MANCHESTER, UNITED KINGDOM: Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho was delighted by the commitment of his side after they bounced back from a shock defeat by Huddersfield Town with a 1-0 home win over Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.
Substitute Antony Martial’s goal nine minutes from time was enough for United to go three points clear of Spurs in second place in the Premier League table.
Mourinho slammed United for a “really poor” attitude after the 2-1 defeat by Huddersfield but the Portuguese boss was far happier with what he saw against Spurs.
“We all feel we have to win every match so that’s why I felt disappointed at Huddersfield,” he told Sky Sports.
“It looked like we didn’t know that every point is a precious point. Today, every ball looked like the last ball of their careers.”
As for Martial, whose United future has been a source of speculation, Mourinho said: “Sometimes he starts the match and his contribution is good but he doesn’t score.
“I don’t understand some reactions when people question ‘are they Red Devils’? The two strikers were up against amazing central defenders, some of the best in Europe.”
There was nothing fancy about Martial’s winner, the forward finishing after a kick downfield by United goalkeeper David De Gea was headed on by Romelu Lukaku.
“Martial scores with a bad shot, but the bad shots can be the most beautiful,” said Mourinho. “To play well against a very, very good team feels even better.”
Former Chelsea manager Mourinho accepted the result could easily have gone the other way, saying: “That was difficult, it could have been a draw. Both teams were trying to win but both knew the opponent was strong.
“We knew if we had one defensive mistake we could lose and that’s what happened to them.
“We tried and we deserved the victory.”
Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino agreed with much of Mourinho’s assessment, saying: “It was an even game.
“It was a shame to lose. I think we deserved more. It was unlucky that in the last 10 minutes we conceded our goal. It was our mistake.”
Tottenham were without injured striker Harry Kane but Pochettino insisted his side’s title challenge was about more than the in-form England forward.
“If Dele Alli had scored now the question would be different,” Pochettino said. “It is always about the result. You are always going to miss your main striker but it is not fair to talk about Harry Kane.”
Mourinho hails players’ desire as Manchester United beat Tottenham Hotspur
Mourinho hails players’ desire as Manchester United beat Tottenham Hotspur
Qatar hands Israel, Hamas “final” draft of Gaza ceasefire deal, official tells Reuters
- A breakthrough was reached in Doha after midnight following talks between Israel’s spy chiefs
A breakthrough was reached in Doha after midnight following talks between Israel’s spy chiefs, President-elect Trump’s Middle East envoy and Qatar’s prime minister, the official said.
PM Sharif orders probe as bomb blast in southwestern Pakistan kills 1
- Incident follows Jan. 4 blast near Turbat city that killed five paramilitary soldiers, injured over two dozen others
- Mineral-rich Balochistan province, which shares borders with Iran and Afghanistan, has faced insurgency for decades
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday ordered authorities to investigate a roadside bomb blast in the country’s southwestern Turbat city that killed one person, vowing to bring the culprits to book and continue the state’s war against militants.
The incident follows the Jan. 4 blast near Turbat when at least five paramilitary soldiers were killed and over two dozen others injured after a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device targeted a bus carrying security personnel.
Monday’s roadside bomb blast in Turbat killed one person, state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the incident.
“Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemns the roadside bomb blast in Turbat,” a statement from Sharif’s office said. “The prime minister has directed the incident be investigated.”
Sharif said those responsible for the blast should be immediately identified and punished.
“We will continue the war against terrorism until Pakistan is cleansed of it,” Sharif said. “Those who carry out such terrorist activities are enemies of the development of Balochistan.”
Balochistan, a mineral-rich province sharing borders with Iran and Afghanistan, has faced an insurgency for decades, which has intensified in recent years. The Baloch separatists accuse the Pakistani state of exploiting the region’s resources without adequately benefiting its population.
However, Pakistani governments deny the allegations, saying they have launched several development projects to promote prosperity and improve the lives of residents in the province.
The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), with a strong presence in Balochistan, has emerged as a major threat to the state, carrying out deadly attacks, including suicide bombings, to target Pakistani security forces.
According to provincial administration data, Balochistan witnessed a dramatic surge in militant violence in 2024, resulting in about 300 deaths in over 550 attacks.
Saudi Arabia, Japan strengthen investment ties with strategic MoU
DUBAI: The Saudi Investment Promotion Authority on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding with Japan’s Mizuho Bank Ltd. in an effort to enhance investment opportunities between the two countries.
The MoU was signed by Assistant Minister of Investment Ibrahim bin Yousef Al-Mubarak and bank CEO Masahiko Kato.
The agreement means the Saudi Investment Promotion Authority will provide its expertise and information to help integrate support services to Japanese companies interested in investing in the Kingdom, according to the Saudi Press Agency.
The memorandum comes within the Vision 2030 framework, which aims to diversify the national economy by attracting foreign investments, supporting economic partnerships with international companies, strengthening bilateral investment relations and long-term partnerships, and opening new qualitative areas for cooperation in the investment and economic fields.
On Sunday, the Saudi Japanese Joint Business Council Meeting convened in Riyadh with Minister of Investment Khalid Al-Falih and Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Muto Yoji.
Attending the meeting were more than 80 representatives of companies and entities from both nations.
The Japanese delegation included those from industrial and commercial companies, as well as financial institutions focusing on modern technologies with an interest in the Saudi market.
Rapper Saint Levant teases new music video directed by Lyna Zerrouki
DUBAI: Algerian director Lyna Zerrouki has directed a new music video for rapper Saint Levant for a song titled “Exile.”
Set to release in full on Tuesday, a snippet of the video released on social media on Monday seemed to feature Moroccan Italian model Malika El-Maslouhi falling through the air against a blue background. Arab News has reached out to Saint Levant’s team to confirm the model’s involvement in the new video.
The short video clips released on Monday also features a shot of the camera panning toward Saint Levant, who is illuminated from behind as rolling fog covers the floor.
Saint Levant, a Palestinian French Algerian Serbian rapper, is known for such songs as “From Gaza, With Love” and “5am in Paris.” He performed at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival music festival in California in 2024.
The musician used the opportunity to address the ongoing war in Gaza, saying: “Coachella, my name is Saint Levant and I was born in Jerusalem and raised in Gaza … as I hope all of you are aware, the people of Gaza have been undergoing a brutal, brutal genocide for the past six months. And the people of Palestine have been undergoing a brutal occupation for the past 75 years.”
Born Marwan Abdelhamid in Jerusalem, the singer previously spoke to Arab News about his childhood.
“The actual cultural makeup is my mom is half-French and half-Algerian. My dad is Serbian, half-Palestinian. And they actually both grew up in Algeria. But they decided, in the early 90s, post the Oslo Accords, that Palestine was going to be free.
“So they went back, my dad went to live in Gaza in the early 1980s. And my dad actually built a hotel there and that’s where I grew up,” he said.
“For everyone, childhood is very meaningful. And for me, it was a juxtaposition because I remember the sound of the drones and the sounds of the bones. But more than anything, I remember the warmth, and the smell … and the taste of food and just the odd feeling of soil.”
Oil Updates — crude jumps as new US sanctions to curb Russian supply to China, India
SINGAPORE: Oil prices extended gains for a third session on Monday, with Brent rising above $80 a barrel to its highest in more than four months, as wider US sanctions are expected to affect Russian crude exports to top buyers China and India.
Brent crude futures climbed $1.14, or 1.43 percent, to $80.90 a barrel by 10:41 a.m. Saudi time after hitting an intraday high of $81.49, the highest since Aug. 27.
US West Texas Intermediate crude rose $1.20, or 1.57 percent to $77.77 a barrel after touching a high of $78.39, the most since Oct. 8.
Brent and WTI have risen by more than 6 percent since Jan. 8, and both contracts surged after the US Treasury imposed wider sanctions on Russian oil on Friday.
The new sanctions included producers Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas, as well as 183 vessels that have shipped Russian oil, targeting the revenue Moscow has used to fund its war with Ukraine.
Russian oil exports will be hurt severely by the new sanctions, pushing China and India, the world’s top and third-largest oil importers respectively, to source more crude from the Middle East, Africa and the Americas, which will boost prices and shipping costs, traders and analysts said.
“Friday’s announcement strengthens our view that the risks to our $70-85 Brent range forecast are skewed to the upside in the short term,” Goldman Sachs analysts said in a note.
“We estimate that the vessels targeted by the new sanctions transported 1.7mb/d of oil in 2024 or 25 percent of Russia’s exports, with the vast majority being crude oil.”
Expectations of tighter supplies have also pushed Brent and WTI monthly spreads to their widest backwardation since the third quarter of 2024. Prompt prices are higher than those in future months in backwardation, indicating tight supply.
RBC Capital Markets analysts said the doubling of tankers sanctioned for moving Russian barrels could serve as a major logistical headwind to crude flows.
Many of the tankers named in the latest sanctions have been used to ship oil to India and China as previous Western sanctions and a price cap imposed by the Group of Seven countries in 2022 shifted trade in Russian oil from Europe to Asia. Some of the ships have also moved oil from Iran, which is also under sanctions.
“The last round of OFAC (US Office of Foreign Assets Control) sanctions targeting Russian oil companies and a very large number of tankers will be consequential in particular for India,” said Harry Tchilinguirian, head of research at Onyx Capital Group.
JPMorgan analysts said Russia had some room to maneuver despite the new sanctions, but it would ultimately need to acquire non-sanctioned tankers or offer crude at or below $60 a barrel to use Western insurance as per the West’s price cap.
