Real Madrid got their season up and running when Gareth Bale and James Rodríguez both struck twice in a 5-0 drubbing of Real Betis. Rafael Benítez restored Rodríguez to the starting lineup against last season’s second division winners after he was controversially left out in the 0-0 draw at another promoted side, Sporting Gíjon, on the opening weekend. The Colombian was in scintillating form at the Bernabéu and crossed for Bale to head home in only the second minute. Rodríguez smashed in a superb free-kick before half-time and Bale crossed for Karim Benzema to make it 3-0 two minutes into the second half. Rodríguez then fired in an acrobatic overhead kick three minutes later as Real tormented Seville-based Betis. Betis had a chance to pull a goal back when Raphael Varane conceded a penalty for a foul on the substitute Jorge Molina but Keylor Navas saved Rubén Castro’s weak 61st-minute effort. Bale, who overshadowed an out-of-sorts … [Read more...] about James Rodríguez and Gareth Bale at double for Real Madrid against Betis
James harden rockets
Ronnie O’Sullivan swaps handshake for fist bump as ‘I’m OCD about germs’
Ronnie O’Sullivan caused a stir over his reluctance to shake hands before his Scottish Open match against James Cahill before comfortably progressing to the third round. O’Sullivan attempted to fist bump both his opponent and the referee, explaining his actions later when he said: “I’ll admit I’m a bit OCD with germs.” “I don’t open door handles, I always have tissues on door handles, I am a bit OCD like that,'” he told Eurosport after he dispatched 23-year-old Cahill. “I have got a bit of a germ thing. It’s easier to do that and I don’t get any germs.” O’Sullivan suffered a shock defeat by Cahill during last season’s World Championship, but took just over 30 minutes to secure a dominant whitewash. Misses from Cahill smoothed a path for O’Sullivan to take the first two frames, with the third following despite the five-time World Champion missing a black off the spot. The match was put to bed … [Read more...] about Ronnie O’Sullivan swaps handshake for fist bump as ‘I’m OCD about germs’
Villarreal sit top of La Liga for the first time in their history … and it matters
Their manager described it as nothing more than anecdotal but it was historic too. This was an achievement, even for the club that reached a Champions League semi-final despite being from a town so small that every person resident there could go to the Camp Nou and they’d still leave 50,000 empty seats. The club that left behind a quarter of a century in tercera, Spain’s “third” division which is really anything from its seventh to its 24th, to play 16 seasons in primera and 12 in Europe, boasted a European Golden Boot and made three European champions and a World Cup winner. They’d been to the San Siro and Old Trafford but they’d never been here before: Villarreal are top of the league for the first time ever. Villarreal have been Copa del Rey semi-finalists, European Cup semi-finalists, Europa League semi-finalists and La Liga runners-up. In 2006, Juan Román Riquelme missed that penalty and they missed out on the European Cup final. Every time … [Read more...] about Villarreal sit top of La Liga for the first time in their history … and it matters
Cybersecurity stocks boom after ransomware attack
The ransomware attack that disrupted the NHS and businesses around the world has led to a boom in share prices of cybersecurity companies – including the firm used by the health service to protect it against hackers. With governments and companies expected to increase spending on IT security after being caught out by the attack, cybersecurity firms have seen their stock market values climb sharply over the past two days. Shares in Sophos, a cloud network security specialist which counts the NHS among its clients, have jumped by about 8%. Over the weekend, a claim on the company’s website that “the NHS is totally protected with Sophos” was changed to “Sophos understands the security needs of the NHS”. Last week, the company tweeted its “top five tips for securing NHS organisations”. But its shares have been performing well over recent months because of the increased need for cyber defences. Meanwhile, NCC group added 5% to its share … [Read more...] about Cybersecurity stocks boom after ransomware attack
WannaCry ransomware attack ‘linked to North Korea’
Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has reportedly attributed the WannaCry malware, which affected the NHS and other organisations worldwide in May, to the North Korean-affiliated hacking team Lazarus Group. The NCSC, which is the public face of the British defence against cyber-attacks and works closely with the UK surveillance agency GCHQ, said it would neither confirm or deny the reports. But a separate source confirmed the NCSC had led the international investigation into the WannaCry bug and completed its assessment within the last few weeks. GCHQ’s US counterpart, the National Security Agency, has also linked the WannaCry bug to North Korea. The NCSC investigation reached the same conclusion based on its own research, the source said, adding no evidence had emerged of anyone else being involved. Private companies have reverse-engineered the code, but the British assessment was apparently based on wider information. Analysis of the code behind the … [Read more...] about WannaCry ransomware attack ‘linked to North Korea’