WREXHAM, Wales (AP) — Wrexham's bid for a third straight promotion took a hit when the popular Welsh team drew with Bristol 1-1 and slipped one spot into third place Friday.
Wrexham is battling for the second automatic promotion berth alongside Birmingham, which has already clinched the League One title and elevation into the second-tier Championship next season.
Wycombe leapfrogged Wrexham by beating Bolton 2-0 on Friday for its third straight victory and a one-point advantage over Wrexham in the standings with three games left.
The top two teams earn automatic promotion and the next four enter a playoff for one final promotion spot.
Playing in front of celebrity co-owner Rob McElhenney, Wrexham needed a 76th-minute equalizer from Matty James to offset Taylor Moore's first-half opener at the Racecourse Ground.
Wrexham has settled for draws in three of its past four games, and won the other one.
Just two years ago, the team was playing in the fifth-tier National League but has surged through England’s soccer pyramid thanks to the injection of cash from McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Wrexham co-owner Rob McElhenney, center, watches from the stands during the English Football League One Soccer match between Wrexham and Bristol Rovers, at the SToK Racecourse, Wrexham, Wales, Friday April 18, 2025. (Cody Froggatt/PA via AP)
BERLIN (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres told countries that the world body's peacekeeping operation is “only as strong as member states’ commitment to it” as he pleaded with them Tuesday to pay their share.
The United Nations' peackeeping department currently leads 11 operations, in countries including Congo, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Lebanon, Cyprus and Kosovo. The budget for nine of those operations during the fiscal year that ends on June 30 totals $5.6 billion, 8.2% lower than a year earlier. Each of the U.N.'s 193 member countries is legally obliged to pay its share toward peacekeeping.
Guterres argued that, with a budget “representing a tiny fraction of global military spending — around one half of one per cent — U.N. Peacekeeping remains one of the most effective and cost-effective tools to build international peace and security.”
“But it’s only as strong as member states’ commitment to it,” he added at the opening of a two-day, German-hosted conference of ministers to discuss the future of peacekeeping. “Unfortunately, peacekeeping operations have been facing serious liquidity problems. It is absolutely essential that all member states respect their financial obligations, paying their contributions in full and on time.”
Guterres didn't offer details of the problems, but acknowledged that "these are tough times for the financing of our work across the board."
More broadly, the U.N. has been scrambling to respond to funding cuts for aid operations from its biggest donor, the United States, under President Donald Trump’s administration.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said that his country, like many others, “is prepared to pledge additional resources” for peacekeeping. But he said there should also be an effort to make missions “more efficient and more focused” through clearer mandates, cutting back on bureaucracy and avoiding duplication.
This version corrects the figure in the second paragraph to billion instead of million.
Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres, arrives for the UN Peacekeeping Ministerial 2025, in Berlin, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (Hannes P Albert/dpa via AP)
