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Liverpool Great Alan Hansen Released from Hospital

Former Liverpool and Scotland defender Alan Hansen. Asharq Al-Awsat
Former Liverpool and Scotland defender Alan Hansen. Asharq Al-Awsat
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Liverpool Great Alan Hansen Released from Hospital

Former Liverpool and Scotland defender Alan Hansen. Asharq Al-Awsat
Former Liverpool and Scotland defender Alan Hansen. Asharq Al-Awsat

Former Liverpool and Scotland defender Alan Hansen has been released from hospital and will now continue his recovery at home.
A statement from his family on Sunday thanked fans for their support after Liverpool said two weeks ago that its former captain was “seriously ill in hospital.”
The family's statement said: “Alan has been discharged from hospital today to continue his recovery at home.
“Alan, Janet, Adam, Lucy and family would like to thank everybody for their wonderful messages of love and support ... We also hugely appreciate the ongoing respect that has been shown for our privacy as Alan continues his recovery. Thank you.”
Hansen, who is 69, joined Liverpool from Scottish team Partick Thistle in 1977. The defender won three European Cups, eight league titles, two FA Cups and three League Cups in 620 appearances for Liverpool.
He retired in 1991 to start a successful career as a television pundit.

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Workers Take Down Olympic Rings from Eiffel Tower – for Now

Tourists sit on the Olympic rings displayed in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, on September 27, 2024. (Photo by Thomas SAMSON / AFP)
Tourists sit on the Olympic rings displayed in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, on September 27, 2024. (Photo by Thomas SAMSON / AFP)
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Workers Take Down Olympic Rings from Eiffel Tower – for Now

Tourists sit on the Olympic rings displayed in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, on September 27, 2024. (Photo by Thomas SAMSON / AFP)
Tourists sit on the Olympic rings displayed in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, on September 27, 2024. (Photo by Thomas SAMSON / AFP)

Workers removed the Olympics logo from the Eiffel Tower in the early hours of Friday, returning the beloved monument to its familiar form -- but perhaps only temporarily.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has promised to build new Olympic rings and return them to the landmark as a tribute to the hugely successful Olympic Games held in the capital during July and August.

The proposal has polarized opinion in the French capital and has been criticized by descendants of the tower's designer Gustave Eiffel, as well as conservation groups.

After initially suggesting the new rings should be permanent, Hidalgo has proposed they remain on the city's world-renowned symbol until the next Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028.

Workers operating multiple large cranes removed the 30-tonne steel rings from between the first and second floors of the tower during the early hours of Friday morning.

They were first installed just under four months ago, on June 7, and will now be melted down and recycled.

The new rings, which the International Olympic Committee is expected to pay for, would be lighter versions of the originals and less prominent, according to a deputy Paris mayor, Pierre Rabadan.

"In my opinion, it would be better to put them somewhere else because it's a Parisian monument and it's not right that it becomes an advertising medium for an event that is now over," Hugo Staub, a French tourist at the tower on Friday, told AFP.

Culture Minister Rachida Dati, a longtime critic and opponent of Hidalgo, has also cast doubt over the idea, saying the mayor's proposal would need to respect procedures protecting historic buildings.

But others felt regret at losing a visual reminder of an enchanted period in Paris and expressed support for the idea of replacements.

"They were a bit large so it's better to put small ones that can remain for a few years," said Gabriel, a French volunteer at the Games, who was at the foot of the tower on Friday. "It would be symbolic and a great souvenir."