Borussia Dortmund - Schalke Preview: Reus missing for Ruhr derby

Coaches Thomas Tuchel and Andre Breitenreiter are set for their first taste of the Bundesliga grudge match but both will be attempting to engineer victory without key players Borussia Dortmund and Schalke will be missing key players for the 147th Ruhr derby at Signal Iduna Park on Sunday, with both Marco Reus and Benedikt Howedes sidelined. Germany star Reus is set to be absent for two weeks after injuring his hamstring in Dortmund's win over Qabala in midweek while Howedes has a fractured finger. Schalke will also be without set-piece specialist Johannes Geis as they prepare for a run of Bundesliga fixtures that will see them face Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen after their trip to Dortmund. Thomas Tuchel's men come into the game in good shape having won all six of their matches since their defeat to Bayern Munich, scoring 24 goals and ensuring progression to the Europa League's knockout phase in the process. Sunday's match will be both Tuchel and Schalke boss Andre Breitenreiter's first experience of the derby, with the Dortmund manager admitting form counts for nothing. "It's quite simply the derby in Germany," he told Sky Deutschland . "That's why there is no clear-cut favourite because it has its own rules.

Cristiano Ronaldo: I want to retire with 'dignity', not in USA, Qatar or Dubai

Cristiano Ronaldo said Friday that he wants to end his career “with dignity” and not playing in “the United States, Qatar or Dubai”. The Real Madrid and Portugal star, the subject of a new documentary that premiered on Monday in London, said Thursday in an interview on ITV’s The Jonathan Ross Show that he expected to play six or seven more seasons and hoped to finish his career at the highest level. The remarks ostensibly referenced the recent wave of top players who have finished their careers outside of Europe’s top leagues, among them MLS imports Didier Drogba, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Andrea Pirlo and David Villa, along with Xavi, the lifelong Barcelona midfielder who signed with Qatari club Al Sadd in May. “That does not mean it’s bad play in the leagues of the United States, Qatar or Dubai, but I do not see myself there,” Ronaldo said. Ronaldo, who turns 31 in February, became Real Madrid’s all-time leading goalscorer last month and has th...

Young people to lose access to unemployment benefits as part of welfare reforms

YOUNG people will not be able to get unemployment benefits until they turn 25 under reforms introduced by the Turnbull Government today. The coalition has unveiled wide-ranging welfare reforms in parliament today, including changes to the Newstart program. It hopes to stop people aged 22 to 24 getting Newstart or the Sickness allowance, and they will instead be shifted to the Youth Allowance payment. This will reduce the amount of money that they will be able to get, costing a single person living away from home about $90 a fortnight. They will also be required to study in order to qualify for the payments. “The key aim of this measure is to provide incentives for young unemployed people to obtain the relevant education and training to increase employability,” according to an explanatory memorandum for the bill. However, it says Youth Allowance does allow students to earn a higher amount of money from part-time or casual work than Newstart, before this begins imp...

Janitor earning $327,000 a year caught ‘slacking off’

THIS janitor clocked so much overtime that he took home $327,000 in a single year — but was allegedly caught out hiding in a closet for hours. Liang Zhao Zhang earned a base salary of $75,874 ($US57,945) in 2015 for cleaning San Francisco’s Powell Street station. But once overtime was taken into account, his salary and benefits added up to a whopping $327,000 ($US250,000)— giving his earnings a boost of $212,190 — revealed in public records released by Transparent California. An investigation by local broadcaster KTVU found that Mr Zhang was paid for working 17 hours a day for 18 days in a row in July 2015, and clocked fulltime hours during his annual leave. This superhuman feat prompted the station’s 2 Investigates program to take a closer look at just what Mr Zhang was up to during these marathon-length work days. What they say they found raised “serious questions” about the municipal transport authority’s oversight of its employee timesheets. Investigative reporters examine...

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