the entire, strategically situated country and its offshore hydrocarbon wealth. 'Our support for (Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar's) vision for a two-state solution is absolute,' Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in remarks to a crowd during celebrations that culminated with a military parade. It was scheduled this year for the evening to avoid the worst of the scorching mid-summer's heat. 'It is time for the international community to come to terms with the facts on the ground,' Erdogan added, urging the international community to establish diplomatic and economic relations with the breakaway state in Cyprus' northern third that Turkish Cypriots declared in 1983. Turkey's invasion came in the immediate aftermath of a coup staged by Athens junta-backed supporters of uniting Cyprus with Greece. Currently, only Turkey recognizes the Turkish Cypriot declaration of independence and maintains 35,000 troops in the north. Erdogan's renewed support for a two-state deal came just days after Tatar, the island's Greek Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides, the foreign ministers of 'guarantor' powers Greece and Turkey, and Britain's minister of state for Europe gathered at U.N. headquarters in New York for meetings with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to end an eight-year moratorium on formal peace negotiations. The meeting achieved little in the way of a return to fully fledged negotiations as Tatar insisted on recognition for the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state as a prerequisite. The meeting did, however, achieve some progress on a number of confidence-building measures such the exchange of cultural artifacts and the setting up of an advisory committee on civil society. Guterres said he'll meet again with Tatar and Christodoulides in September and hold another wider meeting after a Turkish Cypriot leadership election in October in which Tatar is running on a two-state platform. Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots insist a two-state deal is the only way forward because decades of U.N.-mediated peace talks based on a U.N. Security Council endorsed framework of reunifying Cyprus as a federation no longer had any meaning. That switch came after the last big push for a peace accord in the summer of 2017. It fell through on what Greek Cypriots said was a Turkish and Turkish Cypriot insistence on keeping a permanent Turkish troop presence on the island and enshrining military intervention rights for Turkey as part of any deal. Greek Cypriots also rejected a demand for blanket veto powers for the minority Turkish Cypriots on all government decisions. closer European Union ties and undermines the role it wishes to play in the region.
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Business Standard
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Business Standard
Erdogan says support for two-state deal on ethnically split Cyprus absolute
Turkiye's president reaffirmed his full backing for a controversial peace deal that envisions the establishment of two separate states AP Nicosia Turkish Cypriots on Sunday celebrated Turkiye's military invasion of Cyprus that cleaved the island nation along ethnic lines 51 years ago. Turkiye's president reaffirmed his full backing for a controversial peace deal that envisions the establishment of two separate states. It's a proposal that the majority Greek Cypriots in the island's internationally recognised southern part reject out of hand. It would formalise Cyprus' partition and give Turkiye a permanent foothold they see as a bid for control of the entire, strategically situated country and its offshore hydrocarbon wealth. Our support for (Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar's) vision for a two-state solution is absolute, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in remarks to a crowd during celebrations that culminated with a military parade. It was scheduled this year for the evening to avoid the worst of the scorching mid-summer's heat. It is time for the international community to come to terms with the facts on the ground, Erdogan added, urging the international community to establish diplomatic and economic relations with the breakaway state in Cyprus' northern third that Turkish Cypriots declared in 1983. Turkiye's invasion came in the immediate aftermath of a coup staged by Athens junta-backed supporters of uniting Cyprus with Greece. Currently, only Turkiye recognises the Turkish Cypriot declaration of independence and maintains 35,000 troops in the north. Erdogan's renewed support for a two-state deal came just days after Tatar, the island's Greek Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides, the foreign ministers of guarantor' powers Greece and Turkiye, and Britain's minister of state for Europe gathered at UN headquarters in New York for meetings with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to end an eight-year moratorium on formal peace negotiations. The meeting achieved little in the way of a return to fully fledged negotiations as Tatar insisted on recognition for the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state as a prerequisite. The meeting did, however, achieve some progress on a number of confidence-building measures such the exchange of cultural artifacts and the setting up of an advisory committee on civil society. Guterres said he'll meet again with Tatar and Christodoulides in September and hold another wider meeting after a Turkish Cypriot leadership election in October in which Tatar is running on a two-state platform. Turkiye and the Turkish Cypriots insist a two-state deal is the only way forward because decades of UN-mediated peace talks based on a UN Security Council endorsed framework of reunifying Cyprus as a federation no longer had any meaning. That switch came after the last big push for a peace accord in the summer of 2017. It fell through on what Greek Cypriots said was a Turkish and Turkish Cypriot insistence on keeping a permanent Turkish troop presence on the island and enshrining military intervention rights for Turkiye as part of any deal. Greek Cypriots also rejected a demand for blanket veto powers for the minority Turkish Cypriots on all government decisions. In the south where Greek Cypriots commemorated the invasion with solemn memorials to the war dead, Christodoulides said the international community gives no support to a two-state deal. He said Turkiye's continuing occupation of European territory subverts its ambitions for closer European Union ties and undermines the role it wishes to play in the region.
