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NFL

Vikings' Diggs confident he'll play vs. Browns

LONDON — Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Stefon Diggs, who has missed two games with a groin injury, is confident he’ll be able to return to action Sunday.

The Vikings, who lead the NFC North at 5-2 and are looking for their fourth consecutive win, arrived early Thursday in London ahead of their clash with the Cleveland Browns at Twickenham Stadium for the NFL’s fourth and final game in the UK this season.

“It’s exciting to come back [to the UK],” said Diggs, who visited the country over the summer. “It’s going to be a busy trip, but I can’t wait to play some football out here.

“I feel good. We’ve got a little bit of time left, so I’ll be ready to go.”

Diggs was listed as a full practice participant Thursday after limited participation on Wednesday.

Stefon Diggs didn’t mind the unusual practice conditions that the Vikings encountered Thursday at Syon House in Hyde Park. Said Diggs: “All we need is the grass and a couple of lines.” AP Photo/Matt Dunham

The 23-year-old Diggs, who has a team-leading four touchdown receptions this season, missed the Vikings’ victories over the Baltimore Ravens and Green Bay Packers.

When asked whether he had received any indication whether he would be ready to face the Browns, Diggs replied: “I’m the indication — we’ll see [Friday].

“At the end of the day you’ll have to ask [coach Mike] Zimmer — I was confident [of playing] last week, so I guess we’ll see.”

  • The long flight, time change and disruption in their routines make the NFL’s initiative in London mostly a drag, Cleveland players say.

With the historic Syon House on one side and a herd of cows on the other, the former fifth-round draft pick out of Maryland seemed unfazed by his surroundings as he spoke beside the crudely marked patch of grass on which the Vikings had been doing walk-through practices.

“I try not to pay too much attention to the surroundings when you’ve got plays to worry about,” Diggs said. “It doesn’t really matter. All we need is the grass and a couple of lines. We’ll make it work and execute no matter what. At the end of the day, that’s football.”

Diggs also expressed his happiness to see quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, who also practiced Thursday after recovering from a horrific knee injury that has kept him out for 14 months.

“It’s good,” Diggs said. “I haven’t thrown with him yet, so it’s a little different. But his aura and what he brings to the game as a person and a teammate is definitely huge.

“Teddy’s going to be Teddy. He’s always going to be the same person no matter what.”

Soccer

ITUC: Qatari government to end kafala system ahead of 2022 World Cup

In the war against modern slavery, the International Trade Union Confederation won a battle.

On Wednesday, the ITUC welcomed a breakthrough to end the kafala system, announcing that new guidance and commitments made by Qatar’s government will dismantle the system, which requires migrant workers to have an in-country sponsor and has led to millions becoming trapped in Qatar. Further meetings are planned with the country’s labour minister on implementing labour rights for two million migrant workers.

The ITUC has constantly called on Qatar to “make the 2022 World Cup a World Cup with rights for all workers,” demanding that the system is abolished and replaced with a minimum wage, workers representation, and a grievance procedure to settle disputes while also eliminating contract substitution.

“The new guidance from Qatar signals the start of real reforms in Qatar which will bring to an end the use of modern slavery and puts the country on the pathway to meeting its international legal obligations on workers’ rights,” Sharan Burrow, ITUC’s general secretary, said. “Following discussions in Doha there is a clear government commitment to normalise industrial protections for migrant workers.

“These initiatives have the support of the ITUC, and we hope that implementation will be also supposed by the ILO with its technical expertise. Much remains to be done, but these steps open the way for workers to be treated with dignity and for their lives and livelihoods to be protected.”

Six steps are included in the government’s guidance and commitments. They include:

  • Employment contracts will be lodged with a government authority to prevent contract substitution, ending the practice of workers arriving in the country only to have their contract torn up and replaced with a different job, often on a lower wage
  • Employers will no longer be able to stop their employees from leaving the country
  • A minimum wage will be prescribed as a base rate covering all workers, ending the race-based system of wages
  • Identification papers will be issued directly by the State of Qatar, and workers will no longer rely on their employer to provide their ID card without which workers can be denied medical treatment
  • Workers’ committees will be established in each workplace, with workers electing their own representatives
  • A special disputes resolution committee with a timeframe for dealing with grievances will be a centerpiece for ensuring rapid remedy of complaints

As the Guardian’s David Conn writes, the kafala system is an abuse of human rights which ties workers to “a single employer, low pay, poor accommodation, and labouring in dangerous heat,” resulting in hundreds of unexplained deaths.

In September, Human Rights Watch said: “Qatari authorities should adopt and enforce adequate restrictions on outdoor work to protect the lives of migrant workers who are at risk from working in the country’s intense heat and humidity.” Heat protection regulations for the majority of workers do not prohibit outdoor work during hours where weather conditions reach levels that result in potentially fatal heat-related illnesses.

FIFA voted Qatar as the host of the 2022 World Cup in 2010.

“If you think about it, I've never held a job in my life. I went from being an NFL player to a coach to a broadcaster. I haven't worked a day in my life.”
-John Madden


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