Ballon D'or Award 2015 winners in full

The 2015 FIFA Ballon D'or award took place tonight in
Zurich with Lionel Messi emerging as the winner while
celebrities from the football and entertainment world
attended the showpiece event. Full winners list plus
photos from the event after the jump.
Fifi Men's World Player of the Year: Lionel Messi
FIFA Women's World Player of the year : Carli Lloyd
FIFA World Coach of the year (Men): Luis Enrique
FIFA World Coach of the year (Women): Jill Ellis
FIFA Puskas Award: Wendell Lira
FIFA Fair play award:Gerald Asamoah

Mexican drug kingpin El Chapo recaptured in Mexico after gunfight

Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, one of the world's most sought-after drug lords, has been captured in his Sinaloa hometown. Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto announced Friday.
"Mission accomplished!" the president said via his Twitter account.
He was captured again today at 4:30am in a firefight between his bodyguards and Mexican Marine special forces in the Sinaloa city of Los Mochis, on the Pacific coast and not far from his home, government officials said. Five of his associates were killed, six injured and several captured, the navy said. One marine was wounded.
The special forces were responding to a citizen’s tip regarding armed people in a home when they came under fire, the navy said. Guzman -- a multi-billionaire thanks to his Sinaloa Cartel, which traffics in cocaine and marijuana -- escaped from jail in July for the second time, dramatically tunneling his way out of Mexico's top maximum-security prison. Guzman’s escape last year was a major embarrassment for the Peña Nieto government, exposing deep levels of corruption and an inability to mete out justice.
The U.S. government lamented Mexico’s refusal to extradite Guzman to the U.S., where he has been indicted in California and elsewhere because of his cartel’s expanding operations. It is likely that Washington will now revive extradition requests.

GOODLUCK JONATHAN NAMED INTERNATIONAL PERSON OF THE YEAR

Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, who shocked the whole world by swiftly calling current Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and conceding his defeat in the March 29 Nigerian presidential election, thereby stopping the predictions of violent bloodshed in Nigeria, and keeping his words that he would not allow the blood of a Nigerian to be shed to further his political ambitions.  President Jonathan must be applauded for creating a solid foundation for the growth of democracy in Africa.  The world has started to recognize President Jonathan’s courageous act.

Real Madrid Replaces Rafael Benítez With Zinedine Zidane as Coach

MADRID — Real Madrid replaced one of Europe’s most experienced coaches with a largely untested one on Monday, firing the unpopular Rafael Benítez, who had spent only seven months on the job, and appointing Zinedine Zidane.

Zidane, a World Cup winner with France and a Champions League winner with Real Madrid, had most recently been in charge of Madrid’s second team. But Zidane, 43, has never coached in any of Europe’s top leagues. He started coaching Castilla, Real Madrid’s B team, in 2014, having spent a year on the first-team bench as an assistant to Carlo Ancelotti, the manager at the time.

Zidane, considered one of the best attacking midfielders ever, ended his playing career as one of Real Madrid’s so-called Galácticos, the world stars recruited by the club’s longstanding president, Florentino Pérez, for record-setting costs.

Real Madrid and Benítez, who joined the club in June on a three-year contract, had been under mounting pressure since November, after the team fell off the pace in the Liga standings and was crushed at home, 4-0, by its archrival, Barcelona, in the Clásico.

Rafael Benítez was fired after just half a season.

In that match, a large section of Real Madrid fans also called for the resignation of Pérez, but he vowed to continue at the helm and to retain Benítez, reiterating his trust in him as recently as three weeks ago.