Today we see one of the biggest games in football history. The first ever all-English European Champions League final, contested by Manchester United and Chelsea.

Manchester United's journey to the final has been a very steady one, pulling out victory after victory. They are currently undefeated in the Champions League this season. They have come across a variety of top European teams such as Dynamo Kiev, AS Roma, Sporting Lisbon, Olympique Lyonnais and Barcelona - leaving them all defeated and lying in the dust.

On other hand, Chelsea's journey to the final has been anything but easy. They have been defeated this season, by Fenerbahce. They managed to turn that quarter final tie around at Stamford Bridge.Nevertheless, Chelsea have limped past Fenerbache, Schalke 04, Valencia, Rosenborg, Olympiakos and Liverpool and now face their nemesis.

So, both United and Chelsea have come through the season, one a rampaging Goliath and the other a brave David. But now they face each other tonight in Moscow and we ask who will, like Napoleon in 1812, depart with their tails between their legs?

The final will most certainly be more entertaining than their previous cup final meetings. But who will be the moring crow returning to England to celebrate on the top deck of a bus? Which team will be singing the blues? Will it be the Reds of Merseyside or the Blues of posh West London?

At 23:18:55 GMT this evening, a Russian Proton-M/Briz-M rocket launched from Area 200/39 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, with the AMC-14 satellite for American communications organisation SES Americom. The rocket, operated by International Launch Services (ILS), lifted off on time, and headed towards a Geosynchronous orbit. Around fourty minutes after lift-off, ILS reported that an anomaly had occurred during the second burn of the upper stage. AMC-14, which would have been operated in conjunction with Echostar was to provide direct-to-home satellite television services. It was based on the Lockheed Martin A2100 satellite bus.

This is the 11th orbital launch of 2008, and the first to fail. It is also the 334th launch of the Proton rocket, the 41st Proton launch failure, the 2,800th Russian orbital launch, and the 45th launch to be conducted by ILS. It is also the third failure of a Proton during an ILS launch in as many years, following a malfunction during a launch last September, and another in February 2006.

The Proton itself performed nominally, and the Briz-M upper stage successfully completed the first of three burns. During the second burn, however, an undisclosed malfunction occurred, leaving the satellite stranded in a much lower orbit than planned. It is unclear whether the satllite is recoverable. There are currently three options, which are to declare the satellite a write-off and de-orbit it, attempt to raise it to geosynchronous orbit under its own power, or propel it towards the Moon, using lunar gravity to slingshot it back into the correct orbit. If either of the latter options are chosen, it will be at great cost to the satellite's on-orbit life expectancy.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has held its 26th Congress in Moscow, from May 28th to June 2nd 2007. Representatives from different countries gathered in the Russian Capital City in order to brainstorm on the state of the media in the world.

This largest gathering of journalists is held every three years. This year’s congress was themed: Marking News for Democracy: Building Trust in Quality Journalism.

Speaking to the Daily Observer, Madi Ceesay, President of the Gambia Press Union (GPU), outlined the importance of the theme, adding that the IFJ Congress is the main arena for an exchange of views and experiences between members of the media fraternity.

According to GPU boss, the congress was restructured along three main lines: Journalism and Inter-Cultural Dialogue in the Face of Terrorism and Intolerance; Global Media and the Fight for Decent Work; What Future for Journalism?

The GPU President also spoke on the report and main conclusions of African Regional Meeting. ‘‘The Africa Regional Meeting considered among other issues, the General Secretary’s report, especially its sections on regional Africa activities and the achievements reached since 2004 IFJ congress, the main decision of the 2006 regional Rabat meeting, and the motion introduced to the 2007-2010 policy and activities in Africa,’’ he said.

He went on to say that the meeting insisted on the necessity for the African affiliates to set up Conference of the African Journalists Unions, as decided at the Rabat meeting in September 2006. ‘‘The Nigeria Union of Journalist (NUJ) has offered to organise the meeting before the end of 2007’’, he added. 

Consequently, an interim committee made of IFJ executive members and sub-regional representatives is charged to fix the details of the meeting with the coordination of the IFJ African officers. As such, the African representatives seem to be really decided to find concrete solutions that matter for the media practitioners, for democracy and our common future.