Barcelona: Lionel Messi announced Friday that he will stay with Barcelona for the upcoming season.

Messi made the announcement in a video interview published by Goal.com. He said that he would not get into a legal dispute with the club.

The decision ended an impasse over his future after he had told Barcelona that he wanted to leave the club for free at the end of the season.

Barcelona wanted him to finish his contract that runs until the end of 2021. It claimed that the clause invoked by Messi to leave had expired in June and said that he had to pay the buyout clause of 700 million euros ( 837 million) if he wanted to depart now.

There had been no agreement when Messi's father and Barcelona president Josep Bartomeu met on Wednesday to discuss the player's future, with Jorge Messi saying his son wanted to leave and Barcelona saying it would not facilitate his transfer.

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Bengaluru (PTI): Four people, among them two women, were arrested for running a prostitution racket from rented houses in parts of the city, police said on Monday.

With their arrest, police also rescued four women who were allegedly forced into prostitution, they said.

The arrests were made following tip-offs received by the Central Crime Branch’s Women Protection Unit on different dates, indicating that prostitution activities were being carried out in rented houses located in Padmanabhanagar, RK Layout, Sundarnagar, and NGF Layout, police said.

Based on information provided by informants, raids were conducted at these locations on different dates, they said.

“During the operations, four women involved in prostitution were rescued. In connection with the case, a total of four individuals, among them two women who were allegedly forcing others into prostitution, were taken into custody,” a statement issued by the office of Bengaluru Police Commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh said.

Upon interrogation, the accused allegedly confessed that they contacted men seeking prostitution services over the phone and arranged for them to visit rented houses, where illegal activities were carried out for monetary gain, it said.

Cases have been registered against the accused at Subramanyapura, Jalahalli, and Jnanabharathi police stations, and further investigation is in progress, police added.