Soccer: Brazil expect Neymar to carry on in World Cup despite ankle injury

LUSAIL: Brazilian striker Neymar should be fine to continue in the World Cup despite limping off with a swollen ankle during his team's 2-0 victory over Serbia on Thursday, coach Tite said.

"We are confident that Neymar will continue playing, he will continue playing in the World Cup," Tite told reporters, confessing that he was initially unaware of his striker's injury.

"I didn't see Neymar was hurt. And he had the capacity to overcome this, he even tricked me."

Team doctor Rodrigo Lasmar said Brazil would wait 24-48 hours before assessing Neymar's injury.

The Paris St Germain striker, the most expensive player in the world following his record 222 million-euro ($231 million) transfer from Barcelona, played a pivotal role in Brazil's win in their first game in Group G in Qatar.

He wriggled into the box to pass to Vinicius Jr. to set up Richarlison for Brazil's opening goal in the second half.

Later, however, he appeared to be in tears as he left the pitch with a visibly swollen ankle.

That was reminiscent of the back injury which put Neymar out of the World Cup on home soil in 2014.

Match winner Richarlison, who scored a spectacular swivelling overhead volley for Brazil's second goal, said he had spoken to his team mate to check on his injury.

"It seems he has a hurt ankle and I told him to put a lot of ice on it to recover as soon as possible to have him 100% at the next match. When I get to the hotel, I'm going to go and see how he's doing," he said.

Richarlison has now scored nine goals in his last seven games for Brazil and is oozing confidence.

"As our professor Tite has said 'I am smelling goals'!" he said. "At half time, I told my colleagues I needed a ball and if I got it, I would score. And that's what happened.

"We had a beautiful victory and now we have another six games to reach our goal."

Short-term rates set to remain stable on BNM operations

KUALA LUMPUR: Short-term rates are expected to remain stable today on Bank Negara Malaysia's (BNM) operations to absorb surplus liquidity from the financial system.

Liquidity is estimated at RM51.12 billion in the conventional system and RM48.98 billion in Islamic funds.

Today, the central bank will conduct two RM2 billion conventional money market tenders, each one for seven days and 14 days, respectively, and a reverse repo tender of RM550 million for 61 days.

BNM has also called for three Qard tenders, comprising a RM1.80 billion tender for seven days, a RM800 million tender for 14 days and a RM900 million tender for 21 days.

It had also announced the availability of reverse repo, sale and buy-back agreements, and Collateralised Commodity Murabahah facilities for tenors of one to three months.

At 4 pm, it will conduct up to RM46.7 billion in conventional overnight tender and RM44.5 billion for the Murabahah overnight tender.

Following the announcement of Nov 28, 2022 as a public holiday, the central bank said that the maturity and settlement of money market placements with the bank for value date Nov 28 will be shifted to the next business day, namely Nov 29.

Adidas launches probe into misconduct allegations against Kanye West

Adidas on Thursday said it has launched an investigation into allegations of inappropriate behavior by Kanye West, after the German sporting goods maker last month ended its partnership with the rapper and fashion designer.

Adidas said it initiated the probe after receiving an anonymous letter making several allegations against the musician, who now goes by Ye.

The investigation follows a report by Rolling Stone magazine that detailed alleged incidents of inappropriate behavior by Ye toward staff and prospective employees. Rolling Stone cited interviews with more than two dozen former Yeezy and Adidas staff.

According to the magazine, former members of the team sent an anonymous letter to Adidas in which they said senior leaders at the company were aware of Ye's behavior, but had turned a "blind eye" and "turned their moral compass off."

"It is currently not clear whether the accusations made in an anonymous letter are true," an Adidas spokesperson said in a statement to Reuters.

"However, we take these allegations very seriously and have taken the decision to launch an independent investigation of the matter immediately to address the allegations."

Ye could not be immediately be reached for comment. News of the probe was first reported by the Financial Times on Thursday.

Union Investment, which owns a 0.76% stake in Adidas, wrote to the company asking for more information about the claims.

"Adidas needs to disclose when the management and the supervisory board was first informed about the internal allegations," Janne Werning, who heads ESG Capital Markets & Stewardship at Union Investment, said in a statement to Reuters.

Ye has courted controversy in recent months by publicly ending major corporate tie-ups and making outbursts on social media against other celebrities. His Twitter and Instagram accounts were restricted, with the social media platforms removing some of his posts that users condemned as antisemitic.