Cristiano Ronaldo Retires From Portugal Duty as LIV Golf Loses Backer

Cristiano Ronaldo Retires From International Soccer; BC Partners Drops $300M LIV Golf Plan

Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo, 41, announced on Thursday that he is retiring from international soccer, concluding a 23-year national team career that began in August 2003 when he replaced Luís Figo in a friendly against Kazakhstan, according to ABC7 News. Handing back the No. 7 shirt after a falling-out with coach Jorge Jesus following his final Portugal appearance on September 24 in a 1-0 Nations League home win over Wales, Ronaldo finishes with men's international records of 146 goals and 234 appearances (after becoming the first player to reach 200 caps), having scored in 23 consecutive calendar years from 2004 to 2026.

Ronaldo was the first man to score in 6 World Cups—reaching 11 career World Cup goals at the 2026 tournament to pass Eusébio's Portugal record of 9—and holds the European Championship records with 30 appearances and 14 goals after leading Portugal to the Euro 2016 title and the 2019 and 2025 Nations League trophies (whereas Portugal had previously qualified for only 3 World Cups in 1966, 1986, and 2002—finishing third in 1966 and fourth in 2006 with a quarterfinal in 2022—and 3 Euros in 1984, 1996, and 2000 before finishing runner-up in 2004). While longtime peer Lionel Messi retired from Argentina last month, Ronaldo will continue playing club soccer with Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia, where he sits on 985 career goals in pursuit of his 1,000th goal as the Portuguese soccer federation plans a national tribute.

Elsewhere in sports, LIV Golf faces potential liquidation after financial backer BC Partners walked away from a proposed $300 million rescue plan due to insufficient player commitments, according to The Press and a follow-up report in The Press. In the NFL, The Press reported that Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford's wife criticized the league for scheduling the Rams in the first-ever Thanksgiving Eve game, arguing the midweek fixture deprives the team of a true bye week.

Bob Dylan Meets Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican; Walk of Fame Honors 'GMA' Co-Anchors

Wearing a black hooded sweatshirt inside the Vatican's Apostolic Palace on Wednesday—one day before his Thursday concert at Rome's Palazzo dello Sport—85-year-old musician Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman) met Pope Leo XIV, receiving a rosary from the pontiff and presenting a copy of his memoir, Chronicles: Volume One, Hoodline reported. Pope Leo XIV had quoted Dylan's unreleased 1963 protest song Go Away You Bomb in a July Vatican Publishing House preface on disarmament, while Pope John Paul II previously quoted Blowin' in the Wind when Dylan performed before an estimated 300,000 to 400,000 people at the 23rd National Eucharistic Congress in Bologna in 1997 (following Dylan's late-1970s spiritual period after a November 17, 1978 concert).

In Los Angeles, Good Morning America co-anchors Robin Roberts and George Stephanopoulos—who have co-anchored the broadcast since 2009—are receiving a double star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6290 Hollywood Boulevard near the El Capitan Theatre on Thursday, November 5, streamed live at 11:30 a.m. PT on walkoffame.com, according to ABC7 News. Emceed by co-anchor Michael Strahan and organized by Walk of Fame producer Ana Martinez, the ceremony features guest speakers Michael J. Fox, Niecy Nash-Betts (promoting season two of Hulu's All's Fair), and Disney Entertainment Television Chairman Debra OConnell.

Navy Federal Loan Settlement, Muskegon's $1.2M Hackley Building, and Global Energy Projects

In consumer, real estate, and international resource news:

• Navy Federal Credit Union Settlement: Navy Federal Credit Union agreed to settle a class action lawsuit alleging third-party scammers opened unauthorized personal loans in members' names between January 1, 2023, and January 31, 2025, ABC7 News reported. Qualifying members whose fraud reports were previously denied will have the unauthorized loans canceled, receive full payment reimbursements, and collect $250 if they submit a settlement claim by November 29.
• Muskegon's 1892 Hackley Administration Building Listed for $1.2M: Core Realty Partners listed the historic 1892 sandstone Hackley Administration Building at 349 W. Webster Ave. in Muskegon, Michigan, for $1.2 million on Wednesday, November 4, after serious structural damage from warped 1892 roof trusses stalled a planned $15 million, 47-room (previously floated as 45-room in 2024) "Hackley Castle" luxury boutique hotel conversion originally targeted for summer 2026, according to Hoodline. Built with funds donated by philanthropist Charles Hackley and vacated by Muskegon Public Schools in 2020 before Brad and Kathleen Playford's Wheelfish Group purchased it for $1 in 2021, the stripped structure has already received roughly $4 million in steel-beam exterior stabilization, spokesperson Joe Keck noted, while nearby Muskegon projects include a $15 million, 46-unit Froebel School housing renovation for spring 2028 and a $6 million Fortna Group hub for 80 engineers in a nearly 100-year-old building.
• Australia Approves 443M-Ton Timor Sea Carbon Storage Site: Australian Resources Minister Madeleine King approved a seabed carbon capture and storage (CCS) site extending 260 kilometers (162 miles) offshore from Darwin in the Timor Sea into the West Peron deep saline aquifer, where Japanese energy company Inpex plans to store up to 443 million metric tons (488 million tons) of carbon dioxide over 35 years from its Ichthys LNG facility, KCBS Radio reported. While Japan seeks to cut emissions 60% by 2035 (from 2013 levels) and 73% by 2040, the International Energy Agency projects CCS will contribute less than 5% of 2050 emission reductions, and Australian Marine Conservation Society campaigner Chelsea Deng warned that seismic surveys can harm marine life and plankton up to 1.2 kilometers (3/4 miles) away.
• Kenya's Mrima Hill Rare Earths Tender: Kenyan Mining Minister Hassan Joho and Principal Secretary Harry Kimtai confirmed a technical committee is evaluating 5 proposals—with an announcement due in 2 to 3 weeks—to mine niobium and rare earth elements at Mrima Hill as Kenya seeks to raise mining's share of GDP from 1% to 10% within a decade (on a deposit projected in 2013 at $62 billion in gross revenue over 23 years), according to KCBS Radio. Bidders include an Australian consortium of RareX and Iluka Resources (submitted October 21) and Nasdaq-listed Critical Metals Corp. (shortlisted in July), while Mrima Farm Owners CBO chairman Justus Mwero (representing 500 farmers), Mrima Hill Digo Community Trust chairman Masoud Suleiman Mwarizo and treasurer Rama Bindo (formed in 2025 to protect the sacred kaya forest designated a national monument in 1992), Kwale Mining Alliance advocate Fakii Omar, and a June 22 High Court petition in Kwale (with a jurisdictional ruling set for November 6) demanded transparency and land protections.

Commercial & Tech Launches: I Sell For You, Apolomed HS-910N, and Trusted Plumber London

Three commercial product and pricing releases rounded out Thursday's business briefs via the Castro Valley Forum:

• I Sell For You (ISFY) On-Demand Phone Closers: Miami Beach-based I Sell For You, led by CEO Marco Guarracino, launched an on-demand, commission-only human phone sales service integrating with Shopify, Stripe, and Commas for cart recovery, upsells, reorders, and high-ticket upsells—citing the Baymard Institute's average across 50 studies showing a 70.22% online cart abandonment rate.
• Apolomed 8-in-1 HS-910N Laser Platform: Shanghai Apolo Medical Technology Co., Ltd. (Apolomed) introduced the Apolo One (HS-910N) modular medical aesthetic system supporting up to 8 interchangeable handpieces, including intense pulsed light (IPL), diode laser, 1064 nm long-pulse Nd:YAG, 1064/532 nm Q-switched Nd:YAG, 1540 nm Er:Glass, 2940 nm Er:YAG, and dual-wavelength 1550/1927 nm fractional laser modules.
• Trusted Plumber London Transparent Pricing: Covering all 33 London boroughs 24 hours a day, Trusted Plumber London spokesperson Denis Taylor published fixed and hourly rates after 2026 job records showed water leaks accounted for about half of all bookings and 38% of work value (with typical leak jobs averaging £380 and one in three exceeding £500, alongside toilets and taps at one in six, boilers at one in eight, cylinders at one in nine, and drains at one in 10): regular plumbing labor is £95 an hour (with the £60 call-out fee waived after two hours), main water leak detection is £595 fixed on a no-find, no-fee guarantee, comprehensive property leak investigation is £660, hourly leak detection with tracer gas is £180, and emergency 1-hour call-outs are £70—as the Association of British Insurers reported £846 million in Q1 2026 property claims (averaging a record £6,040 per weather claim, up 38% from Q1 2025), Thames Water logged over 100 cold-weather repairs daily in January 2026, and the company's Google Search Console clicks rose from 283 to 618 (with search impressions climbing from 55,000 to 120,000 and guide rankings between positions 6 and 10 over 28 days).