WATCH: Final Laps: Johnson breaks record MORE: Click here to watch episodes of “Fantasy Showdown” before this week’s race. WATCH: Dale Jr.: misses pit road WATCH: Victory Lane: Johnson wins at Dover WATCH: Keselowski brings out caution

ShareShareSharePrintMailGooglePinterestDiggRedditStumbleuponDeliciousBufferTumblr As the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service begin to disperse stimulus payments under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), an article from KrebsOnSecurity warns that the new website to help non-filers could make it easy for thieves to intercept some payments.The agencies Friday launched a new web portal, the non-filer tool, to help those who don’t normally file a tax return register for the stimulus payments.In the article, Krebs reports that the possibility of payments being intercepted is “very real” due to the “relatively lax identification requirements” of the non-filer portal and high number of tax refund fraud in years past.“In this case, fraudsters would simply need to identify the personal information for a pool of Americans who don’t normally file tax returns, which may well include a large number of people who are disabled, poor or simply do not have easy access to a computer or the Internet,” writes Krebs. “Armed with this information, the scammers need only provide the target’s name, address, date of birth and Social Security number, and then supply their own bank account information to claim at least $1,200 in electronic payments.” continue reading » read more

Press Association Louis van Gaal took his players for a stroll on Santa Monica beach as he started trying to develop a bond with his new Manchester United players. Van Gaal and his 25-man squad touched down in Los Angeles on Friday night for the first leg of their pre-season tour. United play the Los Angeles Galaxy on Wednesday before heading to Denver, Washington DC and Detroit. After arriving at Los Angeles International on Friday night, Van Gaal and his players headed straight for the beach and then, after a brief stroll, to the Beverly Hills hotel where they will spend the next six nights. Ryan Giggs, Darren Fletcher and Juan Mata all signed autographs for some of the 100-plus fans who had gathered to greet them. Van Gaal and his squad will train at the Stubhub Center, home of the Galaxy, on Saturday. Youth-team products Sam Johnstone, Tyler Blackett, Michael Keane, Reece James, Jesse Lingard and Will Keane are part of the touring party, but there was no room for James Wilson and Tom Lawrence, who made their first-term debuts at the end of last season. United had announced earlier this month that stars like Wayne Rooney, David De Gea and Mata would travel to the US along with new signings Luke Shaw and Ander Herrera. Robin van Persie, Javier Hernandez, Marouane Fellaini and Adnan Januzaj are still on holiday after the World Cup. Michael Carrick is a notable absentee after undergoing ankle surgery on Thursday morning that could rule him out for the first two months of the season. In his first press conference on Thursday, Van Gaal said he would spend the next three or four weeks assessing the players he has at his disposal before deciding on potential new signings and departures. United later confirmed Hernandez will join the squad on Tuesday. The striker made four substitute appearances for Mexico at the World Cup and scored one goal. read more

For all intents and purposes, the women’s swimming and diving team has had a good season. They concluded the regular season 8-2 overall, with an impressive 6-1 record in conference dual meets, and their swimmers boast some of the top times in the country. Beginning this week, however, “good” will not be enough for the fourth-ranked squad.They want to be great.Beginning on Wednesday, the Trojans will compete with some of the top swim programs in the country for the right to be called the Pac-12 champion. Their competition will include top-ranked Stanford, No. 6 Cal — who happens to be the two-time reigning conference champion, as well as the defending NCAA champion — as well as No. 14 Arizona and No. 19 UCLA. Unranked Arizona State, Oregon State, Washington State and Utah round out the field.“As usual, the Pac-12 Swimming and Diving Championships is one of the toughest conference championships in the country,” head coach Dave Salo said. “We have been challenged and have met the challenges well.”The challenges Salo refers to include dual meets against three ranked conference rivals: the team has already taken down Cal and Arizona but lost to Stanford by slim margins just a few weekends ago. In the postseason, though, the slate is wiped clean.As the Trojans attempt to win the team championship, individual swimmers and divers will be working to make their way into the individual NCAA Championships.USC boasts several freshmen swimmers that have a fighting chance at individual crowns, as well as some seasoned veterans who will look to build upon their success in past years. First-year transfer Anika Apostalon currently holds the 11th best time in the country for the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 48.11, and junior Chelsea Chenault is ranked 12th in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:55.58. Chenault, no stranger to postseason success, finished third last year at the Pac-12 Championships in the 500-yard freestyle and finished third in the 200-yard freestyle.“We are most excited about this team being very balanced and that we won’t be relying on any one individual swimmer to lead our effort to the team championship,” Salo said. “[Our freshmen] have been outstanding in this campaign, and they have never shriveled under the pressure.”While the young crop of stars bring a wealth of talent to the table, they don’t yet have any postseason experience under their belts. That’s where senior co-captains Lucy Worrall and Kendyl Stewart come in; the duo possess the leadership capabilities necessary to carry a team all the way through a grueling week of competition, and Stewart is back to defend her title in the 100-yard butterfly.“Lucy Worrall and Kendyl Stewart have the experience to manage the emotions that we remain focused and undeterred,” Salo said. “We have a strong freshman class and great upperclass leadership that will help the team through the highs and lows of a meet like this.”The Trojans placed third at last year’s Pac-12 Championships and have never won a conference title. USC has placed second six times in the conference playoffs, the most recent instance coming back in 2013 when the Trojans were defeated by the Stanford Cardinal by just 21 points — the closest margin of victory ever for the conference championships.While Stewart, Worrall and others are competing in the lanes, the USC men’s and women’s diving teams will be squaring off against conference rivals on the diving boards to help add to their school’s point total.The Trojans’ women’s diving team boasts the second-most diving titles in conference history, just behind Stanford, and will be led this year by senior Sam Adams, who has already captured six finals in her time at USC. Adams will be joined by Natalie Kalibat, Katherine Van Winkle and Jacqui Suitt, who will all be competing in their final conference championship. Freshman Madison Witt has led the team this season on the three-meter and platformand will hope to contribute strongly to the team’s point total over the coming week.For the men, seniors Collin Pollard and Deon Reid and sophomore Dashiell Enos will look to score on the diving board. Pollard will look to cap off an already impressive Trojan career, which includes nine finals appearances in the Pac-12 Championships.The events will run from Wednesday night until Saturday, with Thursday, Friday and Saturday’s action being broadcast live on the Pac-12 Network. On Sunday, individuals will have their last chance to post qualifying times for the NCAA Championships. All events will be held at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Washington. read more

Dalung said there is a challenge of funding facing the NSF scheduled to hold between December 6th and 16th after over six years of postponement.Nigeria has been given 21-day notice by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to be de-listed for non-compliance with the need to setup an independent anti-doping agency in the country.“Basically, these are the issues I discussed with Mr. President. The president took note of it and assured that everything will be done to ensure that some of these avoidable challenges are given prompt attention.“We had our budget at N900, 000, 000 to be raised by government and we were thinking of getting N400, 000, 000 from our partner but with the failure, it means the federal government will now bankroll N1.2bn budget.“We have challenges with the funding. Initially, we signed a memorandum of understanding with a sponsor who was going to contribute one third of the fund, but unfortunately he could not make it, so I need the support of Mr. President for further funding to augment the space created by that vacuum and the president had graciously given approval to the request. We will submit it in writing soonest.“On the issue of the fate of the 21-day notice and the legislation at the national Assembly, the president can interface with the leadership of the National Assembly and because of the exigency of the situation, knowing too well that most of them are sport loving Nigerians, they can even abridged their recess and give it an urgent attention because it is an issue of national importance. So, I think that is what will happen,” Dalung stated.He added that “another thing I briefed the president has to do with the progress in our AFCON competition where our team has qualified just like the last World Cup with a game to spare.“So, I assured him that we will continue to do everything possible to ensure that the team maintains its dominance of African football. I also mentioned to him, the challenges we are facing with late release of funds, which sometimes affect the morale.”Share this:FacebookRedditTwitterPrintPinterestEmailWhatsAppSkypeLinkedInTumblrPocketTelegram Shola Oyeyipo in AbujaPresident Muhammadu Buhari is currently looking into some of the major challenges confronting the Nigerian sport sector, particularly as regards the N1.2bn needed to host the National Sports Festival. Buhari has also intervened toensure that Nigeria is not de-listed by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).The Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung told State House correspondents in Abuja yesterday assured that President Buhari has given him assurances to step in to address issues confronting the sport sector. read more