Pita Taufatofua was in his fourth decade when he first touched snow. By then, he had already decided that he wanted to be an Olympic cross-country skier and was well on his way to realising his dream.
This week, Taufatofua will become the first Tongan ever to compete in the cross-country event at a Winter Olympics when he straps on his skis in Pyeongchang. But his journey from the beaches of the South Pacific to the starting gate in South Korea has been far from textbook.
The world first saw Taufatofua as an oiled up flag-bearer wearing a necklace of shark’s teeth and a Taʻovala [a traditional Tongan skirt] during the opening ceremony of the 2016 summer Olympics in Rio. There, he was competing in taekwondo and was beaten 16-1 in his first match.
Despite failing to win a medal, Taufatofua shot to prominence and the former youth counsellor was inundated with modelling contracts, offers from Hollywood and sponsorship deals.
But Taufatofua was not interested in fame. Instead, he ditched taekwondo and took up cross-country skiing, despite hailing from a country where the average annual temperature is 25 degrees.
“I was thrown into a lot of big and great opportunities, in Hollywood stuff, modelling stuff,” says Taufatofua, speaking from his brother’s London flat where he was taking a two-day break from training in Iceland.
“But for me, at that time, my goal was, what’s my next big challenge? What is completely impossible, what can’t be done – that’s what I want to do. And I found cross-country skiing.”
In early 2017 Taufatofua strapped planks of wood to his feet and began running up sand hills, spending his evenings alone watching Youtube videos of the world’s best skiers.
Taufatofua shed weight, dropping 15kg to weigh in at 75kg – close to the level that most cross-country skiers maintain, making them lighter and faster on the slopes.
Graduating from wooden planks to roller skis, he relished the challenge of the frigid foreign sport, the excitement of trying to prove his sceptics wrong, and the extreme mental and physical exhaustion his new passion offered.
“To me it is not crazy at all, it seems really normal to me [switching sports],” says Taufatofua.
“No one is in the same job a few years later, very few people are in the same house a few years later. Life is changing and evolving, it is not stagnant. And sport is the same.”
Taufatofua, who is now based in Brisbane, has spent the last year training in the northern hemisphere in minus 15-20C conditions, learning the art of cross-country skiing, something he says most of his competitors started “straight out of the womb”.
Living in cheap hostels and eating basic meals of tuna and pasta, the 34-year-old has only been able to afford one pair of skis and one knob of wax, but that didn’t stop him qualifying for the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang; a gobsmacking achievement for a Pacific Islander who hadn’t seen snow until a couple of years ago, and is only the second Tongan ever to qualify for the Winter Olympics (Bruno Banani competed in luge in 2014).
“Is it a level playing field? Absolutely not. Do I let that get to me? Absolutely not. I know sports is … rarely is it ever level. But if I start thinking about that I am stuck there,” says Taufatofua, who has started a go-fund-me page to raise funds for the winter Olympics.
“A year ago, everyone was saying this is impossible. But when you come from Tonga or the Pacific Islands we don’t see things the same way, we don’t see anything as impossible. We are very positive in that regards and we are very resourceful. We are a developing country so we just try to find ways of succeeding however we can.”
Taufatofua is hopeful but not delusional about his chances in Pyeongchang. Attending is already the icing on the cake.
With a rigidly optimistic outlook, Taufatofua has a self-help book in the works and hasn’t ruled out a return to the summer Olympics in 2020.
“Its pretty clear we’re misfits in the competition. It gets stuck in your mind that you need to do something – to prove yourself in some way. And that’s not just for me, but for all the exotic and small countries, for the whole Pacific Islands.”
Sometimes when Lizzy Yarnold is hurtling down a skeleton track at 85mph her mind wanders ever so slightly and she notices the smells wafting from the stands or a flag in her peripheral vision, even as the corners loom and then whoosh past at frightening speeds. Almost always, something else happens, too: her jaw locks with tension.
“My mouth becomes fixed and open almost like in a scare mask,” she says, laughing. “It’s really weird. And then I have to tell myself after about three corners: ‘OK, Lizzy, you can relax, it’s fine … it’s OK.’ There’s a lot of self-talk going on.”
Years ago Yarnold would try to eat a protein chocolate bar at the end of each run, only to find herself unable to chew it properly because her jaw was so sore. “I couldn’t work out why for ages,” she says. “Then suddenly I understood. I guess it is because I’m so focused, looking through my eyebrows with my eyes right down.”
Yarnold knows all about tension. Four years ago in Sochi she had the nation’s expectations on her shoulders but produced four impeccable runs to win Britain’s only gold medal. This time she has the weight of history on her back, too, as she seeks to become the first Briton to retain a Winter Olympic title. Already the self-talk is kicking in. Relax, she tells herself. You’ve got this.
On the surface the 28-year-old has not enjoyed the smoothest of seasons and is ranked ninth in the World Cup standings. A third-place finish in her last race in Königsee a fortnight ago has given her the confidence to think everything is coming together just at the right time. “I’m absolutely going full force towards Pyeongchang and I can’t wait to get out there,” she says, before pointing out that she is lifting heavier weights in the gym than four years ago and feeling mentally stronger, too.
“In the past I would often cry in a training session, whereas now I’m much more able to recognise what it will take emotionally and physically to get through and – more importantly – peak at the right point,” she says.
Mental toughness matters. “I’ve slept in my own bed at home I think three times since 1 October,” she says. “So it’s about stamina, enjoying it, and bringing my A game when it counts.”
It helps that Yarnold has form at the Pyeongchang track, having finished fourth in the test event last year – but she is expecting a much harder challenge compared with Sochi. “It’s definitely more technical,” she says. “In Sochi you would do a corner then you could relax on the next one, focus on the next corner, relax. Whereas in Pyeongchang there’s no time to rest.”
While Yarnold believes she has kicked on from Sochi, others have, too – and at a faster rate. Her team‑mate, Laura Daes, in her first Olympics, is ranked seventh in the world, while the brilliant German, Jacqueline “Jacka” Lölling, who turns 23 this week, is a strong favourite for gold. “The field has completely changed,” says Yarnold. “People have realised how important that first explosion of velocity is at the start.”
There is also the potential of a late wildcard contender as Elena Nikitina, who took bronze in Sochi, was one of the 28 Russians who had a lifetime Olympic ban overturned by the court of arbitration for sport on Thursday. She could yet appeal to the International Olympic Committee to get a place in Pyeongchang.
Yarnold has been one of the strongest advocates for a ban on Russians implicated in doping in Sochi, but for now there can be no distractions: her entire focus is on her first run on Friday week. As she makes her final preparations, she coyly suggests that some behind-the-scenes innovations by the English Institute of Sport could yet help her get back on the podium.
“We don’t get hold of the technical innovations until the Olympics and as soon as we finish competing it all disappears into someone’s bag and is taken away,” she says. “But that innovation on the equipment side is where we can make massive gains.”
So is it a bit like James Bond, with you meeting a Q-like figure who says if you press this button, the German sled in front blows up? “Yeah, it’s kind of a bit like that,” she says, laughing away. “I can’t say anything more because I’d have to kill you.”
Perhaps having twigged that Nemanja Matic’s legs move at about half the speed he thought they did, José Mourinho has made signing an energetic midfielder who can disguise Paul Pogba’s contempt for defensive midfield play a priority. And the name he has scrawled on a piece of paper and shoved into Ed Woodward’s top pocket is Arturo Vidal. The Bayern Munich box-to-box schemer would have a Chilean best mate waiting for him at Old Trafford in the form of Alexis Sánchez. He’d also have only a year left on his contract so wouldn’t cost the price of the moon on a stick either. Real Madrid’s Mateo Kovacic is still a target too but they will face a battle with Spurs for his signature.
Meanwhile, 20 years after Patrick Kluivert made Alex Ferguson’s lid rattle by snubbing the chance to move to Old Trafford, the Dutch legend’s son, Justin Kluivert, looks like he will do what his dad did not, and join Manchester United. It says here that the club are in advanced talks to sign the 18-year-old from Ajax for around £10m. Renowned nurturer of youth Mourinho is quite a fan. And reports here suggest Marcus Rashford would be so delighted at Kluivert’s arrival he would instruct his people to find him another club.
Liverpool believe they have found the pocket-sized genius throbbing with potential and creative juices who can truly succeed Philippe Coutinho. His name’s Jack Wilshere.
If Riyad Mahrez is ever located then Arsenal would like to be made aware of his whereabouts. Since the Leicester player’s collapsed move to Manchester City on deadline day, other clubs have come sniffing around, chief among them the Gunners, who are feeling cocksure about their attacking prowess after giving Everton a good hiding at the weekend. Apparently, Arsène Wenger is regularly requesting updates on the playmaker and, like a distant nephew or something, the Algerian is never far from his thoughts. But City are still in the box seat while Liverpool and Chelsea are also somewhere near the front of a queue of potential suitors.
Napoli are watching Mauro Icardi very carefully and would improve on a £50m offer for the 24-year-old in order to selflessly give the Inter striker the chance to stay in Serie A rather than acclimatise to another league. And the club’s president, Aurelio de Laurentiis, has been singing sweetly. “Icardi will score 40 a season here under Sarri and can become like Cristiano Ronaldo,” he cooed. “I tried to negotiate signing him with his wife, who is an attractive and charming woman. I offered €55m. He is a champion. Will they sell to Napoli? Why not? Never say never …”
Napoli’s priority next season may be appointing a new manager, though. The word is that Roman Abramovich is already lining up Maurizio Sarri as Antonio Conte’s replacement and is willing to pay the chain-smoking Neapolitan’s £7m release clause to bring him to Chelsea. Maybe they could do a swap. Meanwhile, Chelsea’s recruitment department appears to be valiantly persisting with its maverick tactic of targeting West Ham second-stringers. If Thibaut Courtois decides to bust a move to Real Madrid then Chelsea will consider Joe Hart as his replacement. Yup.
And in vastly contrasting former Everton manager news, Ronald Koeman is set to be made Holland boss and David Unsworth is in line for the Oxford United job, having been given permission by the Toffees to leave his Under-23 role.
One of the NFL’s most historically snakebitten clubs ended their 57-year championship drought in the most thrilling way imaginable on Sunday night at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, racing to an early lead against the New England Patriots, going step for step in a track meet with the defending champions and the greatest quarterback ever at his most prolific, falling behind in the fourth quarter and rallying behind the back-up signal-caller who took over in December when the starter went down to injury.
Seventy-one total points. An eye-popping 1,151 yards of combined offense, breaking the previous Super Bowl record before the fourth quarter even started and more than any game in NFL history, regular season or playoffs.
Eagles 41, Patriots 33.
It was one of the greatest Super Bowls ever played and now the Eagles, who were left for dead after losing the franchise quarterback, Carson Wentz, in December, are champions of the NFL for the first time since the Eisenhower administration after winning three straight playoff games as underdogs.
How do you beat the Patriots? You get to Tom Brady. It’s been the conventional wisdom for the better part of this NFL generation and nothing had changed as it was repeated ad nauseam during the fortnight run-up to Super Bowl LII.
It took nearly 58 minutes for the Eagles to get there, but the reward once they did will resound down the generations in this provincial town where sports mean a little too much.
With the Eagles nursing a 38-33 lead and just over two minutes left, Philadelphia’s veteran defensive end Brandon Graham finally recorded the first sack of the game for either side. Brady, the three-time most valuable player and five-time Super Bowl champion, lost control of the ball, which took a fortuitous bounce into the hands of Derek Barnett. The Eagles settled for a Jake Elliott field goal moments later, setting the stage for a New England desperation drive that ended when Brady’s Hail Mary pass to Gronkowski was batted down in the end zone as time expired.
Nick Foles, the 29-year-old understudy who took over for Wentz less than two months ago and who two years ago was mulling retirement, completed 28 of 43 passes for 373 yards, three passing touchdowns and one more receiving. It will almost certainly be his last game with the Eagles, with Wentz, the quarterback of the future who was the odds-on favorite to win Most Valuable Player honors until his late-season ACL injury, set to return when the 2018 season begins.
Foles’ numbers didn’t match those of Brady, who shattered the Super Bowl single-game passing record with 505 yards through the air, but the 40-year-old quarterback’s final-reel mistake proved fatal for the Patriots, who were looking to add a record-tying sixth Super Bowl title to their five won since 2001.
“I felt calm,” Foles said in the dizzying aftermath. “We have such a great group of guys, such a great coaching staff. We felt confident coming in and we just went out there and played football. We’ve played this game since we were little kids, we dreamed about this moment. There’s plenty of kids watching this game right now dreaming about this moment and someday will be here.”
The Eagles received first, after the Patriots deferred, and Philadelphia nearly engineered a dream start, marching downfield with methodical efficiency. The 14-play, 67-yard drive stalled but offered a glimpse of exactly what the Eagles needed to do: mix in enough runs to balance the pass, convert first downs, keep the clock moving and keep Brady on the sidelines.
The Patriots held serve on their opening foray with a nine-play, 67-yard scoring drive but they too were stymied in the red zone, leaving the kicker Stephen Gostkowski to tie the score with field goal from 25 yards.
Philadelphia’s head coach, Doug Pederson, whose flair for aggressive play-calling buoyed the team all year long, showed no sign of dialing it back on the Eagles’ second drive. With the partisan Philadelphia crowd already set to burst, Foles dropped back and found Alshon Jeffrey in the back of the end zone, where he made an incredible leaping grab for a 34-yard touchdown. Not even the missed extra point by Elliott could mute the celebration as Philadelphia opened a 9-3 lead.
A relentless pace had been set. Brady found Danny Amendola in acres of space on the next play for a 50-yard gain that brought it down to the Philadelphia 29.
The Patriots, now operating in a no-huddle to prevent the Eagles from rotating in defensive linemen, chipped away for a few more yards before the New England wideout Brandin Cooks, who appeared to have a sure first down, was stopped short of the target on a spectacular open-field tackle by Rodney McLeod, forcing a fourth down. What appeared to be an elementary field-goal attempt for Gostkowski was badly shanked and when the ball caromed off the left upright, the Philadelphia lead was still 9-3.
Soon after, Belichick would attempt his first stroke of trickery, dialing in a wide receiver reverse that saw Brady hand off to White only for White to toss to Amendola. Amendola found a wide-open Brady, but the ball clanged off the hands of the quarterback.
The Eagles took advantage quickly as Foles found Jeffrey for another spectacular overhead catch along the right sideline. On the next play the seas widened for Blount, who rumbled into the end zone for a touchdown that put the Eagles ahead 15-3 after the failed two-point conversion.
The Patriots narrowed the margin to 15-6 with a field goal on their next drive. The Eagles took over from their own 25 and Foles took another downfield shot at Jeffrey, but this time it was scooped up by Duron Harmon for an interception. Incredibly, Foles had thrown 113 career postseason passes without a pick, more than any quarterback in NFL history.
Trailing by 11 near the end of the first half, Brady and the Patriots were gifted new life with a questionable defensive holding call on the Eagles’ Jaylen Mills. Brady soon seized the opportunity with a 43-yard pass down the right sideline to Chris Hogan followed immediately by a 26-yard touchdown scamper by James White off the left guard. Stunningly, Gostkowski hooked the extra point for his second missed gimme of the day, but New England were back within three points at 15-12.
The Eagles then marched downfield to set up the most crucial sequence of the game. Pederson, whose first game as a head coach above the high school level was less than 17 months ago, decided to go for it on 4th-and-goal from inside the one. The play was a double reverse and tight end Trey Burton, Philadelphia’s emergency signal-caller, found Foles wide open in the right size of the end zone for a touchdown.
“A quarterback going out on a route?” Foles said afterward with a touch of incredulity. “I was pumped to go over there and talk to Doug and we agreed on it. We worked on it for a long time and we executed it perfectly. That’s probably the best it has looked, so we hit it at the right time.”
The first half had been a breathless flurry of offense, with the teams combining for nearly 700 yards.. The Patriots accounted for 350 of them, no small feat against Philadelphia’s stout defense.
When play resumed, Gronkowski quickly made his presence felt. He gouged the Philadelphia defense for catches of 25 and 24 yards, then picked up a crucial third down with a 14-yard sideline catch before hauling in a five-yard touchdown grab and punctuating it with a signature spike.
Foles responded with brio, finding Nelson Algohor for a catch short of the mark then handing off to Blount and Ajayi, who gashed the Patriots for big chunks of yardage. The Patriots clamped down and forced the Eagles into another 3rd-and-6, but Foles found Clement for a breathtaking touchdown pass that was upheld after tension-filled review.
Clement, an undrafted rookie from South Jersey who grew up rooting for the Eagles and was a longshot to make the team, had caught four passes for 107 yards.
And Foles was playing out of his mind.
But Brady only picked right back where he left off. He quickly led the Patriots across midfield and found Hogan for a 26-yard touchdown strike, bringing the Patriots back within three points of the lead with 3:23 left in the third. By then it was clear Foles would not be able to rely on Philadelphia’s defense but he proved up to the challenge, helming the Eagles downfield until they were held to a field goal.
The Patriots were sharp as ever on their first drive of the fourth quarter, gobbling up yardage at will before scoring another touchdown on a four-yard pass to Gronkowski, this time for their first lead of the game, at 33-32 after the extra point.
And so Foles took over with 9:22 left. After converting yet another third down, the Eagles were forced into a 4th-and-1 from their own 35. Foles, under duress and with the season on the line given the tattered state of Philadelphia’s defense, found Ertz for a two-yard completion and the first down with just over five minutes to go. Seven plays later, Foles, so reliable on third downs all postseason long, converted the most important one yet when he found Ertz on a slant route. He plunged into the end zone to put the Eagles back in front, 38-33, after the failed two-point conversion.
That left 2:21 for Brady, more than enough time for the four-time Super Bowl MVP who entered Sunday’s game with 11 game-winning drives in the fourth quarter or overtime of postseason games. He took took the field to deafening noise and immediately found Gronkowski for an eight-yard gain along the right sideline.
But just when it seemed the quarterback’s latest fairytale ending was all but a handshake away, Graham finally got to Brady – and the hard-luck city of Philadelphia had a catharsis nearly six decades in the making.
Moscow has seen its heaviest snowfall in a day since records began, with more than 2,000 trees brought down and air travel disrupted, officials say.
More than half the monthly average snow – 38cm (15 inches) – fell on Saturday, beating the previous record from 1957.
A falling tree and collapsing power line killed one person and five others were injured.
Snowfall is expected to ease off on Sunday night but the temperature is expected to drop.
Dozens of flights have been delayed at the Russian capital’s airports.
Despite the disruption, many people on social media just seem happy to see a “real Russian winter” again after the unseasonal thaws of previous years, and have been sharing snowscape pictures.
The prime minister and Brexit Secretary David Davis will meet Mr Barnier ahead of the next round of negotiations getting under way.
Later, talks between officials will focus for the first time on the transitional period planned for after Brexit.
Potential sticking points include citizens’ rights, with the UK insisting EU nationals arriving during this time should not have the same rights as those who arrived before Brexit day.
As he set off for London, Mr Barnier said there was “not a moment to lose” in order to secure a deal before the end of the year.
Asked about the UK’s position on the customs union, he said Downing Street’s “red lines” would be respected but the UK must respect the “rules of the union”.
How close the UK will remain to the EU’s single market and customs union has been a topic of debate among leading Brexiteers and some of those closest to the prime minister.
Conservative MP Kwasi Kwarteng, who is an aide to Chancellor Philip Hammond, suggested the latest statement on the customs union was “perfectly consistent” with what No 10 had been saying all along, given that Mrs May had been “pretty clear” in her January 2017 Lancaster House speech the UK would be leaving.
Pressed on how he squared this reality with Mr Hammond’s stated desire for the UK and EU to move “very modestly” apart in terms of trade, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today that “being modestly apart does not mean you have to be in a customs union”.
He said the government had to make it clearer its core aim was a free trade deal with the EU.
On Sunday Eurosceptic Tory Bernard Jenkin accused the government of being “vague” and “divided”, saying Chancellor Philip Hammond was not sticking to the approach put forward by the prime minister.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd – who was a leading figure in the Remain campaign – played down the divisions in the cabinet, telling the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show on Sunday: “I have a surprise for the Brexiteers, which is the committee that meets in order to help make these decisions is more united than they think.”
Future options?
In a position paper published in August, the UK set out two potential options for future long-term customs operations.
A “partnership” arrangement would see the UK “align precisely” with the EU in terms of imports and exports, removing the need for any customs checks between the two.
The UK would continue to operate its own checks on goods coming from outside the EU – and safeguards would be needed to prevent goods entering the EU that had not complied with its rules.
An alternative scenario would involve the UK extending customs checks to EU arrivals but under a “highly streamlined arrangement” to minimise disruption at ports and airports.
This would seek to make the existing system of customs checks “even more efficient”, for example using number plate recognition technology at ports, which could be linked to customs declarations for what the vehicles are carrying, meaning the vehicles do not have to be manually stopped and checked.
Ms Rudd said they agreed on the need for “frictionless trade”, the ability to strike international trade deals and to avoid a hard border in Ireland, hitting back at those who question whether such a deal can be secured.
“We want to have a bespoke agreement,” she said. “Now we’re not going to surrender before we have that battle.”
She said Mrs May – who will chair a meeting of the 10-strong Brexit cabinet sub-committee on Wednesday and Thursday – had an “open mind” on how customs will be managed after Brexit.
Quizzed on what the model might look like, she said she was “not intimidated at all” by critics’ warnings about customs unions membership.
Labour said it was “foolhardy” to rule out any kind of customs union with the UK’s largest trading partner.
“The government must put jobs and the economy first, not their own internal party wrangling,” a party spokesman said.
The 90-year-old Kim Yong-nam has seen the rule of all three North Korean leaders in his career.
He is the ceremonial head of state who receives credentials from foreign diplomats in Pyongyang. As such, he is usually responsible for sending condolences or congratulatory messages to foreign leaders.
He has been the president of North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament, the Supreme People’s Assembly, since 1998.
Unlike the current leader Kim Jong-un, Kim Yong-nam has travelled abroad on official visits. In August 2017, he travelled to Iran to attend President Hassan Rouhani’s inauguration ceremony for his second term in office.
He also attended the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia in 2014.
Mr Kim is said to be a loyal follower of the top leadership. “As Kim is known to be acting and speaking under the country’s guidance, he makes no mistakes. That’s why he could keep his high-level post in a country where political purges are common,” South Korea’s Yonhap news agency quoted one North Korean defector as saying.
What is the significance of his visit?
An unnamed official from the South’s presidential Blue House told the BBC that they believed Mr Kim’s visit reflected a willingness on the part of North Korea to improve inter-Korean relations, and demonstrated the North’s sincerity.
Seoul has said it will seek high-level talks with the North Korean delegation during the visit, Yonhap reported.
Mr Kim’s attendance at the opening ceremony will also put him in the company of US Vice President Mike Pence, at a point of high tension with Washington over the North’s nuclear ambitions.
Mr Warmbier and his wife, Cindy, were guests of US President Donald Trump at last week’s State of the Union address.
How has the North been involved in the Games so far?
North Korea on Monday proposed sending an art troupe to the Games by ferry, a move that would require an exemption from bilateral sanctions.
Pyongyang proposed that its delegation use the Mangyongbong 92, a ferry that usually operates between North Korea and Russia, for transportation and as accommodation for the group, according to the South’s unification ministry.
All North Korean ships have been banned from entering South Korean ports since 2010.
“We’re seeking to apply an exemption… to support a successful hosting of the Olympics,” South Korean ministry spokesman Baik Tae-hyun told a press conference.
On Sunday, the united Korean women’s ice hockey team played its first match, but lost the friendly against Sweden 1-3.
Sunday’s outing was the first and only practice match for the newly minted Korean squad.
As well as the ice hockey players, North Korean athletes will compete in skiing and figure skating events. It is also sending hundreds of delegates, cheerleaders and performers.
What are relations like between North and South Korea?
North Korea currently faces growing international pressure and sanctions over its nuclear and missile programmes after it conducted a series of missile tests designed to demonstrate its nuclear capability.
North Korea’s participation in the Olympics, which run from 9 to 25 February, was an unexpected warming of ties.
Meanwhile, although Seoul and Washington have agreed to delay the annual big joint military exercises which always enrage the North, they will still go ahead at the end of the Paralympics.
The sole surviving suspect from the 2015 Paris terror attacks is refusing to speak any further in a Belgian court, where he is on trial over the gunfight that led to his arrest.
Salah Abdeslam has said he will not respond to questions from the judge.
“My silence does not make me a criminal, it’s my defence,” he said.
Abdeslam, 28, claimed that Muslims were “judged mercilessly”, and said he was placing his trust in Allah and the Prophet Muhammad.
“I am not afraid of you, I am not afraid of your allies,” he added, without making clear who he meant.
He urged the prosecution to base its case on “forensic and tangible evidence”, and not to “swagger about to satisfy public opinion”.
Abdeslam has refused to speak to investigators since his March 2016 arrest.
What is Abdeslam accused of?
French prosecutors believe Abdeslam played a key role in the Paris attacks, in which gunmen and suicide bombers targeted a concert hall, stadium, restaurants and bars, killing 130 people and injuring hundreds more.
He became Europe’s most wanted man after the mass killings, and was captured in Brussels four months later.
The defendant’s brother, Brahim, was among the Paris attackers and died in a suicide blast outside a cafe.
Abdeslam is not expected to go on trial in France until 2019 at the earliest.
The charges he faces in Brussels are not related to events in Paris, but to a shootout he had with police while on the run in Belgium.
Abdeslam and his suspected accomplice Sofian Ayari, 24, are accused of possessing illegal weapons and the attempted murder of police officers in a terrorist context.
The men allegedly fought a gun battle with officers who raided the flat where they were holed up, in the Molenbeek district of Brussels. They face up to 40 years in prison if found guilty.
From the courtroom: Damian Grammaticas, BBC News, in Brussels
Salah Abdeslam entered the court silently, all eyes trained on him. On either side of Abdeslam stood police guards wearing balaclavas.
The photographs released by police during the four-month manhunt for him following the Paris attacks had shown a clean-shaven young man with short-cropped hair. Now his hair was longer, almost shoulder length. In prison he’s also grown a beard.
The old photos showed a slim, seemingly relaxed-looking man, the air of a swagger about him. Now he moved a little hesitantly. He said nothing. When the judge asked him to confirm his identity Abdeslam, wearing a white jacket, did not respond. She asked again. He had to be coaxed to acknowledge his own name.
The judge explained to the court that Abdeslam did not want his picture to be shown, so any filming of him was prohibited.
The man who prosecutors say was a willing part of a murderous gang that killed 130 people in Paris was unwilling now to show his face, or even to speak up in front of the court. He has also refused to talk to prosecutors, or even lawyers representing him.
As his co-accused Sofian Ayari stood to answer questions about his time in Syria, and the automatic weapons they had kept in a flat in Brussels, Abdeslam sat in silence. For now he seems determined to divulge nothing about his role, or anything else connected to the attacks.
Who gets Abdeslam, France or Belgium?
Abdeslam, a French citizen born to Moroccan parents in Brussels, has been held at a prison near Paris. He left the facility under armed guard in the early hours of Monday, accompanied by tactical police vehicles.
He will return to France every night during the trial, but will be held at another jail just across the border.
Up to 200 police will be guarding the courthouse for the trial, which is expected to last four days.
No one in the Royal Family wants to be king or queen, Prince Harry has told a US magazine, adding that “we will carry out our duties at the right time”.
“Is there any one of the Royal Family who wants to be king or queen? I don’t think so,” he told Newsweek.
And he said the royals were doing it “for the greater good of the people”.
Prince Harry also spoke about walking in the funeral procession for his mother, Princess Diana, aged 12, saying no child “should be asked to do that”.
In 1997, Harry joined his father, the Prince of Wales, grandfather, the Duke of Edinburgh, 15-year-old brother, the Duke of Cambridge, and uncle, Earl Spencer, in the procession through the streets of London.
“I don’t think any child should be asked to do that, under any circumstances. I don’t think it would happen today.”
By Peter Hunt, BBC royal correspondent
This is an interview that will generate some sympathy – a prince still struggling with the death of his mother – and raise some eyebrows.
Such a reaction will be prompted by Harry’s suggestion that the Windsors aren’t exactly falling over each other to fill what his mother once called “the top job”, when it becomes vacant.
The Queen’s heirs, he implies, will take on a position of enormous privilege because they have to, not because they want to.
And despite the prince’s important caveat that the royals do what they do for the greater good and not for themselves, his words have generated the Daily Mail headline, “Harry: No Royal Wants Throne”.
Prince Harry is on marginally safer ground talking about his mother’s funeral even though his comments do contain an implied criticism of his immediate family. They could have decided in 1997 that he was too young to walk, so publicly, behind Diana’s coffin.
There is one other striking aspect to this lengthy article. It contains no comments, by Harry, about his father.
Shopping
Prince Harry told the magazine, which says it was given access to the prince for nearly a year, that he was “involved in modernising the British monarchy”.
“It’s a tricky balancing act. We don’t want to dilute the magic. The British public and the whole world need institutions like it.”
Harry praised Princess Diana for playing a part in showing him an ordinary life, saying people would be “amazed” at how ordinary his and Prince William’s lives were.
“I do my own shopping. Sometimes… I worry someone will snap me with their phone. But I am determined to have a relatively normal life, and if I am lucky enough to have children, they can have one too.
Ukraine’s president has asked for discussions to begin on an action plan that could eventually lead to membership of Nato.
Petro Poroshenko said the will of the Ukrainian people was to eventually join the Western military alliance.
Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said any decision on future membership would be up to the 29 alliance members.
Russia has repeatedly criticised Nato’s expansion in eastern Europe and objects to Ukraine becoming a member.
Ukraine faces many obstacles on the road to membership, including the conflict in the east of the country.
Mr Poroshenko was speaking after holding talks with Mr Stoltenberg in the Ukrainian capital Kiev.
“Ukraine has clearly defined its political future and future in the sphere of security,” he said.
“Today we clearly stated that we would begin a discussion about a membership action plan and our proposals for such a discussion were accepted with pleasure.”
Such a plan would set targets on political, economic and defence reforms.
Mr Stoltenberg said he welcomed the fact that Ukraine was moving towards meeting Nato standards, regardless of membership.
In a clear reference to Russia, he said that every nation could decide its own path and no-one else had the right to lean on them or veto the process.
Formed in 1949 to counter the threat of post-War communist expansion as the Soviet Union sought to extend its influence in Europe
Originally consisting of 12 countries: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the UK and the US
The organisation expanded to include Greece and Turkey in 1952, West Germany in 1955, and Spain in 1982. However, then, as now, the alliance was militarily dominated by the US
The Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland became the first former Warsaw Pact countries to gain Nato membership, in 1999
Montenegro was the latest country to join the alliance, earlier this year. Before that, the most recent recruits were Albania and Croatia in 2009, and Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania, which joined in 2004
Reacting to Mr Poroshenko’s remarks, a Russian government spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said: “For many years Russia has been worried by Nato’s military infrastructure moving closer to our borders, potentially this could be the next step.
“It will not boost stability and security in the European continent.”
Moscow is widely accused of backing the rebels who now control much of eastern Ukraine after a bloody armed conflict with the government in Kiev.
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