WORLD

BARCELONA are ready to spend up to £140m to land Philippe Coutinho. The Catalan giants are preparing a fourth offer for the Liverpool star and are prepared to smash the British transfer record to get the deal done this month. Coutinho, 25, wants to seal his dream move to Spain before the transfer window closes and Barcelona are willing to ...

JOSE MOURINHO has hit back at claims that he will leave Manchester United at the end of the season. Reports circulated this morning that the Portuguese boss will step down from his role as it looks unlikely the Red Devils will claim any silverware this season. But Jose Mourinho has hit back and claimed the rumours are “garbage” and he ...

A hiker has been found alive and “really well” after spending five days lost in the Australian bush. Julio Ascui, 50, had not been seen since Friday when he posted a selfie in the Grampians National Park, in the state of Victoria. Authorities and relatives spent days searching for him. They traced the start of the bushwalker’s journey by using ...

The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards has declared the defeat of the “sedition” in the country, referring to a wave of anti-government protests. Maj Gen Mohammad Ali Jafari made the announcement as tens of thousands of people attended pro-government rallies called to counter the unrest. It began last Thursday in the city of Mashhad and has seen 21 people killed. ...

Egypt’s top imam has endorsed a ban on trading in Bitcoin by declaring it “forbidden” by Islam. Sheikh Shawki Allam, the Grand Mutfi, said the digital crypto-currency carried risks of “fraudulence, lack of knowledge, and cheating”. Bitcoin began last year below $1,000 (£737) but reached nearly $20,000 before the end of the year. Then it lost more than 25% of ...

Ethiopia’s prime minister has announced the release of all political prisoners and the closure of a notorious detention centre which allegedly used torture to extract confessions. Hailemariam Desalegn told a press conference charges would also be dropped for those still awaiting trial. The move was designed to allow political dialogue, he said. Ethiopia is accused by human rights groups of ...

A team of Google researchers has created psychedelic stickers that can fool image recognition software into seeing objects that are not there. Using a toaster as an example, the team produced colourful computer-generated patterns by sampling hundreds of photographs of the appliance. When the patterns were put next to another item, such as a banana, many neural networks saw a ...

An American YouTube star says he does not expect to be forgiven after he posted a video which showed the body of an apparent suicide victim in Japan. The video showed Logan Paul and friends discovering the body in the Aokigahara forest at the base of Mount Fuji, known to be a frequent site of suicides. It prompted a barrage ...

Whoever asked Jose Mourinho about Paul Scholes’ criticism of Paul Pogba probably had an inkling of what was about to follow. “Scholes will be in history as a phenomenal player. Not as a pundit,” the Portuguese snarled back. “It is not Paul’s fault that he made much more money than Paul Scholes. If Paul one day decides to be a ...

JOSE MOURINHO’s subtle digs about Manchester United’s spending is not going down well with the club’s hierarchy. The Portuguese boss has made no secret of his frustrations at United falling 15 points behind league leaders Manchester City, suggesting he doesn’t have the squad capable of challenging for the title. Jose Mourinho even claimed the £260million he’s spent in the last ...