Long on the double but Baggies held by Aston Villa

Shane Long hit a brace as West Brom and Aston Villa shared the spoiled in an entertaining 2-2 draw at The Hawthorns.

The Ireland striker put Albion ahead in the third minute, delightfully controlling a long ball from Chris Brunt and slamming home.

Arsenal's Nicklas Bendtner apologises for 'criminal damage' arrest

Arsenal striker Nicklas Bendtner has apologised after being arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage at his luxury apartment block.

The 25-year-old was held by police in Hertfordshire on Monday in connection with damage to an apartment building where he lives in the Bushey area.

Writing on his Instagram account on Tuesday, he explained that he accidentally damaged a door as he tried to force it open after it became stuck.

Everton's Baines suffers broken toe, club unsure of recovery time

Everton defender Leighton Baines sustained a broken toe in Saturday's Merseyside derby and could be out for up to six weeks, the club have confirmed.

The England international was forced off early in the second half and although he left Goodison Park walking unaided - despite being given some crutches to use - he went straight for an x-ray on his right foot.

Sunderland win Wes Brown red card appeal

Sunderland's appeal against the red card shown to defender Wes Brown in Saturday's Barclays Premier League match at Stoke has been upheld, the English FA has confirmed.

Announcing the news on Tuesday afternoon, the FA also revealed that Crystal Palace had been unsuccessful with their appeal against the red card Eagles midfielder Yannick Bolasie received in their top-flight game at Hull on Saturday.

A statement from the FA said: "An Independent Regulatory Commission has today heard two separate claims of wrongful dismissal involving Sunderland's Wes Brown and Yannick Bolasie of Crystal Palace.

Manuel Pellegrini insists Joe Hart will not be loaned out

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini has dismissed suggestions goalkeeper Joe Hart could be loaned out in January.

Pellegrini has also played down speculation he might look to sign a new keeper during the mid-season transfer window.

Hart, the current England first choice, recently lost his place in the City side after a series of inconsistent displays and has sat out their last five games.

Pellegrini said: "There is a lot of news about six or seven goalkeepers that we want to buy but it is not true.

WBA boss Steve Clarke insists he wants Shane Long to sign new deal

West Brom boss Steve Clarke insists he wants Shane Long to sign a new deal with the club. 

The Republic of Ireland striker, who almost moved to Hull during the last transfer window, scored two stunning goals during their 2-2 draw with Aston Villa on Monday night.

Clarke said: "Shane has been working hard for that type of performance. He's in a good moment.

"Shane has been on a good run of form and hopefully he can keep it going.

Neil Lennon admits to Celtic's shortcomings after Champions League exit

Neil Lennon acknowledged a lack of firepower finally caught up with his Celtic side after they crashed out of Europe on Tuesday night with a thumping 3-0 defeat against AC Milan in their Champions League Group H clash at Parkhead.

The Hoops were made to pay for missing several chances against the Serie A side, who went ahead through Kaka in the 13th minute when he headed a Valter Birsa corner past Fraser Forster.

Celtic defender Virgil van Dijk missed a sitter at the start of the second half when he blasted a shot straight at Milan goalkeeper Christian Abbiati - a minute before Rossoneri defender Cristian Zapata made it 2-0 from close range before Mario Balotelli added a third.

Ajax fan suffers serious head injuries after fall during match with Barcelona

An Ajax fan suffered "serious head injuries" on Tuesday night after falling from the stand during his team's 2-1 Champions League victory over Barcelona.

The man was taken to hospital after falling around five metres from section 126 behind the goal into the moat towards the end of the first half at the Amsterdam ArenA.

Ajax tweeted on Tuesday evening: "After 39 minutes in block 126 (south 1st ring) from row 1 a supporter fell in the moat. He was badly injured and taken to hospital."

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho plots changes after defeat

Jose Mourinho plans to rotate his squad throughout December after witnessing Chelsea's less than convincing progress to the Champions League knockout stages.

The Blues were beaten 1-0 by Basle, who claimed the double over the 2012 European champions, but advanced to the last 16 as Schalke drew 0-0 at Steaua Bucharest.

Chelsea play the Romanians on 11 December bidding to confirm top spot in Group E, something which eluded them in Switzerland as Mohamed Salah's strike settled a match in which Mourinho's men failed to muster a meaningful shot.

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho admits he picked wrong team for Basle but says goal was 'ridiculous'

Jose Mourinho admits he was to blame for Chelsea's defeat because he failed to see how tired his players were but admits the goal they conceded was "ridiculous"

Jose Mourinho shouldered the blame for Chelsea’s shock Champions League defeat to Basle by admitting he had picked the wrong team.

However the Chelsea manager also criticised his players for the “ridiculous” winning goal scored by Basle, accusing his team of “going to sleep”.

Arsenal 2 Marseille 0: match report

During the dark days as he battled back from a persistent ankle injury, and perhaps also during the swelling of Arsenal’s creative ranks, Jack Wilshere must have dreamed of nights like this, nights when he was the talk of the town.

It was not simply the personal pleasure Wilshere will have derived from his two goals; it was also the acceptance around the Emirates and beyond that the young Englishman is at the heart of Arsenal’s quickening ambition.

Police crime identification rate increased for this month

From October 17th to November 17th, police has identified 400 more crimes, compared to the period September 17th-October 17th.

The monthly State Police Bulletin says that this growth has come as result of one of the police priorities in this period, which was attacking the illegal gambling shops, where they identified 542 crimes.

According to the report, the police has maximized the measures against traffic and criminal code offenders. During this period, the police has arrested 220 people.

158 of them have been arrested for driving without a license, and 62 for DUI, according to the police report.

Suspension of Flight Companies

Belle Air is just the last case of Albania’s civil aviation history, when thousands of citizens who have bought tickets are left at the airport.

In 2006, a similar situation took place with the first low-cost company in Albania, “Albatros”. The company had its license removed by the Civil Aviation Directory, with the argument that there were unpaid obligations.

But it turned out that there were political reasons too. Top Channel recorded a phone conversation in which Gazmend Dibra, then Director of DAC, made open pressure to the directors, who wre relatives of former President Moisiu, to influence and discharge Prosecutor General Theodhori Sollaku.

Thousands of Albanian passengers were left in European airports for days. Ironically, authorities decided to resolve the stalemate by transferring the flights of this company to Belle Air, a company that had just entered the market.

Violence against women

More than 2800 women have asked a court order for protection, and 25 women have died due to extreme domestic violence. These figures are showing the deep crisis that the Albanian family is suffering. 
Women and activists have asked stronger sanctions against violence and for the law to be implemented.

“Laws are not implemented. Aggressors are not punished, regardless of the measures taken with the Criminal Code amends in 2012. The real number of domestic violence is higher than what has been reported so far”, declared Ines Leskaj, from the Woman Empowerment Network.

“Until the 9th month of 2013, there are at least 2600 cases identified by the police. There are 23 cases with victims”, declared Etleva Sheshi, employee at the Social Welfare and Youth Ministry.

EP: Positive evaluation for Albania

The Foreign Committee at the European Parliament discussed the draft-resolution for Albania, compiled by the new Croatian rapporteur, Nikola Vuljanic, who was congratulated by his colleagues, since the report for Albania for the first time was presented in time, same as with other countries of the region.

Vuljanic explained that this step had two goals, first was helping the country, based on the Commission’s progress-report and by offering an additional reason to the Council to give Albania the candidate status. The other reason was the regional stabilization and reinforcement of the Union’s policy, which means that the achievements need to be respected and rewarded in the integration path.

“There is no doubt that there are achievements. The political maturity was shown with the refusal of the Syrian chemical weapons. Regardless of the persistence from the United States of America, the government listened to the people”, Vuljanic declared.

UNICEF: Teachers' behavior with students must change

Albanian pre-university students are exposed to verbal and physical violence. A recent study of UNICEF shows that at least 62% of the teachers in nine different cities have the habit to shout to their students, and some others doni’t hesitate to offend them or pull their ears. 

This violent behavior is more visible in Shkoder and Elbasan. The Education Minister, Lindita Nikolli, declared that the extreme violence cases are mostly seen between teenagers themselves.
“There are many violent cases in Albanian schools. Mothers using violence for small mistakes done by their children, and other phenomena that can be found everywhere”, Nikolli declared.

“Schools should be a safe place, sometimes safer than homes. Children are human beings and need to be respected. We cannot look at them in every house, but at least we can control them in every school”, declared Detelf Palm, representative of UNICEF in Albania. 

Sequi: Administration reform, non politicized

The European Union Ambassador, Ettore Sequi, declared that the public administration reform is very important in a democratic state. He added that the administration should be stable and not politicized.

“There’s a huge interest on this matter. Our colleagues in Brussels will be very keen in following the public administration reform. The reforms has a special importance for the quality of services to citizens and the public administration should be stable, impartial and not politicized”, Sequi declared.

Belle Air's bankruptcy, chaos in Rinas

Hundreds of citizens who had to travel this Sunday and Monday with the Belle Air flights have stayed for hours at the Mother Theresa airport, where they asked explanations from the company for canceling their flights. 

“I want to go home, in Milan. I have to go at work. This way I’m losing my job and my future. I’m staying for hours in an airport and I don’t know when I will depart”, a passenger declared.

“There are people who don’t have money to travel, because other companies charge 200-300 EUR”, another man says.

Rejection of Syria's chemical weapons, a lost chance

The former United States Ambassador to NATO, Kurt Volker, and the former United States Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Ian Brzezinski, analyzed for Voice of America the way how the process was managed and if Albania would have benefited by a positive answer.

The two former high rank officials don’t deny that the public’s hesitation was understandable, keeping in mind that those were chemical weapons after other countries had rejected them, and with the Gerdec tragedy being still fresh.

“This was a chance for Albania to contribute in resolving a very serious international problem. With international help, Albania could have given a serious contribution”, declared the former United States Ambassador, Kurt Volker.