Asianet Pakistan Private Limited

Erling Haaland said the secret of his blistering start to the season is being able to relax with his baby son after the Manchester City star extended his hot streak in Sunday’s 1-0 win at Brentford.

Haaland struck with a typically predatory finish in the ninth minute and City survived a second half dip to climb into fifth place in the Premier League.

The Norway striker has netted in nine consecutive appearances for club and country – the longest scoring run of his career.

Haaland already has 12 goals in nine appearances in all competitions this season, plus six in two matches for Norway, with Tottenham the only team to stop him scoring in the current campaign.

The 25-year-old believes he is in the best shape, both mentally and physically, of his prolific three-year spell at City.

And he puts that down to the birth of his first child in December.

‘I have never felt better than I do now. It is about preparation, getting ready for the games. You can be physically ready but you need to be mentally ready,’ he said.

‘With a kid it makes me even better because I disconnect more than ever. I don’t think about football at all.

‘When you are young you think of this and that and maybe worry about things but when I get home I relax even more. I think I need to give a shout-out to my son.’

Haaland’s 18th goal for club and country this season leaves Anfield as the only ground he has yet to score at in the Premier League.

Pleased with the way he eluded Brentford’s central defenders to convert Josko Gvardiol’s long pass with a fierce finish, Haaland ranked the goal among his best in the City career.

‘This for me this goal is top. This was one of my better goals for me because of the whole thing,’ he said.

‘It was a tough game, and reminded me of Stoke City with Rory Delap 15 years ago. They are huge and do throw-ins from the middle so of course it is not easy but it is about preparing for what is going to come and analysing well and we did.’

Haaland has scored a remarkable 94 Premier League goals in just 104 appearances in the competition since arriving from Borussia Dortmund in 2022.

He thrived against Brentford despite the suffocating attention from their massed defence.

No wonder Barcelona president Joan Laporta is said to be determined to launch a bid for Haaland after reportedly making the striker his top transfer target.

Haaland, who signed a new nine-and-a-half year contract in January, is just focused on helping City chase Premier League leaders Arsenal, who sit three points clear of Pep Guardiola’s team.

A low block is not easy, five people around us at all times. It is why it is not easy and why it feels even better to win,’ Haaland said.

Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) chair and former Bayan Muna Rep. Teodoro ‘Teddy’ Casiño on Monday agreed to Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano’s call for members of the executive and the legislative branches to resign, but opposed to the senator’s suggestion of a snap election.

‘I think a snap election will not solve the problem because we know how problematic our election is, but I do agree, when he said they should all resign and leave office, that’s probably a good starting point,’ Casiño told the Inquirer.

Cayetano, in a Facebook post on Sunday, called for a snap election, and the resignation of his elected colleagues in the executive and legislative branches in government, in response to public distrust brought by the ongoing investigations on supposed flood-control project anomalies.

Casiño disapproved of a snap election, saying that only those in political dynasties, and those with money would win the elections regardless, even alluding that there are those who already use government funds to maintain their power.

The ex-congressman also said that corruption needs a more ‘fundamental’ solution.

‘That will not solve the problem, it will probably just change the people in government, but it will not change the system. We need something more fundamental,’ Casiño pressed.

Still, Casiño shared that Cayetano may have been joking, adding that he ‘did not think’ the senator was serious in his call for a snap election.

Apart from Casiño, Cayetano’s suggestion sparked criticisms and doubts from current and former government officials, among others.

Retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said that Cayetano’s idea of a snap election barring incumbent officials to run ‘without a lawful cause’ may be unconstitutional.

Similarly, Comelec Chair George Erwin Garcia also said that there must be a law to execute a snap election in the first place. Garcia also called the mass resignation ‘problematic’ if it happens, as legislators who are meant to adopt the election in the first place would not exist.

Cayetano’s own brother, former Taguig City Mayor Lino Cayetano, challenged the senator to lead his own call in resigning.

Defending champion Jannik Sinner retired Sunday from the Shanghai Masters after suffering a leg injury in his third-round match against the Netherlands’ Tallon Griekspoor.

The world number two began to experience issues in the fourth game of the third set, and tried to persevere before abandoning the match when trailing 6-7 (3/7), 7-5, 3-2.

After an evenly matched first set, the four-time Grand Slam winner showed his teeth in the tiebreak, hitting two aces to take an early lead.

In the second set the tension picked up, with the Dutchman surviving three break points in the second game.

But it was Griekspoor who broke in the 11th game with a backhand, pushing the match into post-midnight territory.

Sinner ended the fourth game of the third set crouched over in pain, limping around the court.

His condition did not improve in the fifth and he hit the ball into the net multiple times, providing an easy break for his opponent, before having to be helped to his chair at the end of the game and then calling it quits.

A mass action against corruption for the month of October is currently being discussed, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) chair Teodoro ‘Teddy’ Casiño revealed on Monday afternoon.

‘There are suggestions that aside from the one on November 30, that this month [October] there should be a big centralized rally. So these are the things that are being discussed now. The various sectors are also preparing their own big actions, so we are encouraging that because of what we are seeing,’ Casiño said in an interview with the Inquirer.

The Bayan chair also urged local communities to hold their own mass actions, highlighting the importance of ‘public pressure’ to continue the ongoing clamor against corruption.

‘We are encouraging the various communities including schools and churches, the homeowners associations to organize their own [mass] actions. Let’s start with local actions, and then let’s make them bigger and bigger,’ Casiño pressed.

Furthermore, the Bayan chair also revealed that suggestions have been made to ‘delay paying of taxes’ or even the ‘non-paying of taxes,’ but these moves, Casiño admitted, are still being studied.

Bayan is among the many groups organizing and encouraging anti-corruption protests by various groups and sectors.

In an earlier statement, Bayan said that it is ‘only through the people’s collective action that we can exact accountability from corrupt officials.’

Church Leaders Council for National Transformation, the organizers of the September 21 ‘Trillion Peso March’ anti-corruption protest, announced that it will hold another rally on November 30 in commemoration of Bonifacio Day.

According to the religious group, 100 groups are expected to attend the November rally.

A series of Black Friday protests and academic walkouts have also commenced since the investigations into the supposed flood control anomalies began in September.

The House of Representatives should realign portions of the proposed P6.793-trillion national budget for 2026 to finish flood control projects and prioritize disaster resilience initiatives, according to Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan.

Libanan said this during Monday’s plenary session when he delivered his turno en contra speech on the proposed national budget for 2026, revealing that minority lawmakers call for ‘realignment, accountability, and courage,’ so that the budget ‘may truly serve the people.’

‘We are a nation battered by typhoons, floods, and rising seas. Yet, the sense of urgency in this budget is lacking. Flood control projects, which could have shielded our communities, are too often delayed, riddled with questions and controversies, and now set aside. Locally funded flood control projects have even been removed from the DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways) national expenditure program,’ Libanan said.

‘Thus, after the investigations on flood control, it has become all the more urgent that we allocate the necessary funds to ensure these projects are finally completed. At a time when storms grow fiercer and storm surges threaten to wash away entire towns, we cannot afford for the budget to fall short in protecting our most vulnerable,’ he added.

Libana likewise pointed out that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) receives only P29.3 billion, or .43 percent of the proposed national budget for next year.

Broken down, the lawmaker noted that only P346 million was allocated for solid waste management, which he said is ‘considerably very small, in the face of Metro Manila’s garbage crisis.’

‘What we need is a comprehensive national solid waste management program, one that supports local government units with modern waste facilities, invests in segregation and recycling systems, and builds a real circular economy,’ Libanan claimed.

‘Without such a program, we are merely sweeping the problem aside, while communities struggle with mounting waste and pollution,’ he added.

Libanan further pointed out that while P983 billion is labeled as climate-related expenditures, 76.7 percent goes to the DPWH, 13 percent to the Department of Transportation, and barely 1 percent to the DENR.

‘This is climate budgeting by mislabeling. Most painful of all, our Pacific-facing provinces, Eastern Samar, Northern Samar, Southern Leyte, Surigao, Catanduanes, Bicol, Isabela, and Aurora, remain without seawalls, evacuation centers, or resilient infrastructure that shield the nation from every typhoon, yet they are left most exposed,’ he said.

Due to the controversies surrounding the flood control projects, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. had ordered the realignment of P255.5 billion intended for flood control projects next year to instead fund the priority programs of other government agencies

He said last month that it was ‘more necessary’ to fund other priority programs, hoping the realignment from the DPWH budget would send a signal to other agencies to curb graft and corruption in their turf.

The President’s allies in the House of Representatives apparently began to carry out his order.

On Sept. 24, the amendments and review subcommittee of the House committee on appropriations, now chaired by Nueva Ecija Rep. Mikaela Suansing, approved a report reflecting the redistribution of the P255.5 billion taken from the DPWH to different programs, with the health sector getting the biggest share.

Two students were killed while three others were injured after lightning struck their hut in Barangay Kauswagan here Sunday night.

According to initial reports, five young men were having a small gathering inside a nipa hut around 7 p.m. when a bolt of lightning hit a nearby coconut tree and struck them.

The fatalities were identified as Mark Zorend Butal and Jobert Lumicday, both 21 years old, who were declared dead on arrival at San Miguel Hospital.

Three others – Lemuel Estorgio, 23; Nelo Racines, 20; and Ramces Roscual, 24- survived the incident.

Estorgio sustained serious injuries but managed to regain consciousness and seek help from a nearby house about 100 meters away.

He was initially rushed to San Miguel Hospital and later transferred to Don Emilio Hospital for further treatment.

Racines and Roscual also regained consciousness and searched for their two companions, who remained unresponsive. Both suffered minor injuries and were taken to the Garcia Memorial Provincial Hospital in Talibon.

Members of the Barangay Emergency Response Team and local volunteers assisted in bringing the victims to the hospital.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration had earlier issued a thunderstorm advisory for Bohol on Sunday evening, warning of possible heavy rains, lightning, and strong winds.

Novak Djokovic said he had been ‘hanging by a rope’ before battling through to the Shanghai Masters last 16 with a 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 win over qualifier Yannick Hanfmann on Sunday.

The 38-year-old Serb is looking to win a record-extending fifth title in Shanghai but was given a mighty scare by the 150th-ranked German.

Djokovic fired two aces to start, delighting the crowd, but soon ran into trouble as Hanfmann found his range.

The German broke in the third game and held serve after that to clinch the first set.

‘I was just outplayed by a better player for a set and a half — I was hanging by a rope to stay in the match,’ Djokovic said.

Neither player was able to take control of a gruelling second set, until a series of unforced errors from Hanfmann in the 12th game gave Djokovic the opening he needed.

Sweating in 28 C humidity at 9:00 pm, the 24-time Grand Slam champion then broke in the fourth game of the third set as his 33-year-old opponent’s precision dropped.

Cheered on by a stadium full of adoring fans, Djokovic held his resolve to take the third set after Hanfmann hit the ball out.

‘I had to dig in really, really deep to come out from this match as a winner, and I think the energy and support of the crowd really got me out,’ Djokovic said.

The United States’ Taylor Fritz was not so lucky, becoming the highest-ranked player to be dumped out so far after he fell to 37th-ranked Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard 6-4, 7-5.

On a hot afternoon, the world number four seemed lethargic and struggled to get into his stride, unnerved after Mpetshi Perricard nearly broke twice in the fifth game.

That preempted a streak of brilliance that saw the neon orange-clad Frenchman fire three aces to hold the sixth, then break in the seventh.

A closely fought second set came to a head in the 11th game when a double fault by Fritz handed Mpetshi Perricard the advantage, which he swiftly converted with a backhand.

Finishing the match off with two aces, the big-serving 22-year-old said he could be proud of himself.

‘It was tough to be honest, tough conditions, very humid,’ he said.

‘The game at 5-5 (in the second set), it was terrible. I thought I was dying on the court,’ he chuckled.

Mpetshi Perricard will next face 11th-ranked Dane Holger Rune, who beat France’s Ugo Humbert, 6-4, 6-4.