City Section baseball finals: Friday scores, Saturday schedule
CITY SECTION BASEBALL FINALS
FRIDAY’S RESULTS
At Stengel Field
DIVISION II
#5 LA Roosevelt 5, #6 South East 3
At Fremont
DIVISION III
#7 Fremont 2, LA Hamilton 0
SATURDAY’S SCHEDULE
At Dodger Stadium
FINALS
OPEN DIVISION
#2 El Camino Real (21-9) vs. #1 Birmingham (26-4), 1 p.m.
DIVISION I
#10 Taft (13-17) vs. #13 Verdugo Hills (13-18), 10 a.m.
World Cup 2026: Which star players will miss the tournament? | World Cup 2026 News
The world’s best football players will travel to North America this summer for the most anticipated sporting event of the year: the FIFA World Cup 2026.
While the 48-team tournament will feature young prodigies and veterans alike, some stars will not be at the tournament, having missed out due to injuries or because their nations failed to qualify.
Al Jazeera takes a look at the top stars who will not be at the World Cup:
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (Georgia)
One of the most feared wingers in European football, Kvaratskhelia will not be on the plane to North America as his country, Georgia, failed to qualify for the finals in June and July.
The Paris Saint-Germain winger, the standout player in the Champions League this season, is yet to play at a World Cup. His last major tournament with Georgia ended in a round-of-16 run at Euro 2024.
Robert Lewandowski (Poland)
A teary-eyed Lewandowski left the pitch after Poland’s final World Cup qualifier on March 31 as the nation narrowly missed out on the 2026 edition. The 37-year-old Barcelona striker even hinted at international retirement after the failure to qualify but has yet to confirm the decision.
Lewandowski has played a record 165 games for Poland, beginning with a goal on his debut against San Marino in 2008 when he was 20. His 89 goals are nearly twice as many as any other Polish player, but he has played at the World Cup only twice with a last-16 finish in 2022 being the best result.
Gianluigi Donnarumma and Sandro Tonali (Italy)
Italy’s failure to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time means the tournament will be devoid of some of the finest Azzurri talents, including star goalkeeper Donnarumma and midfielder Tonali.
After suffering a shock penalty shootout defeat to Bosnia and Herzegovina in the playoffs, Italy became the first former champions to miss three World Cup finals in a row. The last time the Italians played at a World Cup was in 2014 when they crashed out in the group stage in Brazil.
“The World Cup curse”, as described by the Italian media, will keep Donnarumma – one of the best goalkeepers in the world – and Tonali away from playing at the world’s biggest football tournament.
Victor Osimhen and Ademola Lookman (Nigeria)
After Italy, Nigeria are the biggest nation to miss out on a ticket to the World Cup 2026, thanks to an abysmal qualifying campaign. The Super Eagles had dreamed of soaring high in North America, but their wings were clipped after a shock penalty shootout defeat to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the African playoffs.
Nigeria’s failure to make it to the World Cup means fans will miss out on watching Lookman, arguably their best player at AFCON 2025, and Osimhen, one of the most feared strikers in Africa.
The dynamic duo of Lookman and Osimhen has often brought joy to Nigerian fans, whose team is missing successive World Cup finals for the first time in 36 years.
Hugo Ekitike (France)
France forward Ekitike’s dreams of making his World Cup debut were shattered when he ruptured his Achilles tendon while playing for Liverpool against PSG in April.
The injury, which could sideline him until January 2027, saw the 23-year-old leave the pitch in tears on a stretcher during the second leg of a Champions League quarterfinal tie at Anfield.
At the start of the 2025-2026 season, Ekitike was far behind in the France pecking order, but an impressive season at Liverpool, which saw him score 17 goals in all competitions until his injury, had put him in the running to be picked by coach Didier Deschamps for the World Cup.
Estevao and Rodrygo (Brazil)
One of the brightest talents in global football, winger Estevao was set for his much-awaited World Cup debut until a hamstring injury crushed his dream. The 19-year-old suffered a grade four hamstring injury while playing for his club, Chelsea, in April, which ultimately kept him out of Brazil’s World Cup squad.
Joining Chelsea from Palmeiras in May 2024, Estevao’s eight goals and four assists in his debut season in England caught everyone’s attention. The teenage sensation had also established himself as a regular member of Brazil’s squad under Carlo Ancelotti.
Alongside Estevao, Real Madrid winger Rodrygo, who made five appearances for Brazil at the 2022 World Cup, will not be at this year’s edition after suffering a torn meniscus and ACL in his right knee.
The 25-year-old picked up the injury while playing for Madrid in March and is expected to be out until the end of 2026.
Xavi Simons (Netherlands)
Attacking midfielder Simons will not be with the Netherlands at the World Cup 2026 after he suffered an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury while playing for his club, Tottenham Hotspur, against Wolverhampton Wanderers in a Premier League game.
Simons, 23, was expected to be a key figure in Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands squad for what would have been his second World Cup after his debut in 2022.
He has earned 34 caps, most recently featuring in friendlies in March.
Bryan Mbeumo (Cameroon)
Cameroon’s failure to qualify for the World Cup came as a surprise as the Indomitable Lions hold the African record for the most appearances with eight overall.
After losing to DR Congo in the semifinals of the African playoffs, Cameroon’s World Cup dreams died and, with them, Mbeumo’s chances of playing in North America.
Mbeumo has had a decent season at Manchester United, scoring 10 goals and bagging three assists across all competitions.
Honourable mentions
A few other high-profile players will also miss the tournament.
Spain midfielder Fermin Lopez misses out after requiring surgery on a fracture in his right foot while Germany’s Serge Gnabry has been ruled out with a torn adductor muscle in his right thigh.
England have omitted Cole Palmer and Phil Foden from their squad after both had disappointing seasons.
Japan’s Takumi Minamino was left out after suffering an ACL tear while Kaoru Mitoma also misses out after suffering a hamstring injury.
Defender Eder Militao was dropped from Brazil’s squad after undergoing surgery for a hamstring injury while Ancelotti also dropped forwards Joao Pedro and Richarlison.
Slovenia goalkeeper and captain Jan Oblak will be absent after they failed to qualify, and central midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai faces a similar fate after Hungary missed out too.
Gas explosion at Chinese coal mine kills at least 90 | Mining News
President Xi Jinping has called on authorities nationwide to learn from the incident.
Published On 23 May 2026
A gas explosion at a coal mine in China has killed at least 90 people.
State media Xinhua said 247 workers had been on duty underground when the blast ripped through the Liushenyu mine in Qinyuan county, Shanxi province, on Friday.
Recommended Stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
China’s coal mines are considered among the deadliest in the world due to poor safety standards, weak regulation, and corruption as companies seek to profit from the country’s rapidly expanding economy.
Rescue operations were ongoing as emergency crews continued searching for survivors of the explosion, the deadliest mining disaster reported in China in more than a decade.
The blast occurred shortly after a carbon monoxide alert was issued, with some reports claiming gas levels had exceeded safe limits.
According to state-run broadcaster CGTN, the person responsible for overseeing the mine has been arrested while authorities investigate the cause of the explosion.
President Xi Jinping has urged authorities across China to intensify efforts to prevent major accidents in the wake of Friday’s blast.
“All regions and departments must learn from the lessons of the accident, remain vigilant regarding workplace safety, thoroughly investigate, rectify all types of risks and hidden dangers, and resolutely prevent and curb the occurrence of major and serious accidents,” Xi said.
Video footage posted online from the scene showed several ambulances gathered near the mine.
Shanxi province, where the incident occurred, is China’s main coal-mining region. More than one billion tonnes of coal were extracted there last year, almost a third of the country’s total output.
China is the world’s largest producer and consumer of coal, accounting for more than half of global consumption.
The country is also the world’s largest annual greenhouse gas emitter, while being the biggest producer of renewable energy.
How Katie Price will have the last laugh despite heartbreak after being conned by lying husband Lee Andrews
KATIE Price may be going through hell on earth as she waits for news on her “missing” conman husband Lee Andrews.
But if there’s one thing that the former glamour model, 47, knows how to do, it’s bounce back from heartbreaking and troublesome situations.
And that’s exactly what insiders say three-times divorcee Katie is planning to do next.
Katie has been through the wringer this last week over Lee, who has made no contact with her for days and appears to be in hiding in Dubai, despite initially making his wife think he had been kidnapped.
While Katie is going through hell, a source has insisted that, ultimately, the business savvy star won’t let this ruin her and is used to “turning pain into power”.
And the dramatic scandal is already attracting big money offers, with an insider saying that Katie may reveal all in another autobiography.
A source told us: “With Kate, people underestimate her because they see the chaos before her comeback.
“That’s always been the story with her.
“She’s been through bankruptcy, public humiliation, heartbreak and things that would completely destroy most people – in fact, some close friends wonder how she’s still standing after everything she’s been through in her life but somehow she finds a way to rebuild her life and come back bigger and better every single time.
“Right now, everyone is genuinely worried about her.
“She’s extremely vulnerable, she wears her heart on her sleeve, and this whole shocking situation with Lee disappearing has shaken her badly.
“It really upset her too that people said she was in on it all.
“But Katie has this strange ability to survive things people think she won’t. She’s like a cat with nine million lives.”
As our source points out, while the TV star feels embarrassed that Lee has made a fool of her, she won’t be herself be a punchline.
“Katie is mortified that some people think this is one big joke and some cruel trolls are laughing at her for being so trusting, but she’ll dust herself off. At the end of the day, Katie may wish this had never happened but she knows that the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about at all.
“Her life has been laid bare for the world to see for the best part of three decades and she has no desires to let her popularity die anytime soon. And one thing is for sure, she certainly won’t let her brand be damaged by another man.
The source continued: “The thing about Kate is she’s never been ashamed of her mess.
“Most people try to hide their scandals but she somehow turns hers into opportunity.
“It sounds ruthless when you say it out loud, but she’s incredibly smart when it comes to understanding how the media works and how to manage public attention.
“She knows people are fascinated by her life and so she puts it all out there warts and all, nothing is off limits.”
With the huge interest in her latest marriage growing by the day and Lee’s whereabouts still a mystery, it’s fully expected that publishers and streaming channels will want her to dish the dirt on what’s really gone on.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if six months from now she’s announcing a new bestselling book, a brand new Netflix , another series of her upcoming Sky documentary, or maybe even a new reality TV series back on ITV where she started out,” our source said.
“That’s what Katie does. Everything that looks a disaster or like the end for her somehow becomes the beginning of a brilliant new chapter.
“She’s had people mock her for years, saying she’s finished, saying she’s hit rock bottom, but she always seems to have the last laugh.
“Somehow, even disaster turns into profit for her.
“It’s almost unbelievable. Nobody else does this.”
Katie has had her fair share of ups and downs in her life and her romantic life has always been at the centre of that.
Each of her marriages have ended in heartbreak, with the star taking swipes at her various exes on social media over the years.
She married Peter Andre from 2005 to 2009, then briefly to Alex Reid in 2010 to 2011 and Kieran Hayler from 2013 to 2015.
But despite her love life going up on flames on multiple occasions, she’s always managed to find a way to “reinvent herself” a source said.
The insider told us: “Katie’s biggest strength is that she refuses to stay down.
“She can cry one minute and be planning her comeback the next. That resilience is what keeps her going and it’s probably why the public can’t stop rooting for her.”
Over the years, Katie has faced criticism – whether it’s for her driving, her love for cosmetic surgery, her dramatic weight loss or her parenting.
But she has managed to use the backlash to monetise.
Katie’s cashed in on various avenues – from her podcast, to her live show with pal Kerry Katona, to her Channel 4 documentary about her Mucky Mansion and now even her OnlyFans.
And the star has shared her story along the way, writing a whopping eight autobiographies between 2004 to 2024.
Her latest was titled This Is Me and spilled the beans on her exes, her PTSD and her past trauma.
It’s clear that Katie’s not just a one-trick pony.
And it’s no different this time around, regardless of whether Lee is in the picture or not.
“There’s definitely a feeling among her friends that, as awful as this situation is, Katie will eventually find a way to turn pain into power again,” our source said.
“She’s done it her entire life.
“Every scandal, every crisis, every setback, she finds a way to monetise it, reinvent herself, and move forward.
“She is the ultimate brand with true longevity and star power.
“People see the headlines and think she’s fragile, but there’s another side to Katie. She’s incredibly determined. She’s a survivor.
“She’s always believed that if life gives her drama, she might as well make something out of it. Love her or hate her, Katie understands celebrity culture better than most people.
“She knows how to keep herself relevant. Even in the darkest moments, she’s already thinking three steps ahead.
“I think what shocks people is that she never really loses, even when it looks like she has lost everything.
“Somehow, she turns every catastrophe into another opportunity.
“Lee might think he’s won but by the end of it, she’s the only winner.”
It all started last Tuesday when he was supposed to join her on Good Morning Britain for their first television appearance together.
However, he failed to make it to the UK and she was forced to go it alone, facing a grilling from hosts Susanna Reid and Ed Balls.
Lee, 43, shared an Instagram video where he claimed he was at Muscat airport and he was on his way to the UK.
However, he was caught in a lie as he was actually in Dubai Terminal 2.
Since then, he’s gone off grid and nobody has been able to trace him over the course of the last week.
Katie claimed her husband has been “kidnapped” and the last she heard from him, he was in the back of the van with cable ties on his arms.
She told her YouTube subscribers in a video that the police could not find any record of him being detained and she’d been in contact with the British embassy in Dubai to help track him down.
The former glamour model said: “We are now wondering, as far-fetched as it is, that he’s a missing person now, I don’t know if he’s been kidnapped.
“No one can find him in any prison, any police station, the police can’t find any record of him.
“We are wondering if he’s been kidnapped, he’s definitely a missing person now.
“The unsettling thing for me, the last time I heard from him, he FaceTime me, he had a hood on and said ‘I’ve just been captured or arrested’ and had ties around his hand, not handcuffs, and said ‘they’re coming back for me’. Then his phone went dead at 10.03pm.”
His family filed a missing persons report on Monday at the embassy.
Katie shared her final text messages with Lee, where he told her he loved her and he will “sort it”.
There is ongoing speculation that Lee is unable to leave the United Arab Emirates city after allegedly forging his ex-girlfriend Dina Taji’s signature to secure a £200,000 loan – something he’s strongly denied.
Anaheim native Wade Meckler powers struggling Angels to a win
Wade Meckler had quite the homecoming.
The Yorba Linda native dominated in his Angels debut, hitting a first-pitch, three-run homer off Jacob deGrom in his first at-bat and making a sensational catch in foul territory, all in the first inning, to help his hometown team beat the Rangers 9-6 on Friday night at Angel Stadium.
Meckler attended Esperanza High in Anaheim and grew up an Angels fan. After he was called up from Double-A Rocket City on Friday, Meckler finished with two hits in what was the Angels’ highest-scoring game since April 26, when they scored nine in extras against the Royals.
“Yeah, it was pretty cool,” Meckler said. “Just trying to make a play on defense. But getting your first homer up, it’s pretty hard to top that.”
In sending the 97-mph four-seam fastball from deGrom (3-4), a two-time Cy Young Award winner, 403 feet to right center, Meckler became the first Angels player to homer in his first at-bat with the team since Mike Napoli did against the Tigers in 2006.
Meckler was also the first player to hit a homer in their Angels debut since Randal Grichuk did in 2023 against the Braves.
“We know he plays the game hard,” Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said. “We’ve seen him play the game the way he does in spring training. So I think [Meckler’s] just a naturalist, good baseball player.”
Meckler hit .315 over 111 at-bats with the Angels in spring training, after being claimed off waivers by the franchise in January.
The 26-year-old shared pregame that he grew up rooting for classic Angels names such as Chone Figgins, Torii Hunter and Erick Aybar during the mid-to-late 2000s.
But there was another Angels player Meckler watched growing up: his new teammate, Mike Trout.
“It’s pretty surreal,” Meckler said. “You grew up watching a guy every day on TV for 10 years, and then all of a sudden, he’s a teammate. It’s pretty cool.”
Originally the Giants’ choice with the 256th pick in the 2022 MLB Draft, Meckler has struggled to find his footing in the majors. However, his night couldn’t have gone much better.
Suzuki and the middling Angels, at least, would probably like Meckler to stay hot forever. After all, he earned a shot with the big-league club after hitting .343 with 34 hits and 13 RBI through 27 games with Rocket City.
“It feels good,” Meckler said. “It’s been a little bit. Spent a lot of the last couple years injured, grinding through injuries, and it feels good to be healthy and able to compete. I feel like I’m capable of competing. And obviously, it’s really cool to be in the big leagues for your childhood team as well.”
Despite entering on a three-game skid, the Angels came to play to open a three-game series against the Rangers.
Shortstop Zack Neto hit a pair of solo shots: one in the first and another in the eighth. The four-year MLB veteran is up to 12 career lead-off homers and has three in 2026.
“It was a lot of fun,” Neto said. “From one through nine, even the guys on the bench, coming in and doing their job … We had the big hit when we needed it.”
Right-handed starter Grayson Rodriguez also earned his first win of the year after tossing 5 2/3 innings of four-run ball.
In the seventh, Neto preserved the Angels’ 6-5 lead after throwing out Josh Jung at home. Neto caught a strong throw to the infield from Jo Adell after a Brandon Nimmo RBI double.
“I mean, defense wins games,” Neto said.
Angels catcher Logan O’Hoppe was banged up during Jung’s play at the plate. However, he shut down any concerns after the win.
“I’ll be at the doc one more time, but I’m fine, O’Hoppe said. “It’s the same feeling that all the headshots feel like. You feel out of it and a little slow, but usually a good night’s sleep takes care of it.”
After Angel Stadium stretched, second baseman Oswald Peraza hit his sixth homer of the year, a solo shot against lefty Jalen Beeks.
Neto hit his second homer of the night in the eighth against righty Chris Martin, and first baseman Nolan Schanuel capped the Angels’ scoring with an RBI single nine pitches later.
“I felt throughout, guys were getting good at-bats,” Suzuki said. “We were getting guys on; there was a couple times we didn’t get them in, but we’re constantly getting guys in position to score.”
The Angels still hold an MLB-worst 18-34 record, but beat the AL West’s second-placed team before an announced crowd of 34,288. Fans in the right-field pavilions continued to chant “sell the team.”
Israeli forces attack central Gaza despite ceasefire agreement | Gaza
Video shows the moment Israeli forces struck Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps in central Gaza, injuring dozens despite an ongoing ceasefire agreement.
Published On 23 May 2026
We Finally See The Mysterious Object Shot Down By F-16s Over Lake Huron
The U.S. military has finally released video footage showing an Air National Guard F-16 shooting down an object over Lake Huron back in 2023, which appears to be a balloon. American fighters downed three still-technically unidentified objects over the United States and Canada that month. Only one other image had been released from any of these incidents before now, and questions remain unanswered, including why it has taken so long to share key details with the public.
The video in question, seen below, was included in a new tranche of declassified records that the Pentagon posted online today as part of the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE) initiative. UAP here stands for unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), which are also still commonly referred to as unidentified flying objects (UFO). This is the second batch of videos, pictures, and documents to be released through PURSUE, with the first having come back on May 8. Overall, what has been disclosed so far has been underwhelming, to say the least.
Lake Huron UAP engagement by F-16
What has already been well established is that a pair of F-16CM Vipers from the Minnesota Air National Guard scrambled in response to the detection of an unidentified object on February 12, 2023. Authorities deemed the object, which was soaring at approximately 20,000 feet, to be concerning and a potential hazard to civil aviation. One of the F-16s shot it down over Lake Huron, which lies right along the U.S. Canadian border, with an AIM-9X Sidewinder missile. Canadian authorities subsequently recovered debris, which we will come back to later on.
U.S. Air Force fighters had also downed two other still unidentified objects, one in the skies off the coast of Alaska and another over Canada’s Yukon Territory, on February 10 and 11 of that year, respectively. This all followed the shootdown of a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina on February 4, which came after it had already spent days passing over parts of the United States and Canada.
The official description of what is seen in the newly video, which is titled “USAF ANG F-16C (callsign [CALLSIGN]) Shoots Down UAP over Lake Huron with [Weapon System], 12 Feb 2023,” reads:
“At the 11 second mark, the sensor focuses on an area of contrast in the center of its field-of-view. At the 20 second mark, the footage appears to depict a kinetic interaction between two distinct areas of contrast, with the initial subject of the footage fragmenting in a radial displacement pattern that suggests a high-energy event.”
“This video description is provided for informational purposes only. Readers should not interpret any part of this description as reflecting an analytical judgment, investigative conclusion, or factual determination regarding the described event’s validity, nature, or significance.”
The footage was shot through an infrared camera. The F-16s involved in the shootdown were seen at the time carrying Sniper Advanced Targeting Pods (ATP), which have both electro-optical and infrared video cameras, among other features. From what can be seen, the object is distinctly balloon-like with a roughly spherical shape. It has a single wire or some other kind of line dangling below, but there is nothing readily visible attached to it.
How the object is seen ‘bursting’ apart at the 20-second mark in the video is also very consistent with a balloon.
At the time of the shootdown over Lake Huron in 2023, which was widely publicized, the object was described as “octagonal” and as having multiple “strings” hanging below, but no visible payload.
The description above is in line with unclassified audio recordings of the in-cockpit communications from the two F-16 fighter jets that TWZ published the day after the shootdown.
“I wouldn’t really call it a balloon … I don’t know what … I can see it outside with my eyes,” one of the pilots can be heard saying in that audio. “Looks like something … there’s some kind of object that’s distended… it’s hard to tell, it’s pretty small.”
“I’m gonna call it a balloon,” one of the pilots adds later on.
“In the targeting pod, I can’t tell if it’s metallic or what, but I can see like lines coming down below it, but I can’t see anything below it,” one of the pilots also says at one point.
“The size of it, that would be challenging, it’s so slow and so small, I just can’t see it,” one of the pilots notes, as well.
You can listen to the full 2023 Lake Huron shootdown audio below.
Radio Audio From F-16 Shoot Down Of Object Over Lake Huron
In 2024, Canada’s CTV News also published records that were obtained via a request under Canada’s Access to Information Act, one of which said that a “module” was among the debris recovered after the shootdown and that it was “from a company who sells weather monitoring equipment.” The document in question was an email from Mark Flynn, at the time the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s (RCMP) deputy commissioner for Federal Policing, to Canadian Armed Forces Brig. Gen. Eric Laforest, then-strategic joint staff director of general operations.
“It will be analyzed to determine if there is anything unusual with it but I suspect not given the size,” Flynn’s email added. “Whether or not it is from the shoot down is uncertain.”
“Debris has been recovered from the shores of Lake Huron but after careful analysis, it was determined not to be of national security concern,” the RCMP also told CTV News directly.
The records the Canadian outlet obtained also included a redacted Royal Canadian Air Force report that further suggested the object might have been a weather balloon launched from a U.S. National Weather Service radar station in Michigan. That same report also highlighted the possibility that the object shot down over the Yukon Territory had been a so-called “pico” balloon, which amateur radio enthusiasts regularly launch across North America, a theory that was widely reported at the time.
The newly released video all but closes the case on what was shot down over Lake Huron being an innocuous balloon. This, in turn, adds to the existing and serious transparency questions surrounding all three of the still largely unexplained shootdowns in February 2023.
The only image to be released before now was a single still picture of the object downed over the Yukon Territory, which is seen below. You can find our previous analysis of what that picture shows here.
In an interview with TWZ‘s Howard Altman earlier this year, Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) Maj. Gen. Chris McKenna also described the object shot down off the coast of Whitehorse in Alaska as a “white balloon” belonging to “either research or a state actor.” McKenna is the commander of 1 Canadian Air Division, operational commander for the Canadian North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) Region (CANR), and the Canadian Joint Forces Air Component Commander.
TWZ and others have noted for years now that it has been, at best, curious that the U.S. military had not released imagery and/or video of any of these unprecedented shootdowns that followed the Chinese spy balloon affair. This disconnect is even pronounced given how quickly higher resolution video footage and pictures of geopolitically charged events, often captured through exactly the same kinds of sensors, are routinely released.
“Data release and footage is prioritized based on the geopolitical environment at the time,” Sean Kirkpatrick, then head of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) said in response to a question from TWZ about why video or pictures from the February shootdowns had not been released at a press briefing in October 2023. “So engagements with Chinese fighters, Russian fighters have a much larger priority in getting it through the review process or declassification than UAPs or other similar engagements.”
“We are however, working through those processes, which all exist and we’ve got several of them actually already declassified and ready to update on our website [which] we’ll be doing on the next update to the website,” Kirkpatrick, who left AARO in December 2023, added at that time. “And we’re putting them out as quickly as we can get them through their proper steps.”
The Pentagon established AARO in 2022 to serve as a central manager within the U.S. military for policies and procedures for tracking, reporting, and analyzing UAP incidents, as well as to act as a repository for intelligence assessments and other relevant data. Since then, the office has been a focal point for that criticism, especially from members of Congress on both sides of the political aisle, who have complained about stonewalling on UAP-related matters.
With all of this in mind, it’s interesting to note that the Pentagon’s PURSUE website says the newly released video of the Lake Huron shootdown did come via AARO, but in what appears to have been something of a circuitous route.
“On March 6, 2026, eight members of the U.S. House of Representatives requested access to 51 potentially UAP-related records allegedly held by the Department of War and the Intelligence Community,” according to the entry in the PURSUE archive. “The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) identified a collection of responsive materials held on a classified network. Many of these materials lack a substantiated chain-of-custody.”
“AARO assesses that this video, whose uploader-defined title is, ‘USAF ANG F-16C (callsign [CALLSIGN]) Shoots Down UAP over Lake Huron with [Weapon System], 12 Feb 2023,’ is likely derived from an infrared sensor aboard a U.S. military platform operating within the United States Northern Command area of responsibility in 2023. A user uploaded this video to a classified network in February 2023.”
This is a very odd description, suggesting that AARO was somehow not aware of the origin of the footage and/or could not confirm it. The PURSUE archive simply lists “Department of War” as the source of the video. TWZ reached out to the Pentagon and NORTHCOM for more information. The Pentagon confirmed to us that the video is indeed of the well-publicized shootdown.
As TWZ has noted in the past, there is evidence that U.S. and Canadian authorities withheld the release of certain materials related to the trio of shootdowns in February 2023, ostensibly to avoid confusion and speculation. We have also pointed out that this looks to have had exactly the opposite effect, and the optics of choosing this course of action remain puzzling.
The Chinese spy balloon incident earlier in February 2023 had already become a cause célèbre, highlighting worrisome gaps in air defense sensor coverage over and around North America. At the time, U.S. authorities very publicly scrambled to assure the public it was addressing those concerns. Major changes were subsequently made to various policies, as well as tactics, techniques, and procedures.
There does continue to be questions in this regard, especially when it comes to responding to the ever-growing threats posed by drones. The Pentagon and other elements of the U.S. government have been working to address those issues in recent years, as well. TWZ has long pointed out that many UAP sightings are very likely to be drones, as well as balloons, operated by malign actors, including China and Russia, for intelligence collection or other purposes.
It remains to be seen whether the release today of the Lake Huron shootdown video leads to more disclosures around that incident, as well as what happened in the skies off the coast of Alaska and the Yukon Territory.
Update: 6:58 PM EST –
It has been brought to our attention that former AARO head Sean Kirkpatrick described the objects shot down between February 10 and 12, 2023, as all being balloons during a talk in April. Kirkpatrick, now an adjunct assistant professor of physics at the University of Georgia, was addressing a gathering of an independent organization called the National Capital Area Skeptics (NCAS) at the time. He is a controversial figure to many in the UFO community for his stark refusal that the government has no proof of truly non human intelligence visiting earth.
“We scrambled jets and shot down a bunch of things. Do you know what we shot down? Balloons,” Kirkpatrick said. “You can imagine the response on the Hill when I briefed that.”
Contact the author: joe@twz.com
Gemma Collins looks horrified as she gets a parking ticket after lunch in Essex on hottest day of the year so far
GEMMA Collins’ had a damper put on her bank holiday fun as she received a parking ticket in Essex this weekend.
The former Towie star looked horrified as she returned to her flashy Range Rover after lunch to see that it had been slapped with a hefty fine.
Dressed in a vibrant two-piece for the hottest day of the year so far, Gemma was snapped outside of Italian pizzeria Bel-Sit in Woodford.
However, it seems as though the parking ticket didn’t get her too down as Gemma was seen beaming upon ripping it off of her windscreen.
She appeared to be enjoying the British sunshine, too, as temperatures reached 28 degrees Celsius on what was the hottest day of 2026 so far.
The reality star’s outing comes just days after she was involved in a campaign that was branded “tone deaf” by the public.
Gemma appeared in videos in collaboration with the Department for Education.
The clips, released earlier this week, show Gemma marching into an office to discuss learning with the Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson.
In one instalment, she prattles on about King Richard III and states “not many youngsters would know who he is today”.
The “GC”, who left school at 16 with a single GCSE — a G in maths — goes on: “Whatever you’re learning, make sure you concentrate because you’re going to be taking it into your future career.”
The videos have been ridiculed by mums and dads, with one joking: “I hadn’t thought of just saying ‘concentrate’. All will now be well.”
A second wrote: “What’s next? Joey Essex visits the Ministry of Defence?”
“It’s tone-deaf,” said a third.
Another said: “Many of us have had to fight every step of the way for our children to stay in school, for EHCPs, for specialist placements, and simply for our children’s needs to be recognised and understood.
“The SEND system is exhausting, adversarial, and often leaves families feeling unheard and unsupported.
“So to see the Department for Education use a celebrity with no lived experience of navigating this system feels disconnected from the reality SEN families face every day.”
The train is ‘my time machine’: a tour of Naples’ hidden ancient wonders | Naples holidays
One by one, the visitors descend through a tight tunnel cut through volcanic rock into the damp foundations of the Teatro Romano buried beneath Herculaneum, with the weight of 2,000 years of city above them. “This is a time machine,” the guide says, “and we are going back.” It is pitch black as film-maker Gianfranco Rosi’s camera finds torchlight catching the tourists’ transparent waterproof capes, making them appear like ghosts.
Released on the streaming platform Mubi this March, Rosi’s documentary Pompei: Below the Clouds threads a needle from classical antiquity to the present day. Presented in ashen black and white, without narration or interviews, it places the viewer inside the region surrounding Naples and leaves us there, each scene presenting a place and a moment in the area’s long history.
Naples is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, and most visitors see only a fraction of it before boarding the Circumvesuviana at Porta Nolana and riding the narrow-gauge railway east to Pompei or Herculaneum. In Below the Clouds, Rosi does not alight there. He stays on the train, camera in hand, and traverses this seismic landscape – from the Sorrentine peninsula, crowned by Vesuvius in the east, to the lesser-known craters of the Phlegraean Fields in the west. The train, Rosi says, is “my time machine”. His lens draws us into the Naples most visitors never see.
As a film-maker myself, who has lived and worked in Naples for the past 15 years, I was inspired by Below the Clouds to make my own pilgrimage, and boarded the overcrowded, noisy trains I usually avoid.
Before the Circumvesuviana reaches the archaeological site of Pompei, it skirts the Bay of Naples, passing through a number of overlooked towns characterised by a stratification of history visible in the architecture. Drawing into the station of Torre Annunziata, Rosi holds the camera on the visible layers of the town’s history: diamond-patterned Roman brickwork cut from nearby volcanic quarries, Doric columns from an excavated Roman villa, and the still-lived-in mid-century housing blocks rising above them. That Roman villa is worth stopping for. Believed to have been built for Poppaea Sabina, the second wife of Emperor Nero, Villa Oplontis feels like a secret discovery. Its frescoes are almost untouched, its colonnade pristine, and on this day, as always, there was scarcely another soul in sight.
Back on the Circumvesuviana, I head east to Somma Vesuviana. A team from the University of Tokyo has been excavating here for decades, slowly uncovering the Villa Augustea, the imperial estate where the Emperor Augustus is believed to have died in AD14. It was not the great eruption of AD79 that buried the villa, but a later one in AD472. The archaeological treasures still buried across the region are so numerous that tomb raiders have long burrowed into the soft volcanic stone looking for loot to sell on.
A second train line, the Cumana, runs in the opposite direction. It departs from Montesanto station in central Naples and heads west, reaching Pozzuoli in 25 minutes. At the end of the line lies a working port city of 75,000 people living in the basin of one of the world’s most geologically active calderas (volcanic craters). The lore surrounding Vesuvius has long overshadowed the dangers posed by the Phlegraean Fields, which rumble daily beneath the city’s foundations.
Stepping off the train at Pozzuoli, I was hit by the pungent sulphuric smoke drifting over the port. I had timed my arrival for a simple lunch at Abbascio ù Mare (a local favourite serving fish landed from the boats that morning) before visiting the Macellum of Pozzuoli, a 2nd-century Roman market near the harbour. Here, I found the clearest record of what is known as bradyseism, the movement of magmatic fluid and gas beneath the surface of the Earth that lifts and lowers the land, sinking entire towns and raising them again centuries later. Halfway up the ancient columns, I spotted bands of small holes in the stone. These were bored by molluscs when the columns once stood metres below the bay. Rosi’s camera follows the phenomenon underwater, descending into the submerged ruins of nearby Baia, where robed marble figures stand upright on the seabed as shoals of fish drift over mosaics and between their feet.
Between east and west, at the intersection of the Circumvesuviana and the Cumana, lies Naples – known to the Greco-Romans as Neapolis (the new town) because it was new compared with Pompei and Baia. In the centre of the city, at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, Rosi films Maria, the museum’s archaeologist, deep in the storage vaults. This is what he calls the casaforte (the safe of memory) – shelf upon shelf of fragmented marble torsos, legs and busts, the overflow of 2,000 years of excavation. These artefacts are down here, Maria says, until it is their turn to return to the museum floor above – a mirror, Rosi suggests to me when we speak, of society’s own hierarchies. Like Rosi, I am obsessed with these perfectly formed marble figures, the survivors of catastrophe, that live in the galleries of the museum upstairs among the frescoes and bronzes, pulled from the same volcanic earth that buried thousands of people under Vesuvius.
Rosi juxtaposes the marble torsos with shots of dismembered ex-voto, small metal plates shaped like individual body parts. These are offerings, often left in churches or street shrines along with prayers to saints in exchange for bodily cures.
At the small church of Santa Maria Francesca delle Cinque Piaghe in the Quartieri Spagnoli, one of my favourite corners of the city, hundreds of ex-votos in the shape of pregnant women have been left for the saint of fertility. These practices, still very much alive today, speak to the Neapolitan impulse to marry the sacred and the profane.
Rosi’s film ends in an abandoned cinema somewhere along the train line, its seats destroyed, its screen partly intact. Into this ruin, Rosi projects clips from Roberto Rossellini’s Journey to Italy, a film about the past, playing in a ruin, in a city built on ruins, above a city that was itself once buried. Like a Chronovisor (a mythical 1950s invention that supposedly broadcast actual historical events), the cinema is where the present tense becomes the past even as you watch it. Just like Naples. Just like Below the Clouds.
By the end of the film’s nearly two-hour runtime, the viewer has made the same journey as those visitors descending into the foundations of the Teatro Romano in Herculaneum to behold and reflect on a civilisation buried mid-sentence. Below the Clouds insists, however, that this confrontation does not require a museum ticket. “We are already living inside the catastrophe,” says Rosi.
Pompei: Below the Clouds is available on Mubi. Herculaneum, Pompei, Villa Oplontis, Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli are open to visitors. The Circumvesuviana runs from Napoli Porta Nolana east to Pompei and Herculaneum. The Cumana line runs from Montesanto station west to Pozzuoli. Sophia Seymour offers bespoke city walks and itineraries through Looking for Lila
Usyk vs Rico: Tony Bellew, Eddie Hearn and Terence Crawford give predictions for world title fight
Oleksandr Usyk defends his WBC world title against Rico Verhoeven on Saturday in Egypt.
The fight is unusual in location as in nature, with kickboxing world champion Verhoeven getting a title shot in just his second boxing fight – and first since 2014.
The 37-year-old Dutchman is aiming to pull off arguably the biggest upset in the sport’s history.
Ukrainian Usyk, 39, is aiming to continue his near 17-year winning streak.
Will we see an underdog win for the ages or will Usyk’s dominance continue?
BBC Sport asks the boxing world for their predictions.
Trump releases new batch of previously classified UFO files | Donald Trump News
Green orbs, discs and fireballs. The Trump administration has released a second batch of previously classified files on alleged UFO sightings. The Pentagon says the material is linked to 209 sightings, in various locations, of what are officially known as “unidentified anomalous phenomena” (UAP).
Published On 23 May 2026
Over 1.6 million pilgrims arrive in Saudi Arabia for hajj pilgrimage | Newsfeed
More than 1.6 million Muslim pilgrims have arrived in Saudi Arabia for the annual Hajj pilgrimage, as authorities stepped up crowd-control measures across Mecca. Pilgrims from war-affected Sudan and Yemen spoke about overcoming challenges to reach Islam’s holiest site.
Published On 23 May 2026
Maya Jama’s ex Ruben Dias caught ‘toe-dipping’ with stunning influencers and ex-Love Islander amid shock split
NEWLY single Ruben Dias hasn’t wasted any time dipping his toe back in the dating pool since his split from Maya Jama.
The showbiz couple called time on their relationship after 18 months at the end of April, just before the Love Island host flew to Inverness to film The Celebrity Traitors.
But The Sun can reveal he’s already been casting his net and reached out to women online – including just days after the split.
Aussie Love Islander Amelia Marni caught his eye, as has a sexy blonde called Georgia.
But this is nothing new for the Manchester City ace, because Ruben has been accused by fans of “toe dipping” for years.
Toe dipping is a practice where one user follows another on social media to invite a response, then if the targeted user doesn’t return the favour, the follow is retracted.
Fans have been tracking Ruben’s toe-dipping for years and noted that he tends to follow a woman in the evening, then unfollow them the next day.
The footballer’s antics are so well-known among his supporters that they track the instances.
One joked on a gossip site in March 2024 – when Ruben was single – writing: “Our favourite alpha sex god keeping us entertained with following, unfollowing, re-following and liking the pics of a random assortment of women on IG.”
And now he’s back on the market, Ruben has been hitting that follow button.
On May 6 he allegedly “toe-dipped” Aussie Amelia, who lives in London and has a boyfriend.
On May 20 he is accused of follow and unfollowing a blonde called Georgia, who has now mysteriously deleted her profile.
There is no suggestion that Ruben has met up with the women or interacted further than just following, nor that they responded.
Maya and Ruben met in November 2024 at the MTV European Music Awards and went public with a loved-up appearance in May 2025.
Yesterday The Sun revealed that the couple had split after “reaching a crossroads” ahead of a hectic summer for both of them.
They both cleared their Instagram profiles of any loved-up snaps.
A source close to the pair said: “Maya and Ruben had a wonderful time together and there’s still a lot of love and respect between them.
“But with both of their careers going into overdrive this summer, they realised that the relationship had run its course and it was better to separate.
“Maya is heading into an intense filming schedule and Ruben’s focus is fully on the World Cup, so they’ve decided to part ways.”
A representative for Ruben Dias did not respond to request for comment.
This underrated island break has beach saunas, Michelin-star food and flights for just £17
OK!’s Samantha Reilly took a one-hour flight to Jersey for a spa break with her mum, packed with sun, sand and seafood delights
Jersey is just a short hop by plane, but feels like a world away(Image: visit jersey)
A tiny emerald jewel in the English Channel, neither quite part of the UK nor part of the EU, Jersey has an out-of-time feel, as though our short flight has taken us not only across the water, but some 20 years or so into the past. It feels gentle, rolling, sun-kissed… and like there might be a Famous Five adventure happening somewhere nearby.
The largest of the Channel Islands, and only 14 miles from the French coast, Jersey beautifully blends British and French influences. Think charming seaside cafés serving overflowing bowls of wine-laced moules or butter-glazed Jersey Royal potatoes. Life moves at a slower pace, but there’s so much variety on this one tiny island. One moment you’re in a lively town, and the next you’re surrounded by sea air, winding country lanes and peaceful villages.
READ MORE: I found one of Britain’s best road trips, and tried it in an electric car’
It’s spotlessly clean, incredibly friendly and full of natural beauty. There are dramatic lighthouse dotted coastlines, sandy bays and green fields where golden Jersey cows munch endlessly.
There is also, and this appealed greatly to my mother and I, a host of beautiful spa facilities to indulge in after you have finished exploring.
How to get to Jersey and around the island
Rather than traipse to one of the major airports, we flew direct from London Southend (the route is brand new) and you’re barely up in the air before you’re coming down again.
Ryde Taxis, Jersey’s answer to Uber, were there to pick us up, whisking us to our hotel in 20 minutes (the whole island is less than 40 minutes away, to be fair) and they chatted away about some island gems we shouldn’t miss. It’s a great way to get your bearings.
Places like St Brelade’s Bay offer pure relaxation, especially with the Sandytoes sauna, while Gorey Harbour has a distinctly Mediterranean feel with alfresco dining and ice cream spots. The capital, St Helier – home to around a third of the population, is bustling with its markets, shopping and excellent bus links to everywhere else.
Away from the towns, there’s plenty to explore, from castles to coastline. And the great thing is, because the place is only five miles by nine, you can cover so many in one trip.
The best places to stay in this golden island
Eager to try all the island offered, we started at The Club Hotel & Spa in St Helier. It’s a luxurious boutique stay, complete with a spa, indoor and outdoor pools, Michelin-starred restaurant and a rooftop cocktail bar (their whisky sour is excellent). We treated ourselves to a facial at the spa – easily one of the best I’ve had.
It’s a great place if good food is central to your holidays. First, you’re handy for a wander through historic St Helier Central Market and Beresford Street Fish Market, both integral parts of Jersey’s heritage, where independent traders have been selling for over 200 years.
Plus the hotel’s Bohemia Restaurant offers Michelin-starred dining, with seaweed sourdough and Bordier butter, and a cauliflower cheese doughnut I’ll never stop dreaming of.
For our final night, we headed east to The Moorings Hotel & Restaurant in Gorey. It was absolutely stunning, with spectacular sea views. A place to relax and drink it all in, we made the most of the sunshine with lunch on the terrace, followed by drinks in the cosy bar by the fire.
It’s the team who make this place so special. They told us about a hidden spot for locals on the beach, which we took full advantage of.
Where to find the best Jersey seafood and local delicacies
Apart from the hotels’ own eateries, we highly recommend slotting in times for three other gems. At St Brelade, The Oyster Box is right on the beach to tempt you after a sauna and swim.
The hollandaise crab on toast was a standout. The Salty Dog in St Aubin’s village came highly recommended by our taxi drivers – and didn’t disappoint. A great atmosphere plus fantastic artwork to buy alongside the food.
At Gorey harbour, Sumas Restaurant is casual but exceptional, with views of the castle. Mum, a huge seafood fan, said the lobster and scallops were the best she’s ever had.
Don’t miss these Jersey gems
The Sandytoes Sauna is my top tip. This Finnish-inspired, wood-fired sauna is right on the beach. Paired with a cold sea dip, it’s the most invigorating experience.
We also walked part of the Jersey Tidal Trail, which trundles the 48-mile circular coast, in eight scenic sections. We started at St Catherine’s Breakwater before heading out with Jersey Seafaris to the uninhabited islet of Les Écréhous, spotting seals along the way.
I loved our visit to La Mare Wine Estate. This vineyard and cider farm offers tastings of award-winning wine, cider and the famous Jersey black butter (which absolutely lives up to the hype), along with apple brandy liqueur, served in a chocolate cup.
And finally, Mont Orgueil Castle (known locally as Gorey Castle) is a fine medieval fortress. Towering over the harbour for more than eight centuries, it’s not for the fainthearted. The climb is steep – but absolutely worth it for the breathtaking views.
How to book this relaxing spa break
Fly from London Southend Airport to Jersey Mon or Thurs, from £17 one way. B&B at The Club Hotel & Spa in St Helier, from £209 for 2. Rooms at The Moorings Hotel & Restaurant in Gorey from £150pn. see visitjersey.com.
UCLA softball bats catch fire during super regional win over UCF
Beware the Bruins Bombers.
UCLA claimed the first of a best-of-three super regional over Central Florida with a 9-1 run-rule win Friday at Easton Stadium, putting the Bruins one win away from reaching the Women’s College World Series.
Freshman infielder Bri Alejandre squared up and smashed a home run over the center-field wall to give UCLA the lead in the second inning. She tied the Big Ten freshman home-run record with her 23rd of the season.
“You don’t want this heat,” one fan yelled from behind home plate. The Bruins, though, were just getting started.
UCF struggled to find answers to match UCLA’s offensive firepower. Three Knights pitchers tried in vain as the Bruins diced up the diamond even though UCF walked UCLA and NCAA home-run leader Megan Grant three times.
Ava Stuewe ended her night in the fourth inning after she walked one Bruin and hit another. But her replacement, sophomore Isabella Vega, couldn’t find her footing, either.
UCLA strung together a sacrifice bunt and an RBI-ground out to score one run. Ramsey Suarez sliced a double down the left-field line as the ball landed less than a foot into fair territory.
Second baseman Kaniya Bragg’s three-run home run put UCLA up by five in the fifth inning. And Rylee Slimp ended the game with a three-run homer.
Yet, UCLA wasn’t perfect. The Bruins left the bases loaded when UCF’s Sierra Humphreys made a diving catch to end the fourth.
The Knights clawed back a run when Humphrey, the first batter of the fifth inning, homered to left. The hit was a small smudge on Bruins ace Taylor Tinsley’s line, finishing with two strikeouts and three hits across the five innings.
She looked shaky earlier in the game when she worked herself into a 3-2 count during the Knights’ first at-bat of the super regionals. As she took a moment to breathe, staring out at the blue wall, center fielder Jolyna Lamar nodded her head three times.
Tinsley then pitched three hitless innings before UCF’s Aubrey Evans doubled off to right in the fourth. Evans ran to third on a wild pitch, but Tinsley worked out of the jam with a groundout that she fielded herself and a lineout to Garcia at shortstop.
UCLA and UCF will play Game 2 Saturday at 7 p.m. and the game will air on ESPN. If the Bruins win, they advance to the WCWS. If they lose, the teams play again Sunday for the WCWS bid.
Premier League finale: Arsenal, relegation, Champions League, Salah and Pep | Football News
The Premier League season reaches its crescendo on Sunday with all 10 matches kicking off simultaneously in a final act packed with jeopardy at the bottom end of the table and nearer the top in a European race tangled in permutations.
The title has already been decided and four Champions League places have gone to league winners Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United and Aston Villa.
Recommended Stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
So attention now shifts to the final European berths – and a relegation scrap few would have predicted when the season kicked off.
There is also a good number of big-name farewells. Al Jazeera Sport looks at the five biggest talking points on the final day.
When will Arsenal lift the Premier League trophy?
Arsenal’s first Premier League title in 22 years will result in a trophy lift after the game at Crystal Palace on Sunday.
The Gunners’ victory was confirmed on Tuesday when Manchester City failed to win at Bournemouth – a result that would have kept the title in the balance on the final day.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta admitted ahead of the trip to Palace that he did not even watch City’s match, instead opting to set up a barbeque in his garden for his family.
His son, Gabriel, part of the Arsenal youth set-up, relayed news of the team’s first title since 2004.
“I was supposed to be at Colney (the training ground), watching the game with the boys and certain staff because that’s what they wanted – but I couldn’t,” Arteta said.
“I think 20 minutes later, before the game, I had to leave. I couldn’t bring the energy that I wanted, and ultimately it was their moment as well to watch it together, to be themselves and just see what the outcome would be.
“My oldest son opened the garden door, he started to run towards me, he started to cry, he gave me a hug and said: ‘We are champions, daddy’.”
Arteta added that winning the trophy after six-and-a-half years at the helm was “one of the best feelings that I have ever had”.
An emotion that will be amplified when the trophy is eventually lifted at Selhurst Park, and elevated even further should his side beat Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final in Budapest on May 30.
“We’re going to prepare for that game with the intention to win and write a new story in the club’s history,” said Arteta.
Who can be relegated on the final day of the Premier League?
The drama is stark and simple at the bottom: one of the two London clubs will go down – Tottenham Hotspur or West Ham.
Spurs are in the better position, 17th on 38 points, two ahead of West Ham who are 18th and in the third relegation spot. Only one combination of results sends Spurs down: defeat at home to Everton plus a victory for West Ham who host Leeds.
“When you fight for the relegation, you have to stay inside of the league until the last minute of the last game of the season,” Spurs manager Roberto de Zerbi said. “We have to stay alive. It is a big day for us.
“The most important is to keep the dignity, to keep the pride, to go on holiday like this (head up) and not like this (head down).”
Victory for West Ham is essential and even that may not suffice, with their inferior goal difference leaving them reliant on help from Everton in north London.
Which Premier League clubs can qualify for Europe?
The other major storyline is the battle for the final one or two Champions League places.
Liverpool are in pole position as they host Brentford, knowing a point will be enough to secure fifth. Bournemouth, who clinched some form of European qualification with their 1-1 draw against Man City on Tuesday, are three points back, but well behind Liverpool in goal difference.
Bournemouth’s surge has been one of the stories of the season. They arrive at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground on a 17-game unbeaten run, their consistency propelling them into sixth and firmly into the European picture.
The stakes may extend beyond a single Champions League slot. Aston Villa’s Europa League triumph on Wednesday has created the possibility of a sixth English entrant into next season’s competition, but only if Villa finish fifth in the league. That would require a Liverpool win in what will be talisman Mohamed Salah’s final appearance as a Red at Anfield, and a Villa loss at City, which is expected to be an emotional farewell to manager Pep Guardiola after a trophy-laden decade with the club.
If Villa finish fourth, the extended route closes and sixth drops into the Europa League, the continent’s second-most prestigious club competition. Brighton & Hove Albion, who host Manchester United, remain the most realistic side capable of breaking into sixth – they are three points behind Bournemouth in seventh – while a broader group, including Chelsea, Brentford and Sunderland, are chasing Europa League and Conference League spots in a congested mid-table fight.
Will Salah have a Premier League farewell for Liverpool?
Mohamed Salah will say goodbye to Liverpool on Sunday, but in what manner remains unclear after manager Arne Slot wouldn’t commit to the Egypt star playing against Brentford at Anfield.
Salah, one of the club’s greatest-ever scorers, forced the question with his public criticism of Liverpool’s style of play after a 4-2 loss to Aston Villa last Friday. He called for a return to the “heavy metal attacking” that struck fear in opponents.
The outburst – Salah’s second public rift with Slot this season – adds extra drama as the team is also trying to secure Champions League qualification.
Slot was asked on Friday if Salah will definitely be involved against Brentford.
“I never say anything about team selection,” Slot responded. “It would be a surprise to you if I did this right now, I think”.
In March, 33-year-old Salah announced he’d be leaving at the end of the season after reaching an agreement with the club to end his contract one year early.
Salah’s production has dipped in his ninth year at Anfield to such an extent that he was dropped for a stretch of games late last year — leading to the winger telling reporters that the club “has thrown me under the bus”.
Why is Pep Guardiola leaving Manchester City?
“Don’t ask me the reasons I’m leaving. There is no reason, but deep inside, I know it’s my time,” Guardiola said in a statement when confirming what City fans had been fearing.
The club’s most successful manager is leaving, bringing to a close a trophy-laden, 10-year spell in which he established City as one of the major forces in Europe and changed the face of English football.
Guardiola, who had a further year left on his City contract, will take charge of his final game in the Premier League against Aston Villa on Sunday.
“Nothing is eternal, if it was, I would be here. Eternal will be the feeling, the people, the memories, the love I have for my Manchester City,” Guardiola added.
“We worked. We suffered. We fought. And we did things our own way. Our way.”
City said Guardiola would take up a role as global ambassador.
Enzo Maresca – the former Chelsea manager who was previously assistant to Guardiola at City – is the favourite to take on the daunting task of filling Guardiola’s shoes after a decade of unprecedented dominance.
Since joining City in the summer of 2016, Guardiola led the Abu Dhabi-backed team to six Premier League titles and the Champions League for the first time in 2023.
He won 17 major trophies in all, including the domestic double this season of the English League Cup and the FA Cup. He has won 35 major titles across his coaching career including his time at Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
Tulsi Gabbard resigns as Trump’s top US intelligence official | Donald Trump News
Tulsi Gabbard has resigned as US Director of National Intelligence, citing her husband’s cancer diagnosis. Her departure comes after months of tensions inside President Trump’s administration over foreign policy and intelligence matters, including over the decision to strike Iran.
Published On 23 May 2026
Katie Price says ‘I miss my husband’ nine days after Lee Andrews’ disappearance as she celebrates birthday alone
KATIE Price has said that she misses her husband nine days on from his disappearance after he failed to fly to the UK from Dubai.
Celebrating her 48th birthday alone, Katie took to Instagram to share her pain with fans over missing Lee Andrews.
Taking to her Instagram story and grid on Friday night, just hours after it was revealed her husband had followed a mystery woman online, Katie shared a moving video which saw photos of her and Lee flash past.
In the background, the former glamour model even crooned the hit Get Here.
“Missing my husband so much it breaks my heart knowing he is still missing so I did this song quick as words mean so much to the situation,” she penned in the caption.
“You can reach me by sailboat / Climb a tree and swing rope to rope / Take a sled and slide downslope.
“You can jump on a speedy colt / Cross the border in a blaze of hope,” Katie croons in the song accompanying the post.
She continues to sing: “I don’t care how you get here / Just get here if you can.”
Reacting to Katie’s heartbreaking post, one fan penned: “This is sad as she genuinely fell in love with him.”
“Katie he doesn’t deserve you. you deserve so much better.. enjoy the rest of your birthday with people who love you,” said another.
While a third wrote: “I really feel for you.”
And a fourth said: “What a sweetheart bless you Kate. Look after yourself. So sorry this is being played out, you have lots of great people around you family is all you need.”
Katie previously revealed how Lee, 43, had “disappeared” last week, after he failed to fly back to the UK for a Good Morning Britain appearance.
Lee told Katie in a voicenote that he needed an “exit stamp” to leave Dubai when he was claiming to be coming back to the UK.
But after he failed to get on a plane, Katie sensationally claimed he had been kidnapped and that the last she’d heard from him, he was in the back of a van with cable ties on his arms.
Katie has since been left fearing for her husband and desperately trying to found out his whereabouts.
A source close to the ex glamour model told us earlier this week: “Lee is officially a missing person now.
At the weekend, Katie said: “I know there is all this speculation but something really serious has happened.”
Then, this week on her podcast, The Katie Price Show, the mum-of-five revealed she was giving up searching for her husband.
“There’s nothing I can do, nothing more that I can say.
“And the police are dealing with it. I’m just leaving it to the police.
“I’m not gonna talk about it anymore, I’m just staying quiet because it’s getting ridiculous now, people just taking the p**s out of everything”.
Katie added: “The police are now handling it, the British police, British consulate, the foreign office, Interpol they’re on the case looking for Lee.
“All I can do is just get on with my life.
“I’ve got lots of exciting things coming up, and I’m just waiting for a call.
“What am I supposed to do, sit here and cry and do nothing, stay in bed?”
She also said: “For my own sanity, I am taking a step back”.
Katie has now not heard from Lee for nine days now, with her husband failing to get in touch despite it being her 48th birthday.
Dodgers can’t erase early deficit, fall to Brewers in series opener
MILWAUKEE — Something about American Family Field in the regular season disagrees with the Dodgers.
They began this road trip with a pair of statement series, sweeping the Angels and edging out the Padres. But their momentum came to a grinding halt when they fell 5-1 to the Brewers on Friday in Milwaukee.
The loss brought back memories of last year, when the Brewers swept the regular-season series, before the Dodgers swept them in the National League Championship Series.
“I don’t think people appreciate how well this team plays baseball,” manager Dave Roberts said before the game. “There’s not a lot of fanfare as far as name recognition. But the way [Brewers manager] Pat Murphy gets these guys to play, it’s a fun brand of baseball.
“They don’t strike out much. They put the ball in play. They bunt, they hit and run, they steal bases, they can pitch. It’s a good matchup. Last year, during the regular season, we couldn’t beat these guys once, so I expect us to play better baseball this year.”
That brand of baseball was a bit of a nightmare for Dodgers starter Justin Wrobleski in the first inning. The Brewers batted around en route to a five-run rally. Five of their six hits were singles. The one exception was William Contreras’ three-run homer.
The next inning, they tacked on another run when Contreras singled and then scored when Andrew Vaughn’s double ricocheted off the wall in the right-field gap.
Wrobleski turned around his outing by blanking the Brewers for the next three innings, but the deficit proved to be too steep for the Dodgers to overcome.
Wrobleski has only given up more than two runs in one other start this season. That one also featured one high-scoring inning and a mid-game adjustment.
The Dodgers’ offense, in contrast to the Brewers’, didn’t record a hit off Brewers starter Logan Henderson until the fourth inning. He faced the minimum through the first three innings — a leadoff walk erased when Shohei Ohtani was caught stealing.
Finally in the fourth, Ohtani worked a 2-2 count and lined a hung change-up into right field. Then Freddie Freeman and Andy Pages drew walks to load the bases with two outs. But the Dodgers failed to capitalize.
The Dodgers again threatened after the Brewers replaced Henderson with left-handed reliever Shane Drohan, drawing a pair of walks to put runners on first and second. But the inning ended with a long flyout from Max Muncy, just a few feet shy of a base hit.
They needed some help from the Brewers’ defense to finally put a run on the board. Third baseman Luis Rengifo mishandled a ground ball to let Teoscar Hernández reach base in the seventh inning. A single from Dalton Rushing and a fly out from Miguel Rojas moved him to third. Ohtani delivered the sacrifice fly.
The Dodgers’ Max Muncy leaves the game after being hit by a pitch during the eighth inning against the Brewers at American Family Field on Friday in Milwaukee, Wisc.
(Patrick McDermott / Getty Images)
The Dodgers may have to deal with additional repercussions. Muncy exited in the top of the eighth inning after being hit in the hand/wrist by a pitch.
Muncy shouted as soon as the 95.5-mph sinker struck him, and he appeared to cradle his right arm. After consulting with an athletic trainer, he touched first base and was replaced by Santiago Espinal.
The severity of Muncy’s injury was not immediately clear.
Chris Taylor retires
The MiLB transaction log Friday showed that former Dodger Chris Taylor has retired after a 12-year major-league career. He spent a decade with the Dodgers, was named the 2017 NLCS MVP, won two World Series, and was an All-Star in 2021.
Israeli blockade traps would-be Hajj pilgrim in Gaza | Religion
For years, 64-year-old Najia Abu Lehia dreamed of performing Hajj with her husband. But before they could make the pilgrimage, her husband died during Israel’s war on Gaza. Now, as millions journey to Mecca, thousands like her are stranded in Gaza.
Published On 22 May 2026
Most people seeking green cards must now apply from outside US
A new policy closes a loophole that has allowed people to apply for a green card, or permanent residency, while in the country.
Source link
Zendaya looks sensational as she poses in plunging brown dress and matching PVC boots against tree trunk
ZENDAYA looks a little bit stumped as she poses against a fallen tree trunk.
The Dune actress, 29, wore a plunging brown dress and matching PVC boots for the cover of Elle magazine.
Zendaya, whose partner is Spider-Man actor Tom Holland, also laid in the hay in a white cut-out dress.
She told the mag: “I think I do have wisdom to offer, but I also do still feel like a f***ing kid. Like, ‘What the f***, I’m about to be 30?
“I still feel like a child inside.”
A new Euphoria feud has emerged last month as Zendaya’s “tension” with a show star was revealed – and it’s not Sydney Sweeney.
This comes as insiders told the Daily Mail Zendaya has a rocky relationship with the actress, who apparently flirted with her man Tom Holland on set.
But now, it seems Zendaya has clashed with another member of the Euphoria team.
Eager fans have long questioned why the new series of the show has taken so long to air – but it seems the real reasons have finally surfaced.
The creator of the HBO series, Sam Levinson, recently told fans the delay between season two and three was a result of strikes, the in-demand cast and finding the right way to pay tribute to Eric Dane and Angus Cloud.
However, a source told Vanity Fair the delay between series sparked serious tension behind the scenes, creating a rift between Sam and Zendaya.
Vanity Fair’s source claimed the once close collaborators grew apart and Zendaya was less involved with development of the third season.
- The July/August issue of ELLE UK is on sale from 18 June.