THE World Open is underway in Yushan, with some huge names eyeing the £175,000 jackpot.
Later today, Judd Trump takes on Long Zehuang in the last-64 of the tournament.
The World No1 is eyeing up a stunning three-peat in the World Open, having the last two editions of the tournament in 2019 and 2024.
CASINO SPECIAL – BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS
Follow our live blog below…
THE six Premier League clubs still active in Europe now know their round of 16 opponents.
Liverpool, Arsenal and Aston Villa will participate in the Champions League knockout stage in March while Tottenham and Manchester United are set to resume their Europa League campaigns – Chelsea remain favourites to win the Conference League.
The European competitions always have a significant bearing on Dream Team and managers should target these fixtures in the near future.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Arne Slot’s reward for topping the league phase is meeting with the best team in France – Ousmane Dembele and company beat Brest 10-0 on aggregate in the play-offs.
The Gunners will face the current Dutch champions, who edged out Juventus in the play-offs.
PSV have won just one of their six league games since the turn of the year.
Unai Emery will be quietly confident after the Villains were drawn against the team that finished 24th in the league phase, although Club Brugge did bear Villa 1-0 in Belgium back in November.
Liverpool and Aston Villa will meet in the quarter-finals if both sides progress beyond the last 16.
If Arsenal get past PSV, they will play the winners of Real Madrid v Atletico Madrid.
SEE THE FULL CHAMPIONS LEAGUE ROUND OF 16 DRAW HERE.
EUROPA LEAGUE
Like their North London rivals, Spurs have been drawn against Dutch opposition.
AZ lost to Ange Postecoglou’s side in North London in late October and ultimately finished 19th in the league phase.
The Red Devils’ goal-shy opponents are currently 11th in La Liga having lost four of their last five league games.
At the risk of getting far too ahead of the game, Spurs and Man United wouldn’t meet until the final…
SEE THE FULL EUROPA LEAGUE ROUND OF 16 DRAWS HERE.
CONFERENCE LEAGUE
SEE THE FULL CONFERENCE LEAGUE ROUND OF 16 DRAW HERE.
All the last 16 first legs will take place in Gameweek 26 with the second legs to follow in Gameweek 27.
Consequently, Aston Villa and Man United will be the only teams to fulfil two fixtures in Gameweek 26; the Villains will also host Cardiff in the FA Cup fifth round while the Red Devils will welcome Fulham to Old Trafford in the same competition.
All six clubs will then double up in Gameweek 27 as the second legs of the European ties will follow a full round of league fixtures.
GAMEWEEK 27 DOUBLE HEADERS
It’s worth noting that Cole Palmer has been added to the Blues’ Conference League squad for the knockout phase.
The England international wasn’t included in Enzo Maresca’s squad for the league phase of the competition with the Italian tactician citing “load management” but it seems Dream Team’s leading midfielder will have a part to play on Thursday nights going forward.
Play Score Predictor with Dream Team this season!
THE HOLLYWOOD Awards season continued in dramatic fashion on Sunday night – with A-listers flocking to Los Angeles for the SAG Awards.
The annual event, held at the Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall, celebrates the Screen Actors Guild and performances in both television and film that have captured our attention over the past year.
Hitting the red carpet in style, the stars continued to bring spectacular looks – with Selena Gomez leading the charge in a sleek, Old Hollywood-style navy Céline dress.
Wearing her hair in loose waves, Selena completed her look with diamonds and a simple red lip as she arrived at the event.
She was joined by her Emilia Perez co-star Zoe Saldana, who wore a form-fitting shoulderless gown with a bustling silver embellishment on the shoulder.
Ariana Grande, who was nominated for her role as Galinda in smash hit Wicked, loosely continued her character’s pink theme with a peachy-cream gown with floral detailing.
She was joined by boyfriend and co-star Ethan Slater, who looked dapper in a simple suit.
Elle Fanning also opted for a sleek black peplum dress by Loewe and red lipstick, adding a little more flare by completing the look with her bobbed blonde hair in a side parting and a thick diamond necklace.
Millie Bobby Brown, who presented an award across the evening, was joined by husband Jack Bongiovi and looked stunning in a simple but sleek peach gown.
Held up by pencil-thin straps, the boatbeck dress draped loosely across her shoulders.
She stayed close to her husband of nearly a year on the red carpet, and the pair were seen staring lovingly at each other as they posed for pictures.
Demi Moore – who won Female Actor in a Leading Role for her portrayal of Elizabeth Sparkle in horror The Substance – was perfectly respecting the balance between classy and rebellious.
The star wore a custom Bottega Veneta dress made of leather for her appearance on the red carpet.
Completing the look with a necklace and bracelet, the 62-year-old star looked suitably age-defying with her wavy hair hanging loose over her shoulders.
Keke Palmer also looked spectacular, donning a ginger bouffant hairstyle with a red lip, and wearing a black and gold tight-fitting dress.
The gown was a signature vintage piece by Chanel, and was previously worn by Jamie Lee Curtis back in 1985.
Completing the look with long black gloves, Keke looked stunning as she pulled sultry faces for the cameras.
The night’s festivities were hosted by Kristen Bell – who paid homage to her own impressive list of credits on the screen.
Opening the night with a parody version of Frozen’s Do You Want To Build A Snowman?, she later reunited with her Nobody Wants This co-star Adam Brody on stage.
Later on in the evening, she “ran into” Ted Danson and William Jackson Harper, her co-stars from The Good Place, with their awkward encounter later turning into a nod to movie Challengers.
Fans were also delighted when she brought back her iconic Gossip Girl voiceover for another section, before revealing to be hiding in the corner with Leighton Meester (who played Blair Waldorf on the show) eating bread rolls.
Among the celebrated stars was Jane Fonda, who made an empowering speech as she took to the stage to receive a Lifetime Achievement award, telling the audience she “wasn’t done yet” at the age of 87.
However, there were some shocks in the winner’s line-up – with Oscar favourite Anora being snubbed completely from awards, and Timotheé Chalamet finally landing a gong for his portrayal of Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown.
Over in the television awards, The Bear – who had scooped up multiple gongs over the past two years, went home empty-handed for the first time, while Disney+/Hulu’s Shogun took home four of the biggest awards of the night.
British star Jessica Gunning took home Best Actress in a Limited Series for her portrayal of Martha in Baby Reindeer.
While Selena didn’t win anything for Emilia Perez – another Oscar darling this year – she looked stunned when her TV sitcom Only Murders in The Building won Best Ensemble in a Comedy Series.
Sadly, her two co-stars, Martin Short and Steve Martin, weren’t present for the ceremony, with Selena joking that they “didn’t care”.
In actuality, Steve noted two days prior that Martin had come down with Covid after an appearance at the SNL 50th Anniversary, suggesting several of the actors at the celebration had also come down with it.
Here's who took home awards for Outstanding Performances at last night's ceremony:
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT: Jane Fonda
FILM
TELEVISION
‘Tis the season to be jolly because it’s awards season, but can these actors be jolly? Well, for starters, they have spent decades in the acting business, building a reputation and a name that has now become global and synonymous with Hollywood. And yet, after all this, no Oscar! How can that be? Thus, here […]
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
Amaravati, Feb 24 (SocialNews.XYZ) YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) President and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy attended the Assembly briefly on the first day of the Budget session before leading a walkout...
The post Jagan-led YSRCP walks out of Andhra Legislature over demand for LoP status appeared first on Social News XYZ.
New Delhi, Feb 24 (SocialNews.XYZ) Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva on Monday called the start of the Assembly session under a new BJP government a 'historic' moment, symbolising the restoration of true democratic process in...
The post Delhi Assembly session: Historic restoration of democracy, says city BJP chief appeared first on Social News XYZ.
Nuno Alexandre Tavares Mendes, better known as Nuno Mendes, is a highly skilled and talented Portuguese professional footballer. He currently…
Read More: Nuno Mendes Biography: Team, Height, Age, Net Worth, Siblings, Parents, Girlfriend, Children
Phaedra Parks is a well-known figure in reality television, law, and business. She is admired for her multifaceted career as…
Read More: Meet Phaedra Parks’ Siblings: Keosha Bell, Henri Jacques Parks, and Albert Bell
IN the coming days councils across Scotland are expected to vote for hefty rises in council tax.
Some of the larger authorities, like Glasgow and Edinburgh, have announced bumper double figure hikes already with others due to follow suit.
But why are Scots being hammered with the increases and what does it mean for services?
Today Professor Mairi Spowage, from Strathclyde University’s Fraser of Allander Institute, explains why councils are still struggling despite the planned hike – and why the tax must be reformed.
IN the news in recent days have been announcements by councils all over Scotland of council tax rises for the coming financial year.
Some councils, including East Lothian and the Scottish Borders, have confirmed double digit 10 per cent rises, with more expected to follow suit in the coming days.
Far from being additional investment that the councils can use to bolster or improve existing services, many councils are putting these increases in place to ensure that existing services can survive.
Indeed, in many areas it may well be that citizens see their services scaled back as bills go up, due to the increased costs of delivering services and the extra demand on statutory services like social care.
The Scottish Government, for its part, has said that local government has been given a record amount of funding for 2025-26 in the most recent budget. Specifically, the Finance Secretary said that, in the light of this, there should be no need for local government to implement large increases in council tax.
Let’s leave aside the reaction from the Scottish Government if the UK Government was to say something similar about the taxes within the control of the Scottish Parliament – council tax is a local tax and the level is for councils to set out.
The Scottish Government has put in place council tax freezes for 11 of the last 15 years by making a pot of money available to councils conditional on them agreeing to freeze the tax.
The Scottish Government claims that this covers the cost of the freeze, but it is not only the annual increase that councils have missed out on, it is also the compounded effect of the freeze over time.
Some key figures tell the story of what has happened to council tax and local government funding in recent years.
Several years of Council Tax freezes have eroded the value of the council tax collected by local authorities. The average amount of council tax per household was £980 in 2007-08; if this had simply increased by the rate of inflation since then, it would have been £1,494 per year by 2024-25, compared to the actual figure of £1,310, some 14 per cent lower. So the purchasing power of this tax has fallen over the years.
Given that council tax has been roughly 20 per cent of local government budgets for the last decade, this underlines the reduction of purchasing power in the local government budget overall.
The priority of local government in the Scottish Budget has also changed, although we should recognise that this has happened at the same time that the powers of the Scottish Government has changed.
In 2015-16, local government made up 29 per cent of the Scottish budget, compared to 24 per cent by 2023-24.
Given the additional responsibilities being given to local government (including ring-fencing of funding for e.g. early years provision), and increasing demand for their services in the face of this reduced purchasing power, it seems inevitable – despite (as described by COSLA) a “better” funding settlement from the Scottish Government this year – that councils would be seeking to increase the revenue they are raising from council tax.
Over three million households are owed a combined total of £544million in council tax refunds, according to a Sun investigation last month.
The average refund due is around £178, but some could be owed as much as £3,659.
Sun Money submitted a Freedom of Information Request to all 349 local authorities in England, Scotland and Wales to find out just how much taxpayer money our councils are sitting on.
You can check to see how much cash your local authority might be sitting on by searching for your council in our tool.
It’s surprisingly easy to overpay your council tax, and millions of us do.
One of the main reasons is moving house.
Council tax is usually billed annually, from April to April, but paid in instalments.
This means you’re always paying some of it in advance.
Therefore, if you move out before the year’s end, you’ll likely be due a refund for the remaining months.
Another reason for over payments is a change in your property’s council tax band.
If the band is lowered, you’re due a refund for the over payments made at the higher rate.
Finally, forgetting to cancel your direct debit after moving out can lead to continued payments and further over payments.
Finding out if you’re owed a council tax refund is easier than you think.
Many councils have online claim forms available on their website
To find your local council’s site, visit gov.uk/find-local-council.
While some forms can be lengthy, claiming online is often the quickest way to get your money back.
If you’ve recently moved, you’ll likely need your old council tax reference number, which you can find on a previous bill.
If your council doesn’t have an online form, or if the form seems too daunting, you can contact them directly by phone, email, or live chat.
The Accounts Commission recently set out the dire state of local authority finances, with many breaking even in the most recent year by dipping into reserves. This situation was unlikely to be sustainable.
The focus today and for the next few weeks will be on the rises imposed by individual councils and everyone waiting for the new council tax bills to hit their doormat.
But, as we discuss council tax, let’s not forget about the outdated nature of the tax calculations and how it must be reformed to make it more fair.
Whichever rates and bands are used for such a tax, it is completely unacceptable that more than half of households are in the wrong band due to the outdated valuations that are used (from 1991).
We would and should not accept that we were paying the wrong amount of income tax because the government had our wages wrong.
Perhaps the tax increasing in amount will also spur politicians into action to actually revalue the taxbase and ensure people are paying the correct amounts.
Sure – there will be winners and losers – but let’s remember as many people will be paying too much tax as too little.
