The BBC Get Inspired Unsung Hero award returns to celebrate volunteers who dedicate their free time to help people participate in grassroots sports and fitness activities.

Returning for its 16th year, Unsung Hero 2018 will search for the most dynamic, forward thinking and driven volunteers from across the UK, who are inspiring people of all ages to get up and get active.

We are once again asking you to champion an Unsung Hero from your area.

Send your nominations today!

How?

It’s really simple: why does your nominee deserve to be our BBC Get Inspired Unsung Hero.

Enter by:

• Uploading a video or audio nomination using our online tool OR

• Completing the form online OR

You can view examples of a written nomination here and video nomination here.

Why?

We want to continue to celebrate those who have been encouraging people to get active for years, but we also want to focus on the young Unsung Heroes who have inspiring stories to tell.

We are talking about the college student who drives mass participation at his weekly running club via his savvy social media skills, the young professional who spends his nights in the boxing gym to keep underprivileged kids off the streets. And the 17-year-old dance teacher who is using her class as a platform to talk about the importance of mental health.

If it’s a sport or activity* that needs volunteers, and you know somebody who is driven and selfless to getting people active, then we need your nomination!

(* as long as the activity is recognised by a national governing body – as mentioned anywhere in this document)

Who?

Dynamic, hungry, ambitious and dedicated to making a difference for your community or club. Who do you know that measures up?

Imagine them having selfies with the stars on the BBC Sports Personality red carpet and being presented with the award in front of a sold-out arena, knowing it was your nomination that got them there. The 2017 winner, Denise Larrad, knows exactly what we are talking about.

Well worth a shot, isn’t it? Nominate the person who always puts others first by entering them for 2018.

Even if you have nominated someone previously, you can nominate them again this year – as long as they haven’t won in your region before.

Where?

We want to find the most driven, passionate and inspiring volunteers from all corners of the UK.

From Thurso to Torquay, Llanelli to Lowestoft and everywhere in between, our regional and national BBC stations will be gathering your nominations.

Following your nominations, and with the help of a locally-sourced panel, a shortlist is considered and a regional winner is announced.

Fifteen winners, one from each region, go forward into the national award, where a panel of elite sportspeople – with a little help from sport industry and media folk – look closely at each Unsung Hero. After a day’s fierce debate, they will agree on the 2018 BBC Get Inspired Unsung Hero.

When?

Nominations are open NOW – so go on, do something little for someone who does something big!

Nominate your Unsung Hero before the deadline, midnight on Sunday, 21 October 2018, or you’ll have to wait until 2019.

• You can also view this page in Welsh and in Gaelic and can view the terms and conditions in Welsh.

The oil taps are open again.

On Saturday, South Sudan resumed pumping 20,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil from the Toma South oilfield, where production had been suspended since 2013 due to civil war, Sudan’s oil and gas minister Azhari Abdulqader said.

Once maintenance work on five previously suspended oil fields is completed, it is expected to increase production to 80,000 bpd with the country’s oil output reaching 210,000 bpd by the end of the year.

Income from oil accounts for 98 percent of the country’s budget.

Insecurity and the post-2014 oil price crash left the economy in tatters. But the increased oil output will revive South Sudan’s economic fortunes, according to Kimo Adiebo, an economics professor at the University of Juba.

“This increases government’s share in oil production and eventually oil revenue,” Adiebo told Al Jazeera.

“Additional oil revenue would enable the government to stick to its policy of not printing money – borrowing from the central bank – and hence more control of inflation and the exchange rate, leading to gradual macroeconomic stability.”

The most intense fighting between rebels and South Sudanese government troops took place at the Toma South oilfields, just over 30km from the border with Sudan, damaging oil production facilities.

But the country’s oil crisis could have been avoided, Professor Paul Moorcraft, director at Centre for Foreign Policy Analysis, said.

“Juba cutting the oil off at the start of the post-independence war with Khartoum was the biggest self-inflicted political injury since Hitler declared war on the US,” said Moorcraft. 

“Clearly, independence has been a catastrophe for the south and a disaster for the north. Yet, in Africa, politics always trumps economic logic.”

Working relationship

The resumption of oil activities is part of a ceasefire and power-sharing agreement between President Salva Kiir, rebel leader Riek Machar and other rebel groups to end the country’s civil war.

The peace deal has revived hopes of economic stability being restored.

South Sudan lacks the infrastructure to process its oil production. It is landlocked, forcing the young nation to use pipelines that go through Sudan to export its oil to the international market.

In June this year, Khartoum and Juba agreed to repair oil infrastructure facilities destroyed by the war within three months in order to boost production and said a joint force would be established to protect the oilfields from attacks by rebel forces.

“Maybe utter war-weariness and famine may allow some sense to prevail and the two main sides in the civil war may now work with Khartoum,” said Moorcraft.

“It is interesting how President Omar al-Bashir has had a good working relationship with Kiir and Machar. The level of corruption in the south is so bad that very little of any oil – or aid – money gets to the ordinary citizen. The problem is that all the money is held in Juba.

“Yet, if some money gets to peripheries, it fuels tribal warlordism. [The] paradox of development.”

Oil production was at around 245,000 bpd at the time fighting started. But plummeted to about 120,000 bpd during the war from a peak of 350,000 bpd, according to the World Bank.

Investor confidence

Juba is seeking new investors in the oil sector after the government halted talks with French oil company Total about developing two oil blocks.

Total, along with two other oil companies, had been in talks about developing those oilfields since 2013.

But Total and the government failed to agree on the duration of the exploration and the commercial terms of a production-sharing agreement.

However, despite the peace deal, investors remain sceptical. Rights campaigner Beny Mabor told Al Jazeera that the prospects of attracting investors are bleak as long as conflict go unaddressed.

“Investment is equal to secure environment, Therefore, if there’s peace, the investors will come and if not, I’m afraid they might not either,” Mabor said.

In March, the US imposed sanctions on 15 South Sudanese oil operators who allegedly assisted government to buy weapons and funded militia groups.

Tens of thousands of people were killed by the civil war which also forced millions to flee their homes, triggering a humanitarian crisis and ruined the country’s economy that heavily relies on crude oil production.

Seven million South Sudanese, more than half of its population, will need food aid in 2018, according to the United Nations.

“This additional oil money may enable the government to increase spending towards poverty reduction, education, health, social welfare and humanitarian aid,” said Adiebo.

“Diverting more of this additional oil money towards consolidation of peace would bring security to rural areas and hence enable the IDPs to return to their home areas and engage in more productive activities such as farming with the view of addressing food insecurity,” he added.

Six-time champion Serena Williams made her return to the US Open with a clinical first-round win over Poland’s Magda Linette.

Williams, 36, missed her home Slam last year, giving birth to daughter Olympia shortly after the tournament started.

Opening Monday’s night session at Arthur Ashe Stadium, she won 6-4 6-0 against her 68th-ranked opponent.

The 17th seed will meet Germany’s Carina Witthoeft in the second round.

Williams is still on course to meet older sister Venus in the third round, although the prospect of facing world number one Simona Halep – her projected last-16 opponent – has disappeared after the Romanian’s shock defeat by Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi.

Although she will face tougher challenges, Williams looks well placed to challenge for the record-equalling 24th Grand Slam on the evidence of her victory over Linette.

She put the Pole’s serve under pressure in a lengthy third game without being able to convert, going on to break it in the seventh.

After avoiding a brief scare when she was taken to deuce in the following game, she saw out the opening set without facing a break point.

The second set was a different story.

Linette could not cope with her power and accuracy in a 28-minute set, winning just nine points as Williams sealed victory with a 114mph ace out wide.

“It was such a good feeling to be back here – it is one of the best feelings in the world,” Williams said.

“The first set was tight, it was my first match back here in New York so it wasn’t the easiest.

“Once I got settled I started to do what I’ve been doing in practise and I felt better.

“I think I’m getting there – I’ve been feeling great in practice.”

The United Nations has accused the Saudi-UAE military alliance of committing possible war crimes in Yemen, adding there was “little evidence of any attempt … to minimise civilian casualties.”

In a damning report on Tuesday, the UN said air attacks had caused the most direct civilian casualties in the war, and a blockade of Yemeni ports and airspace may have violated international humanitarian law.

The alliance, which has been at war with Houthi rebels since March 2015, has repeatedly denied allegations of war crimes, and claims its attacks are not directed at civilians.

However, data collected by Al Jazeera and the Yemen Data Project, has found that almost one-third of the  16,000 air raids carried out in the country have hit non-military sites.

The attacks have targeted weddings and hospitals, as well as water and electricity plants, killing and wounding thousands.

The charity Save the Children has estimated that an average of 130 children die every day from extreme hunger and disease – a crisis brought about by the conflict.

And according to the UN, at least 10,000 people have been killed since the start of the conflict. However, analysts say the death toll is likely to be higher.

‘Violations continue to be perpetrated’

“The group of experts has reason to believe the government of Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, are responsible for violations of human rights,” said Kamel Jendoubi, the chair of the Group of International and Regional Eminent Experts on Yemen.

“Violations and crimes have been perpetrated and continue to be perpetrated in Yemen by the parties to the conflict.

“Members of the government of Yemen and the [Saudi-UAE] coalition may have conducted attacks that were disproportionate and could constitute war crimes,” said Jendoubi.

“They may have committed acts that could constitute war crimes such as mistreatment, torture, attacks on peoples’ dignity, rape, recruitment, and enrollment of children under the age of 15 in the hostilities.”

The experts urged the international community to “refrain from providing arms that could be used in the conflict “- an apparent reference to countries like the United States and Britain, which supply the Saudi-UAE alliance.

Despite repeated petitions by human rights groups, the US assists Saudi Arabia and the UAE in “conducting aerial bombings in Yemen” and provides “midair refuelling services” for their warplanes.

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‘Questions will be asked’

Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher in neighbouring Djibouti

“US Defense Secretary James Mattis is expected to hold a briefing at the Pentagon later today, and he will undoubtedly be asked about the continuing US role.

What we have heard from the panel of experts was criticism of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and the Yemeni government.

The US and UK are helping this coalition, so questions will now be asked about where we go from here and whether any of these governments will accept the findings from this panel of experts.”

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Between 2010 and 2015, Washington also sold more than $90bn of military equipment to Riyadh. 

But following a recent air attack on a school bus that killed 40 children, individual members of Congress called on the US military to clarify its role in the war and investigate whether support for the air raids could render American military personnel “liable under the war crimes act”.

‘No light at the end of the tunnel’

The experts also criticised work by the alliance’s Joint Incidents Assessment Team (JIATY), which was set up as a bulwark against possible rights violations.

They questioned the JIAT’s explanations for the air attacks that have killed civilians, and challenged its “independence and its ability to carry out impartial investigations.”

The experts also said nearly a dozen deadly air attacks they investigated over the last year “raise serious questions about the targeting process applied by the coalition.”

They chastised some in-the-field coalition combatants for “routinely” failing to seek information about official “no-strike” lists that should have been avoided.

“Despite the severity of the situation we continue to see a complete disregard for the people in Yemen,” said Charles Garraway, one of the authors of the report

“This conflict has reached its peak, with no apparent sight of light at the end of the tunnel.

“It is indeed, a forgotten crisis.”

Editors, USA TODAY
Published 3:34 a.m. ET Aug. 28, 2018

Final 3 states hold primaries as midterm election approaches 

Voters will go to the polls in Arizona, Florida and Oklahoma Tuesday to choose the final match-ups in several competitive races that could help determine control of the U.S. House and Senate in the general midterm election in November. The blockbuster race to watch: Arizona’s Republican Senate race. As Arizonans grapple with the death of their beloved senator, John McCain, voters will decide if one of his chief critics will be their nominee to replace retiring Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake. Kelli Ward, one of three Republicans competing, suggested on Facebook that the announcement that McCain had stopped seeking medical treatment for his brain cancer was designed to hurt her campaign. After intense criticism for the post, she then compared “political correctness” to cancer.

• Who will be GOP candidate for Senate in Arizona? Will Trump’s pick win in Florida?
• Here are 15 things Florida voters should know about Tuesday’s election

Entertainment complex to reopen 2 days after tragic shooting

The entertainment complex in Jacksonville, Florida, that was sight of a tragic shooting rampage that left two people dead – and the gunman – and wounded 11 others Sunday plans to reopen for business Tuesday.  The violence broke out during a Madden NFL 19 video game tournament that was held in a gaming bar that shared space with the Chicago Pizza and Sports Grille in the Jacksonville Landing complex along the St. Johns River in Jacksonville. It was not clear when Chicago Pizza or the gaming room would open. Authorities continue to investigate the motive behind the killings by the shooter who also killed himself.

• Here are the victims of the Jacksonville shooting
• Gunman’s motive probed, gamers call for more security at events
• Expanding esports industry looks inward after tragic shooting

Summer hangs on as heat wave bakes central, eastern U.S. 

Though September is only a few days away, intense summertime heat and humidity will bake portions of the central and eastern U.S. Tuesday and for the next few days. As of late Monday, some 70 million Americans lived where a heat advisory or warning had been issued. High temperature records could be broken in the Northeast and thanks to stifling humidity, the heat index will approach or exceed 100 degrees in many locations, according to the National Weather Service.  Extreme heat and humidity can be dangerous so take precautions and stay safe. 

Pay your ‘Respect’ to Aretha Franklin 

A celebration of Aretha Franklin’s life continues as fans of the Queen of Soul can pay their respects during three days of public visitation that begins Tuesday in Detroit. Franklin died of pancreatic cancer on August 16 and she will lie in repose in the rotunda of the Charles H. Wright Museum of African History from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday. There will also be a viewing at Franklin’s church, New Bethel Baptist Church, on Thursday. A tribute concert will take place at Chene Park Amphitheatre Thursday and Franklin’s funeral will take place Friday at Greater Grace Temple in Detroit.

Controversy still surrounds Emmett Till’s death on anniversary of his murder

Decades after his Aug. 28, 1955 death in Money, Miss., the FBI is reexamining the brutal murder of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old black boy from Chicago accused of insulting a white woman. Till was with his cousins when he walked into Bryant’s Grocery to buy bubble gum. Though Carolyn Bryant (now Donham), who was working at the store, testified that Till aggressively grabbed her, his cousin said Till only whistled at her as they left. Bryant’s husband, Roy, and his half-brother, J.W. Milam, abducted Till four days later and were tried and acquitted in his murder. A 1954 Look magazine article,  widely regarded as a confession by Milam and Roy Bryant, has been disputed by historians for leaving out critical details that conceal others involved. A 2017 book claimed Donham confessed that her story was false but her family has since claimed she never gave a confession. 

 

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Tariffs on goods from China imported into the United States will cost American consumers roughly $6 billion a year, according to a study commissioned by the National Retail Federation (NRF).

The report showed that the proposed 25% tariff on furniture from China would cost Americans $4.6 billion per year in added cost “even if retailers switched their sourcing to other foreign countries or U.S. furniture makers.” A similar 25% tariff on travel items including luggage and handbags would add $1.2 billion to what American shoppers would pay for those items, “even if the goods no longer came from China,” according to the research.

Alternate sourcing won’t keep pricing down

Whether manufacturers opt to make the impacted items in the U.S. or in a country not impacted by tariffs, tariffs will still lead to higher prices according to NRF Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold in testimony prepared for a hearing U.S. Trade Representative (USTR).

“The threat that these tariffs could be imposed, and even expanded to include all consumer goods imported from China, has already started a scramble among importers to find alternative sources of supply, including in the United States,” Gold said. “While you may think this is a positive development, the administration needs to know that the scramble is already bidding up prices for consumer products from all possible alternative manufacturers.”

And, no matter what happens with the tariffs, actions already taken by manufacturers will lead to higher prices, according to Gold. He added that “even if the administration decides not to impose the tariffs, higher prices are already on the horizon for American families.”

Gold warned that tariffs will hit small business owners especially hard. A recent NRF survey showed that 46% of smaller retailers expect that proposed or implemented tariffs will hurt their businesses.

“The collateral damage to wide swaths of the U.S. economy will be significant,” Gold said. “This will only get worse as the additional tariffs take effect and retaliation escalates.”

What happens next?

The NRF has been vocal in its opposition to the proposed tariffs on Chinese goods. It has actively lobbied the USTR and President Donald Trump to rethink these policies.

“By now the administration should know something it questioned several months ago: Tariffs will not get China to change its unfair trade practices,” Gold said. “Instead, these tariffs threaten to increase costs for American families and destroy the livelihoods of U.S. workers.”

What can you do?

As a consumer there’s very little you can do. In theory, you might consider not putting off purchases in areas potentially impacted by the tariffs. For example, if your couch is on its last legs or your luggage has seen better days, you may save some money by replacing them now.

Unfortunately, the range of items that could be impacted by tariffs is very broad. Aside from a little selective advance purchasing or simply not buying items as prices rise, there’s nothing a consumer can do. This is a situation where your best hope lies in comparison shopping to see which retailers and manufacturers find the most creative ways around the tariffs or choose to take lower margins to keep prices down.

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho betrayed the pressure and irritation eating away at him in the final seconds of a passionate news conference at Old Trafford following the 3-0 home defeat by Tottenham.

Mourinho had gone on the front foot to defend his side’s performance, telling the assembled media they had to decide what was most important, brilliant football, or results.

He had accurately pointed out that last season in particular, he had been castigated for supposed negative football, even when United had won.

Mourinho was forceful. He argued well. United were outstanding in the first half. They pressed, they played quickly, they created chances. They should have been in front.

The crack appeared when, in response to telling his inquisitors how the United supporters had stayed behind his team, even as they slid to the biggest home defeat he has suffered as a manager, he strayed away from his theme.

Raising three fingers, he said: “Do you know what this means? Yes, it means 3-0, but it also means three Premier Leagues – and I won more Premier Leagues alone than the other 19 managers put together. Three for me. Two for them.”

And as he got up to leave. “Respect! Respect! Respect man!”

It is beyond argument that Mourinho is in a tough place right now.

Two defeats in three games is as bad a start as United have made to a season since 1992-93.

They have not been beaten as badly at home in a league game by Tottenham since 1972.

He knows the pressure is on.

Mourinho, in all probability, understands all that and accepts it as part of the job.

What has eaten away at him, and continues to do so, is that his record fails to insulate him from the kind of criticism he thinks others – who have not achieved anything like as much as him – seem to escape.

United finished runners-up to Manchester City last season, and before the season’s opening game against Leicester, Mourinho questioned why Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp and Tottenham’s Mauricio Pochettino receive what he feels to be an easy ride despite their failure to win a trophy.

He said: “It is difficult for me to believe we finished second when I listen, when I read, because you are capable of making people that finish second look like they were relegated and people who win nothing, finish below us, and you make them look like serial winners.”

It is the same kind of attitude that, much earlier in his career, saw Mourinho label Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger “a specialist in failure”.

Mourinho regards himself as a winner. Even at United he has won silverware, securing the Europa League and EFL Cup in his first season.

He thinks those trophies, along with his successes at Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid, should buy him time – and respect.

Why don’t they? Put simply, Mourinho does not help himself with his surly outward demeanour.

Neither Pochettino nor Klopp have arrived half an hour early for news conferences, then delivered curt responses to any question asked before exiting less than 10 minutes later, as Mourinho did on Friday.

Both Pochettino and Klopp have engaged with their own club’s fans in a way Mourinho, who still lives in a hotel in Manchester city centre, has not.

This is nothing new for United. During Sir Alex Ferguson’s era, there was a belief that Wenger escaped media criticism because he was seen as being sophisticated and intelligent, in contrast to the Scot’s Glaswegian-streetfighter reputation.

Ferguson’s intellect is huge. His sense of humour legendary. But in front of the media he was aggressive, and the reputation stuck, deserved or not.

Behind the scenes at Old Trafford, Mourinho is said to be amusing – at least before this tortuous summer began – but the more he scowls in front of the cameras, the greater the disparity with Klopp and Pochettino.

Following the summer exits of Wenger and Chelsea’s Antonio Conte, Mourinho was right when he said the score on Premier League titles is three to him, two to the rest.

But unless he finds an answer soon, that lead will evaporate.

Manuel Pellegrini is unlikely to add to his championship at West Ham this season. But Pep Guardiola well could at Manchester City.

And, on the evidence of the past three weeks, Klopp and Pochettino have a decent chance of lifting the trophy as well.

Far-right activists have clashed with anti-facists in the eastern German town of Chemnitz following the murder of a German national of Cuban origin over the weekend.

A man, identified as Daniel H by local media, was stabbed during an argument on Saturday. Two men, of Syrian and Iraqi origin, have been arrested by the police.

On Sunday, around 800 far-right activists rallied on the streets to protest the stabbing. But those who knew Daniel have accused the far-right of exploiting his death for their own benefit.

“I think it’s horrible what’s happening here in Chemnitz, and I hope that they know who they’re doing this march for,” Daniel’s friend, Nancy Larssen, told Deutsche Welle (DW).

“I think it’s sad that in the media they’re just saying that a German has died, and that’s why all the neo-Nazis and hooligans are out, but the media should describe who died, and what skin color he had, because I don’t think they’d be doing all this if they knew.”

State and local officials appealed for calm as thousands of people took to the streets in Monday’s protests that turned violent after injuries caused by fireworks thrown from both sides.

Local media reported Neo-Nazis performing the Nazi salute, and local TV showed footage of skinheads chasing a man.

“The scenes of people going after those who look like foreigners scare us. We want to show that Chemnitz has another side that is cosmopolitan and opposes xenophobia,” Tim Detzner, head of the radical Left party in Chemnitz, said at the anti-fascist rally.

Demonstrators waving German and Bavarian flags were also present nearby, some breaking through police barriers aimed at keeping the two sides apart. 

Spokesperson for German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s said Germany would not tolerate “vigilante justice”.

“We don’t tolerate such unlawful assemblies and the hounding of people who look different or have different origins, and attempts to spread hatred on the streets,” Steffen Seibert said at a regular news briefing.

The far-right has surged across Europe during the continent’s migrant crisis and increasing political rhetoric against Islam.

Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD) is now the main opposition party, and Merkel faces opposition within her governing coalition for her immigration policies.

More than a million people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East have sought refuge in Germany since 2015. 

SOURCE: Al Jazeera and news agencies

Premier League: Reaction to Man Utd’s defeat by Spurs, Mourinho’s outburst, plus gossip – Live – BBC Sport

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