The Week's Top Ten

1. Another Week...Another environmental disaster

Indonesia was hit by a recent double whammy of a 7.5 magnitude earthquake and its resulting Tsunami. Greatly affecting Sulawesi, Palu region of Indonesia the disaster has shredded the city to ruins and around 832 people are confirmed dead. The death could rise to over 1000 (although we are extensively praying it won't) as search and rescue teams desperately search for any survivors. Like the Haiti earthquake in 2010, the region's supplies have been hit and many have taken to looting for any form of food. 



With around 17000 people rendered homeless and an estimated 2.4 million people affected by the Earthquake X Tsunami,  aid has been slow to reach the worst affected areas as roads and the airport are damaged. RIP. ( P.S. If you want to donate to the Indonesian people you can go here, or just google and send it through any other site, or send to ( working on some kinks) us and we'll send it to them 100%)

2. EA releases FIFA 19

Well, Ronnie is back on the cover, wearing a Juventus shirt this time as EA release their latest FIFA edition to combat PES at its own game. 

There is Alex Hunter again but this time EA has gained licensing for the Champions League and Europa League so you could have fun in Europe. And you could even receive a free FIFA 19 copy, although this only applies if your name is Kim Hunter ( Alex's sister). Still, we are plenty excited, as when do you ever see Danny Welbeck scoring a hattrick against Real Madrid right? However physical sales have taken a hit.

3. Mercedes renames its Project to their most Punnable car ever

While last week's Top Ten saw us revealing the spy shots of AMG's flagship car, this week sees the car getting a new name called-ahem- One. Yeah, that's right. All the German's did was a drop off the 'Project' in the previous name of the car. Imagining working so hard to build a top of the line F1 tech derived road-legal bazooka only to name it the 'One'.

 But hypercar names are funny. McLaren did the same when their first Ultimate Series model was called P1, Ferrari have the Enzo Ferrari and the LaFerrari which literally translates to Ferrari The Ferrari. So Mercedes-AMG One doesn't sound as bad, and it hasn't really affected sales as all of them are predictably sold out. Still the amount of puns you can make with this limitless. Is that your 'one' over there? If I bought one 'one' and a second 'one' which 'one' would be my favourite 'one'? The car is kinda one-stop rocket, isn't it? Will the next edition be Two or one 'point' one.

4. Bottas the fall guy as Hamilton extends Title lead.

Bottas my man, Lewey was always the 'Chosen One'. Yep, Toto would never say that but that's what it looked as Bottas was left to defensive duties. Even Hamilton said that Bottas would have won the race. Still, while Mercedes were doing all they can to make sure their driver is on top of the standings if Bottas gets continued to be relegated to be wingman duties he might decide to try his luck elsewhere. However, if Bottas decides to soldier on, he should take things up a notch the next season so that Mercedes end up preferring the Fin over the Briton when it comes to crunch races like these.

5. Elon Musk resigns as Tesla Chairman

Now only left to his CEO position Musk has decided it was time to step down from chairmanship, no doubt due to the SEC charges against his U-turn over his magnanimous plans to take Tesla private. It has cost Elon a s**t ton of money however, as the charges against him were settled for 20 million USD (rising to 40 million USD). Well, he's a billionaire but losing a pile of dollars ain't exactly chump change for the rest of us. Now we wait for him to tweet something stupid.

6. Iran retaliates against militant attacks

As mentioned in last weeks Top Ten, militants attacked a parade in Iran killing 29 people and wounding 70 or so more. While police did claim they had 'shot 4 or 5 attackers', Iran weren't satisfied and have sent a barrage of missiles to eastern Syria. Six ballistic missiles along with additional drone strikes 'hit targets' in the Al Bukamal region of Syria. The Iran regional news agency have reported that several militants were killed and another FARS agency claimed that the missiles were decorated with "death to America", "death to Israel" and "death to Saudi Arabia", no doubt aggressively written on them. It's tough to say how much of this is true as the national news agency were vague in their bulletins.

7. Trump loves Kim. Will they tie the knot 

(figuratively) ?

 “I was really being tough and so was he, and we would go back and forth. And then we fell in love. No, really. He wrote me beautiful letters.” said Trump when discussing future relationship issues with North Korea.

 While the bombastic US president has been-ahem-unruly at times, the open talks with North Korea are definitely one (maybe the only one..matter of perspective) of the greatest thing Trump has done since assuming office. While 'love' might be stretching a bit, as Trump did criticize Kim for being too vague in his denuclearisation talks, the previously frosty relationship has visibly thawed to open speech. Moreover, South Korean leader Moon Jae-In has been making significant strides with both Trump and, more importantly, Kim himself. Too good to be true? Nah.. let's have some hope eh?

8. India opens stunning airport in the Himalayas.

Reaching a grand total of 100 airports in India, the country has unveiled their scenery enticing airport in Pakyong, Sikkim. At a height of around 1400 metres, it is nowhere close to some of the world's highest airports but few can match for sheer drama on landing and/or takeoff. 

In Troy Deeney's words, India does have a big set of 'cajones' as this architecture marvel required careful planning, digging, work against notorious Indian rains to add heavy reinforcement so heavy planes would land here without crumbling the tarmac. Built at a cost of around 68.7 million USD, this airport was built in a relatively remote region to enhance tourism.

9. Team US fails to beat Team Europe at Ryder Cup

The Europeans outplayed the Americans to set up a comfortable win on European soil. All the talk about the incredible comeback of Tiger Woods galvanising his teammates to beat their cross Atlantic counterparts failed to materialise as Europe finished with 17.5 points to US's 10.5. While the US did come to within a point on the last day of the 42nd tournament, Jon Rahm's stunning victory over Tiger himself led to Europe bludgeoning their way through. The game ended when Francesco Molinari beat Phil Mickelson 4-2 to set an unassailable lead.

10. La Liga title race hots up, Man Utd lose to West Ham, and Ronnie provides 3 assists.

All is not going well at Barca and/or Real Madrid. After decisive Champions League victories over PSV and Roma respectively, many expected Barca and Real to slug it out again for the title. However, both lost on the same day, with Barca losing 2-1 to bottom club Leganes and Real getting blown away in Seville. Their games were followed by listless draws Barca 1-1 with Athletico Bilbao as Real 0-0 Atletico Madrid as both failed to score. Messi was benched for much of the clash, but without his inspiration in the dying minutes, Barca would have surely lost. Both teams remain at 14 points respectively with Barca topping on goal difference. More importantly, however, is that Sevilla are just one point behind with Atletico Madrid and Real Betis an additional point behind. Only 3 points separate the 1st and 7th places!

 

In the EPL, things went from bad to worse for Man Utd, losing to West Ham 3-1 as the rest of their top 4 rivals either won or drew their games. Mourinho is having his 3rd season syndrome (again!) and unless he gets the best out of the lacklustre Pogba and Sanchez he will be out of the top 4 and sacked. 

In Italy however, another Man Utd prodigy is having the time of his life as Ronaldo turned provider instead of goalscorer for the top of the table Juventus vs Napoli clash. While calling it all intended assists is questionable, as Ronnie's shots were simply deflected into the paths of lucky Juventus players, no one can deny that this was perhaps Ronnie's best game so far in this season. It remains to be seen whether he will be missed against a trip to Young Boys.