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Scarlett Johansson, star of Marvel’s “Black Widow” superhero film, is suing Disney for breach of contract after it streamed the film at the same time as its cinema release.

In the lawsuit filed the lawsuit on Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court against Disney, Johansson, 36, claimed that she had been guaranteed that “Black Widow” would have an exclusive theatrical release, and that the bulk of her salary was based on the box office performance.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the actress alleges that she lost more than $50million as a result of the film being released on streaming service Disney+ at the same time as its debut in theatres.

Johansson is estimated to have made around $15 million in advance for “Black Widow”, but says in the suit that the streaming release cut into her lucrative bonuses.

“Disney intentionally induced Marvel’s breach of the agreement, without justification, in order to prevent Ms. Johansson from realizing the full benefit of her bargain with Marvel,” the suit said.

Black Widow took in $60 million on the streaming platform Disney+ on the opening weekend alone, the company previously announced in its first breakdown of steaming figures for a film.

The film, starring Johansson as the cat-suited superspy, was available online to Disney+ subscribers for an extra fee of $29.99 at the same time as its release in traditional theaters.

The film set a pandemic-era record bringing in $218 million worldwide over opening weekend earlier this month, including the streaming figures, plus $80 million domestic box office and $78 million internationally.

However, the film’s box-office performance dropped off sharply after the opening weekend, leading some analysts to question whether the Disney+ streaming release was taking a bite out of ticket sales.

Black Widow saw box office receipts plunge 67 percent after opening weekend, and ticket sales currently stand at $319 million globally, putting the film on track to become one of the lowest-grossing Marvel films of all time.

However, the lawsuit notes that Disney’s stock rose after the company disclosed the impressive streaming sales of Black Widow on Disney+.

Johansson’s lawsuit claims that Disney wanted to steer audiences toward Disney+, “where it could keep the revenues for itself while simultaneously growing the Disney+ subscriber base, a proven way to boost Disney’s stock price.”

“Second, Disney wanted to substantially devalue Ms. Johansson´s agreement and thereby enrich itself,” the lawsuit said.

Johansson is one of the highest paid actresses in the world and has an estimated net worth of about $165 million. Her highest-paid film to date was Ghost in the Shell in 2017, for which she earned a reported $17.5 million salary.

Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk returned to action for the first time in nine months in a pre-season friendly on Thursday.

The 30-year-old suffered knee ligament damage in the Merseyside derby against Everton in October.

He subsequently missed the rest of the season as Liverpool were dethroned as Premier League champions as well as the delayed Euro 2020 event.

On Thursday, he came on as a 69th-minute substitute in Liverpool’s 4-3 friendly defeat to German side Hertha Berlin in Austria.

“It’s hard to express how I am feeling, but it’s important to me that I say I feel blessed to have had the support of so many incredible people. The surgeon, my physios, coaches and staff who have been with me in my corner since day one,” tweeted the Dutchman after the game.

“My teammates for giving me energy and keeping my head up. The fans for their love, support and encouragement. And most of all, my family because without them, I’d be nothing. Thank you. The work doesn’t stop now. It’s only just starting. We keep going!”

Also making his return on Thursday was fellow centre-back Joe Gomez who suffered a season-ending knee injury on England duty also in October last year.

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp said it was “nice to have them back”.

“I’m not sure, 260-something days for Virg and not much less for Joe they didn’t play football, so it’s nice to have them back,” said Klopp.

“It was the first step, really important.”

Liverpool begins their Premier League season at promoted Norwich City on August 14.

Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford is to undergo shoulder surgery, the Premier League giants announced Friday, and could now miss the opening months of the new season.

The 23-year-old has long had shoulder trouble, nursing the injury for much of last season and during his involvement in Euro 2020, where Rashford was one of several England players who missed a penalty in a shootout loss to Italy in the final.

But he could now be out of action until October at the earliest, with a United statement saying: “Following consultation between Marcus, the manager, club medical staff and specialists, Marcus will undergo surgery imminently to resolve his shoulder injury.

“He will now focus on his rehabilitation in order to return as soon as possible.”

United begin their Premier League season at home to Leeds on August 14, and it could be that Rashford also misses up to five World Cup qualifiers with England.

Rashford, speaking about his fitness during the Euros last month, accepted he had not been in peak form during the second half of a 2020/21 season where United finished as runners-up to Premier League champions and local rivals Manchester City.

“Obviously I am not performing at my best and what I know I can perform to,” Rashford said at the time.

“Whatever that is down to, it doesn’t really matter because it has been going on since early on in the season. I managed to get through the season with United.

“I think I had 36 goal involvements, so I can’t look back at the year and say ‘mmm, I should have taken time off to do this and do that’. That’s just not the way I look at things. I just want to be available for every game.”

The NBA will name a 75th-anniversary team of the league’s 75 greatest players in October as part of a celebration paying tribute to the milestone.

The “NBA 75” tribute includes a diamond-shaped NBA anniversary logo and season-long events to celebrate the league’s pst, present and future.

“The 2021-22 season will be truly special as we celebrate 75 years of NBA basketball,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said. “We look forward to honouring the players and teams, both past and present, who have inspired generations of fans around the world.”

The team of the NBA’s greatest 75 players of all time will be chosen by a panel of current and former players, coaches, general managers, team executives and media and be revealed in October, the same month the season begins.

New uniform designs will debut and the 2022 NBA All-Star Game will be played in Cleveland, which last hosted the event in 1997 when the NBA celebrated its 50th anniversary.

The first NBA season began in 1946 and featured 11 clubs, three of which are still active — the Boston Celtics, New York Knicks and Philadelphia Warriors, which are now the Golden State Warriors.

Four local footballers in Somalia were killed when a powerful explosion ripped through their bus on Friday in what the country's president branded a "barbaric terrorist attack".

Ten players from the Jubaland Chamber of Commerce and Industry club were heading off for a game at the Kismayo city stadium in southern Somalia when the blast hit.

"The players were riding in a bus when the explosion went off, presumably inside the vehicle. There are investigations going on but we presume the device was planted onto the bus," said police officer Mohamed Sadiq.

He said four football players were killed and five others wounded in the explosion, believed to have been caused by a bomb.

In a statement on Twitter, Somalia's President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed condemned the "barbaric terrorist attack that claimed the lives of innocent Somali sportspeople".

Witness Ibrahim Ahmed said the blast was "huge" and set off a fire that gutted the bus.

"People rushed to remove the dead bodies and wounded players," he said.

"I saw the burning bus and three dead bodies of the players -- this was horrible because football players are not politicians," added another witness, Said Adan.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast in Kismayo, capital of the southern state of Jubaland which borders Kenya.

Jubaland was the first state to start voting this week in long-delayed national elections in Somalia that the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab jihadist group has threatened to disrupt.

The extremists have been fighting to overthrow the federal government since 2007 and frequently attack the government, security, and civilian targets.

One of Nigeria’s medal hopefuls at the ongoing Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, Oluwatobiloba ‘Tobi’ Amusan, will in the early hours of Saturday, begin her journey towards winning her first Olympics medal when she competes in the heats of the women’s 100m hurdles.

Amusan will be running from lane 3 in Heat 3 of the first round for a place in the semifinals.

At the 2019 World Championships in Doha, Qatar, Amusan lost out by a whisker in the hunt for a medal, finishing 4th. Now more experienced, she is primed for a first Olympics medal.

The 24-year-old has been improving on her performance and what would have been a new African record for her was struck off after the timer malfunctioned during the National Trials in Lagos just prior to the Olympics.

Amusan also ran a wind-assisted 12.43s at the start of June in Florida but that was accomplished on the back of an illegal +4.5 wind.

Currently ranked 4th in the world in her event with a personal and season best of 12.48s, a time she first clocked in Qatar in 2019 before matching it in May this year in Florida, Amusan will be hopeful of following in the footsteps of Glory Alozie, who won a silver medal at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

She will be taking to the tracks by 3 AM Nigerian time and with her eyes firmly set on securing a spot on the podium.

A tough tasks awaits Team Nigeria’s Grace Nwokocha as she takes to the tracks in the semi-finals of the women’s 100m at the ongoing Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

The presence of two-time Olympics 100m champion, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, in her semifinal should be an added motivation for the 20-year-old but will also serve as a big hurdle especially with another potential winner and African record holder in the women’s 100m, Murielle Ahoure of the Ivory Coast, also running in the heat.

Nwokocha will have to do better than her 11.00s personal and seasons best that secured her a place in the semis if she wants to make the final in her maiden Olympics.

However, the National Sports Festival sprint champion has continued to defy every odd to get to where she is at the moment and she might also come up with the goods in Tokyo.

Queen of the track herself, Blessing Okagbare, will also be targeting a spot in the final when she runs in the semifinal, also on the same day.

The semifinal races will get underway at 11 AM on Saturday with the top two from each of the races progressing to the final alongside the two fastest ‘losers.’

The Guardian learnt the sweepers lost their lives on duty at around 7:00am on the Abule-Egba jubilee bridge when a fast moving vehicle knocked them down at high speed.

Though one of them reportedly died instantly as her head was smashed, the second victim, whose legs were broken, was left to groan without attention, before she was eventually taken to an undisclosed hospital at Ile-Epo, where she later died.

Though the area had been cleared by the time our correspondent got to the scene around 10:00a.m., the accident led to traffic gridlock on the axis, as crowd blocked the bridge and the road inward Oshodi in solidarity with the victims.

The situation nearly turned to pandemonium as both human and vehicular movements were grounded.

Motorists coming from Command-Ekoro road to link up with Agege were at a standstill for over an hour, even those coming from Sango axis did not fare better as some drove against traffic.

Commuters were forced to disembark from vehicles as irate touts nearly caused chaos. Majority of them trekked as far as Super bus stop and beyond to get another vehicle.

An eyewitness, Kikelomo Adeola, told The Guardian the vehicle involved – a mini bus was being pushed by officers of the Lagos State Task Force for taking the BRT lane and in the process of evading arrest he sped off.

She said immediately the accident happened, good Samaritans made calls across to government officials to come to the rescue of the victims despite the fact that one of them died instantly but for hours there was no response, as the other victims wriggle in pain.

The eyewitness revealed that though help later came her way as he was taken to the hospital, she later died at the hospital after losing much blood and the level of the injury she sustained.

Adeola said the late response of government officials to rescue the victims led to the blocking of the express road, which eventually led to heavy traffic jams that lasted for hours.

A police officer, who doesn’t want his name mentioned, confided in The Guardian that the errant driver, who sensed the magnitude of his offence parked his bus at the Awori bus stop and went straight to Oko-Oba Police Station to report himself.

It was learnt that after his report the police went to retrieve the bus, which is currently at their station now.

The Guardian could not get reaction from LAWMA as an official, who promised to call back, did not fulfill his promise at the time of going to press.