Month: June 2025

Young Angels fans who lined the infield for autographs as the team jogged onto the field Sunday, may not know the thrill, heart-racing suspense of the postseason — nor the captivating, religious-like fervor the rally monkey could bring.

Neither did the Angels that took their places in the field, combining for zero postseason appearances — a group that hadn’t even made their major-league debuts when Mike Trout last led the Angels to the playoffs.

2014 represents the longest postseason drought in MLB. Meanwhile, the 2002 World Series title may read more as a story told by parents to the kids who ran back up into the shaded seats away from the blistering sun after receiving signed baseballs from a group featuring some present-day Angels — Nolan Schanuel, Christian Moore and Logan O’Hoppe.

Does the pressure of holding a postseason spot, potentially hitting a benchmark goal before the All-Star break, change the short-term focus of the franchise? When asked about the expectations before Sunday’s game, interim manager Ray Montgomery said he’s just focused on the now, a message he’s been trying to instill in the clubhouse since spring training.

“If we worry about ourselves and playing the day that we’re scheduled to play, and not worry about the other stuff, we’ll continue to be fine,” Montgomery said.

On Sunday, however, focus collapsed in the ninth and extra innings, a winning record remaining just past arm’s length in the Angels’ 11-inning, 7-4 defeat to the Nationals (35-49). Closer Kenley Jansen blew his first save of the season in the ninth while up one run, and despite a scoreless 10th from Connor Brogdon, he gave up three runs (two earned) in the 11th after a CJ Abrams triple broke the game open.

The Angels (41-42) had plenty of opportunity to hold on to secure their first winning record since April 20. Outfielder Taylor Ward had a career-high three doubles, the first of which scored Schanuel — who reached on a walk — in the first to give the Angels a 1-0 lead. In the sixth, down 2-1, Ward led off the bottom half with a double, on a ground ball deflected by a diving attempt by Nationals third baseman Brady House.

The eighth-year Angels veteran scored on a single from Jo Adell — extending his hit streak to a career-high 11 games — in the next at bat. Moore, who got his first taste of stardom Saturday with a fan meet-and-greet in Tustin, treated the home crowd to a go-ahead single scoring Adell later in the inning.

Quickly becoming a fan favorite for the Halos faithful, Moore capped off his introductory homestand with another clutch at bat — in a week that started with a bang thanks to his two home run spectacle Tuesday against the Red Sox. The rookie second baseman collected five tying or go-ahead hits across the homestand.

Angels starting pitcher Jack Kochanowicz was drilled in the left leg with a comebacker in the first inning, but pitched into the fifth until Montgomery pulled the sinkerballer after a walk and double. He gave up two runs and five hits and two walks, while striking out two.

The Angels bullpen was solid after Kochanowicz removal, combining for five strikeouts, three walks, three hits and two runs before extra innings began. Reid Detmers highlighted the combined effort, striking out three across 1 ⅓ innings, and helping Ryan Zeferjahn escape the seventh with just one run to his name. The southpaw was in line for the victory before Jansen’s blown save sent the game to extra innings.

Jumping for Jo(y)

Adell has strung together a potential AL Player of the Month-level campaign in June, socking 11 home runs — best in the AL — as well as .284 batting average and 18 RBIs.

So far, Adell is already on pace a career-high in wins above replacement rating with 1.0 entering the game, according to Baseball Reference, and is on track for career-best marks in on-base percentage and slugging percentage as well.

“I’m rooting for him,” Montgomery said. “The home runs are nice, and it’s a byproduct of being on the field every day, the work he’s doing. But everything defensively, base running, he’s contributing every way possible.”

Etc.

Zach Neto pinch-hit in the seventh inning for shortstop Kevin Newman and then played the remainder of the game — his first time back fielding since jamming his shoulder Tuesday.

Montgomery said before the game that conversations with Neto and the medical staff leaned to giving him a full off day, along with having the Monday off day, rather than just being in the lineup as the designated hitter.

But when push came to shove in a then-tied game, Neto (0-for-2) and Mike Trout — who began the game on the bench — had an at bat.

Lando Norris’s seventh career GP victory cuts Oscar Piastri’s championship lead from 22 to 15 points after 11 rounds.

Lando Norris has held off a race-long challenge from his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri to win the Austrian Grand Prix and lift his Formula 1 title hopes.

Norris and Piastri battled for the lead in the early stages of the race on Sunday with the Australian briefly in the lead before Norris took the position back. A rash lunge by Piastri nearly caused a collision soon after.

Piastri lost ground at the pit stops and was run wide onto the grass by Alpine’s Franco Colapinto while cutting through traffic. He soon made up ground on Norris but wasn’t quite close enough to try overtaking.

Over the radio, Norris called it a “beautiful one-two” finish for the team.

“We had a great battle, that’s for sure,” he added later. “A lot of stress but a lot of fun. A nice battle, so well done to Oscar.”

A two-horse race at the top

More than ever this season, the title fight focuses on the two McLarens after defending champion Max Verstappen was hit by Kimi Antonelli on the opening lap, ending his race. Antonelli was later handed a three-place grid penalty for the next race.

Overall leader Piastri leads second-placed Norris by 15 points with Verstappen still third but now 61 off the lead.

Piastri apologised to McLaren for the near-collision between the two, which came one race after Norris collided with him in Canada. The Australian said he regretted not making more of his few seconds in the lead earlier in the race.

“I hope it was good watching because it was pretty hard work from the car,” Piastri said. “I tried my absolute best and probably could have done a better job when I just got ahead momentarily. It was a good battle, a bit on the edge at times.”

Ferrari strong with third and fourth

Charles Leclerc was third for his third podium finish in four races, and his Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton was fourth.

George Russell, who won the last race in Canada, was fifth for Mercedes and Liam Lawson sixth for Racing Bulls in his best result of the season.

Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin held off Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto for seventh. The second Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg was ninth, and Esteban Ocon finished 10th for Haas.

McLaren are 207 points clear of Ferrari – who moved back up to second in the absence of team boss Fred Vasseur, who had to return home for personal reasons – in the constructors championship.

Round 12 of the F1 World Championship takes place next weekend at the British Grand Prix.

President Aleksandar Vucic had earlier vowed many more protesters would be arrested, as 38 remain in custody.

Thousands of people have set up street blockades in Serbia, where tensions are boiling over after the arrest of antigovernment protesters who clashed with police at a massive night-time rally a day earlier that demanded early elections, marking a crescendo of months-long public dissent.

Protesters put up metal fences and garbage containers at various locations in the capital Belgrade late on Sunday into early Monday, also blocking a key bridge over the Sava River. Protesters in the northern city of Novi Sad pelted the offices of the ruling populist Serbian Progressive Party with eggs.

Serbian media said similar protest blockades were organised in smaller cities across the country.

Protesters are demanding that authorities release dozens of university students and others at the demonstration who were jailed for allegedly attacking the police or purportedly plotting to overthrow the government at Saturday’s student-led protest in Belgrade.

At a news conference earlier on Sunday, Serbia’s embattled populist leader Aleksandar Vucic accused the organisers of the protest of inciting violence and attacks on police.

“There will be many more arrested for attacking police … this is not the end,” Vucic said, accusing the protesters of causing “terror”.

Clashes erupted after the official part of the rally ended. Police used pepper spray, batons and shields while protesters threw rocks, bottles and other objects.

Critics say Vucic has become increasingly authoritarian since coming to power more than a decade ago, having served as first deputy prime minister from 2012 to 2014 and prime minister from 2014 to 2017 before becoming president, stifling democratic freedoms while allowing corruption and organised crime to flourish. He denies the accusations.

Saturday’s rally was one of the largest in eight sustained months of demonstrations triggered by the roof collapse at a train station in the city of Novi Sad in November that killed 16 people – a tragedy widely blamed on entrenched corruption.

Following the outcry over the disaster, Prime Minister Milos Vucevic resigned, but the governing party continued in power, with a reshuffled government and Vucic still in office.

Authorities put the crowd’s size at 36,000 – well below an independent estimate by the Archive of Public Gatherings of about 140,000.

During his news conference, Vucic also criticised “terrorists and those who tried to bring down the state”, singling out University of Belgrade’s head dean, Vladan Djokic, who was among the protesters.

‘Take freedom into your own hands’

“Serbia won. You cannot destroy Serbia with violence,” said Vucic. “They consciously wanted to spur bloodshed. The time of accountability is coming.”

Protesters say the current populist government is “illegitimate” and lay the responsibility for any violence on the government.

Police said on Sunday that 48 officers were injured while 22 protesters sought medical help. Out of 77 people arrested, 38 remain in custody, most of whom are facing criminal charges, said Interior Minister Ivica Dacic.

Before Saturday’s protest, organisers had issued an “ultimatum” for Vucic to call elections – a demand he has repeatedly rejected.

After the rally, organisers played a statement to the crowd calling for Serbians to “take freedom into your own hands” and giving them the “green light”.

“The authorities had all the mechanisms and all the time to meet the demands and prevent an escalation,” the organisers said in a statement on Instagram.

On Sunday, Vucic reiterated that there would not be any national vote before the end of 2026.

He has repeatedly alleged the protests are part of a foreign plot to destroy his 12-year government, without providing any evidence.

More than a dozen people have been arrested in recent weeks, a crackdown that has now become routine in the face of large demonstrations.

Serbia is formally seeking European Union membership, but Vucic’s government has nurtured close relations with Russia and China.

Vin Diesel says the planned finale of the long-running “Fast & Furious” franchise will come with an unexpected passenger.

Speaking at Fuel Fest, an automotive event in Pomona over the weekend, Diesel told fans that the final “Fast & Furious” film will bring back one of the series’ most beloved characters: Paul Walker’s Brian O’Conner. The longtime on-screen partner to Diesel’s Dominic Toretto, O’Conner last appeared in 2015’s “Furious 7,” which was completed after Walker’s death in a car accident in 2013 at age 40.

The franchise — known for its blend of street racing, elaborate heists and outsized action — has grown into one of the most successful of all time, with more than $7 billion at the global box office.

“Just yesterday I was with Universal Studios,” Diesel said in a video from the event. “The studio said to me, ‘Vin, can we please have the finale of ‘Fast & Furious’ [in] April 2027?’ I said, ‘Under three conditions’ — because I’ve been listening to my fanbase.”

Those conditions, he said, were to bring the franchise back to L.A., return to its street-racing roots and reunite Dom and Brian.

“That is what you’re going to get in the finale,” Diesel promised.

How the production might accomplish that reunion remains unclear. When Walker died during the making of “Furious 7,” the filmmakers turned to a mix of archived footage, digital effects and performances by Walker’s brothers, Caleb and Cody, who served as stand-ins for unfinished scenes. Artists at Weta Digital created more than 300 visual-effects shots to map Walker’s likeness onto his brothers’ bodies, often piecing together dialogue from existing recordings. The film’s farewell — showing Brian and Dom driving side by side before splitting onto separate roads — became one of the franchise’s most memorable and emotional moments, widely seen as a tribute to Walker’s legacy.

A return for Brian O’Conner would join a growing list of posthumous digital performances in major franchises — a practice that continues to stir debate over where the line should be drawn. In 2016’s “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” Peter Cushing’s Grand Moff Tarkin was recreated through a mix of motion capture, CGI and archival material, decades after Cushing’s death. In 2019, “The Rise of Skywalker” relied on previously unused footage and digital stitching to return Carrie Fisher’s Leia to the screen three years after the actress’ passing.

And in last year’s “Alien: Romulus,” the late Ian Holm’s likeness was recreated as an android using AI and digital effects, with the approval of his estate — a choice that sparked controversy and led to more practical effects being used in the film’s home release.

A controversial plan to sell hundreds of thousands of acres of public land across Western states — including California — was axed from the Republican tax and spending bill amid bipartisan backlash, prompting celebration from conservationists.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who spearheaded the proposal, announced he was pulling the provision on Saturday night on the social media platform X. Lee had said the land sale was intended to ease the financial burden of housing, pointing to a lack of affordability afflicting families in many communities.

“Because of the strict constraints of the budget reconciliation process, I was unable to secure clear, enforceable safeguards to guarantee that these lands would be sold only to American families — not to China, not to BlackRock and not to any foreign interests,” he wrote in the post.

For that reason, he said, he was withdrawing the measure from the “One Big Beautiful Bill” that Trump has said he wants passed by July 4.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, speaks at a hearing in January.

(Jose Luis Magana / Associated Press)

Lee’s failed measure would have mandated the sale of between roughly 600,000 and 1.2 million acres of Bureau of Land Management land in 11 Western states, including California. The areas available for auction were supposed to be located within a five-mile radius of population centers.

The effort represented a scaled-back version of a plan that was nixed from the reconciliation bill on Monday for violating Senate rules. The initial plan would have allowed for the sale of up to 3.3 million acres of land managed by BLM and the U.S. Forest Service.

Lee’s decision to scrap the proposal arrived after at least four Republican senators from Western states vowed to vote for an amendment to strike the proposal from the bill.

At lease five House Republicans also voiced their opposition to the plan, including Reps. David Valadao of California and Ryan Zinke of Montana, who served as the Interior secretary during Trump’s first term.

The death of the provision was celebrated by conservationists as well as recreation advocates, including hunters and anglers, even as they steeled themselves for an ongoing fight over federal lands.

The Trump administration has taken steps to open public lands for energy and resource extraction, including recently announcing it would rescind a rule that protects 58.5 million acres of national forestland from road construction and timber harvesting.

Some critics saw the now-scrapped proposed land sale as means to offset tax cuts in the reconciliation bill.

“This is a victory for everyone who hikes, hunts, explores and cherishes these places, but it’s not the end of the threats to our public lands,” said Athan Manuel, director of Sierra Club’s Lands Protection Program, in a statement. “Donald Trump and his allies in Congress have made it clear they will use every tool at their disposal to give away our public lands to billionaires and corporate polluters.”

Chris Wood, president and chief executive of Trout Unlimited — a nonprofit dedicated to conserving rivers and streams to support trout and salmon — described protecting public lands as “the most nonpartisan issue in the country.”

“This is certainly not the first attempt to privatize or transfer our public lands, and it won’t be the last,” Wood said in a statement. “We must stay vigilant and defend the places we love to fish, hike, hunt and explore.”

Lee, in the Saturday X post, suggested the issue remained in play.

He said he believed the federal government owns too much land — and that it is mismanaging it. Locked-away land in his state of Utah, he claimed, drives up taxes and limits the ability to build homes.

“President Trump promised to put underutilized federal land to work for American families, and I look forward to helping him achieve that in a way that respects the legacy of our public lands and reflects the values of the people who use them most.”

Great Britain finished fifth overall at the European Athletics Team Championships in Madrid.

The GB team, captained by discus thrower Lawrence Okoye, finished on 381 points, 3.5 points behind the Netherlands in fourth and three points ahead of sixth-placed Spain.

Sarah Tait, making her international debut, was one of the standout performers on the final day, adding 15 points to GB’s tally with a second-placed finish in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase – just three hundredths of a second behind Finland’s Ilona Mononen.

There were also third-place finishes for Revee Walcott-Nolan in the women’s 1500m and Toby Harries in the men’s 200m.

Bekah Walton, who had surgery on her throwing arm just five months ago, threw 58.63m to finish fourth in the women’s javelin, while Scott Lincoln also finished fourth in the men’s shot put.

Jazmin Sawyers continued her comeback from a 20-month lay-off with an Achilles injury with a sixth-placed finish in the women’s long jump.

In the final event of the night, the 4x400m mixed relay team of Lina Nielsen, Toby Harries, Emily Newnham and Samuel Reardon finished finished third with a time of three minutes 9.6 seconds – the same time as second-placed Italy – to earn GB their final 14 points.

On Friday, 21-year-old Reardon set a championship record and ran a personal best time of 44.60 to win the 400m.

The time places the double Olympic bronze medallist seventh on the all-time list for European under-23s.

Eugene Amo-Dadzie, nicknamed the ‘world’s fastest accountant’, clocked 10.07 as he claimed top spot in the men’s 100m.

Italy successfully defended the crown they won in Poland in 2023.

June 29 (UPI) — Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C, said Sunday that he would not seek re-election, opening up a seat in a state that was already considered a battleground in the 2026 midterm elections.

Tillis made the announcement after voting against a procedural measure Saturday night to clear the way for debate on the Senate version of the Trump administration’s budget reconciliation bill.

“As many of my colleagues have noticed over the last year, and at times even joked about, I haven’t exactly been excited about running for another term.” Tillis said in a statement sent to media outlets.

“That is true since the choice is between spending another six years in Washington or spending that time with the love of my life Susan, our two children, three beautiful grandchildren, and the rest of our extended family back home. It’s not a hard choice and I will not be seeking re-election.”

President Donald Trump threatened Tillis with a primary challenge in N.C. in the 2026 midterms following the GOP Senator’s vote against moving the budget bill to the Senate floor for debate.

Trump took to social media to criticize Tillis.

“Thom Tillis is making a BIG MISTAKE for America, and the Wonderful People of North Carolina!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account Saturday night.

In a statement following the vote Saturday night, Tillis said he was putting the interests of his constituents above party politics.

“I did my homework on behalf of North Carolinians, and I cannot support this bill in its current form,” Tillis wrote.

“It would result in tens of billions of dollars in funding for North Carolina, including our hospitals and rural communities.”

Tillis also noted that proposed cuts would impact rural hospitals and fall squarely on Medicaid recipients who rely on the program as their only source of medical insurance.

Seven workers were injured in the collapse, which occurred in an area controlled by the Sudanese Armed Forces.

The partial collapse of a traditional gold mine in Sudan’s northeast has killed 11 miners and wounded seven others, according to the state mining company, as a brutal civil war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) is in its third year.

Since the war erupted in April 2023, both sides’ war chests have been largely funded by Sudan’s gold industry.

In a statement released on Sunday, the Sudanese Mineral Resources Company (SMRC) said that the collapse occurred in an “artisanal shaft in the Kirsh al-Fil mine” over the weekend in the remote desert area of Howeid, located between the SAF-controlled cities of Atbara and Haiya in Sudan’s northeastern Red Sea state.

Another seven workers were injured and transferred to a hospital, the SMRC said.

The company added that it had previously suspended work in the mine and “warned against its continuing activity due to its posing great risk to life”.

According to official and NGO sources, nearly all of the gold trade is funnelled through the United Arab Emirates, which has been accused of arming the RSF. The UAE denies it does so.

The war has shattered Sudan’s already fragile economy. The army-backed government, nevertheless, announced record gold production of 64 tonnes in 2024.

Africa’s third-largest country is one of the continent’s top gold producers, but artisanal and small-scale gold mining accounts for the majority of gold extracted.

In contrast to larger industrial facilities, these mines lack safety measures and use hazardous chemicals that often cause widespread diseases in nearby areas.

Mining collapses are also common. Similar incidents in recent years include a 2023 collapse that killed 14 miners and another in 2021 that claimed 38 lives.

Before the war, which has pushed 25 million people into dire food insecurity, artisanal mining employed more than two million people, according to mining industry sources and experts.

Today, according to those sources, much of the gold produced by both sides is smuggled to Chad, South Sudan and Egypt, before reaching the UAE, the world’s second-largest gold exporter.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in Sudan, where more than 13 million people are currently displaced in the world’s largest displacement crisis.

More than four million have fled across borders.

Currently, the SAF dominates the north and east of the country – including the smallest state by area, but most populous, Khartoum – along with some central areas. The RSF, meanwhile, holds most of western Sudan, including most of Darfur.

Love Island fans tell Conor to follow Megan out of the villa and ‘go home’ after he asked her to wait for him after she was voted as the least favourite girl and dumped

Love Island fans told Conor to follow Megan home after she was dumped from the island in Friday’s episode. After days of back and forth, Megan and Conor finally decided to give it a go and focus on their connection, however, this didn’t last long as Megan was brutally dumped from the villa.

Conor was shocked and upset as soon as Megan’s name was called, and he shed a few tears as he said his goodbyes. Fans have since been left confused as Conor asked Megan to wait for him while he remained in the villa, with many fans telling him to ‘go home’ if he really does like her.

One fan took to x, formally known as Twitter, and said: “ffs he cared that much, he didn’t go with her”, while another asked: “Why didn’t Connor leave w her then??”. A third penned: “I ain’t crying. he could have gone with her”, while a fourth added: “Don’t ask her to wait,..leave with her”.

As the episode continued, Conor said he didn’t know if he would find another connection like the one he had with Megan, which further confused fans.

Conor said: “I hand on heart do not think that anyone is going to come through that door that I fancy more than Megan… I look at her like a girlfriend on the outside.”

This follows after a dramatic week in the villa which saw Remell and Megan brutally dumped after being voted as the least favourite boy and girl. Alima had already called off her connection with Remell after his actions in ‘The Sleepover’ where he was kissing bombshell Poppy outside of challenges.

Alima said she ‘was done’ even though Remell decided to stay coupled up with her.

Megan on the other hand had just started her connection with Conor which seemed to be going in the right direction before she was sent packing. It was an emotional goodbye for Megan and tears were shed among the girls and boys who she was leaving behind.

Before she left, she sat down for a private moment with Conor where he asked her to wait for him, and she told him she would.

After leaving the villa, Megan said: “I’m gutted to have left because I was getting to a really good place with Conor and I’d tied up loose ends with Tommy and Emily.

“I would’ve liked to have left on better terms with Tommy. We were getting there, but that comes with time and I didn’t have time on my side. I made best friends there and had an absolute ball.”

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Legal woes hang over the former president, who has called for several demonstrations in support of himself in recent months.

Facing serious legal jeopardy with potentially years of incarceration over an alleged coup plot being tried by the nation’s Supreme Court, former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has attended a protest by his supporters.

Around 2,000 people attended the rally on Sunday in Sao Paolo.

On Saturday night, the far-right ex-leader told his followers on the AuriVerde Brasil YouTube channel that “Brazil needs all of us. It’s for freedom, for justice”. He urged supporters to march through Sao Paulo’s Paulista Avenue on Sunday.

“This is a call for us to show strength … this massive presence will give us courage,” he declared.

In February, Bolsonaro, 70, who led the country from 2019 to 2022, was charged with five counts of planning to remain in power and overturn the 2022 election result, which current president, the left-wing Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, won. Thirty-three of Bolsonaro’s closest allies were also charged.

Earlier this month, Bolsonaro testified for the first time before the nation’s Supreme Court, denying any involvement in the alleged coup plot.

The Supreme Court headquarters in Brasilia was one of the targets of a rioting mob known as “Bolsonaristas” – who raided government buildings in January 2023 as they urged the military to oust President Lula, an insurrection attempt that evoked the supporters of Bolsonaro ally United States President Donald Trump on January 6, 2021.

Police have referred to the demonstration as an uprising and an attempt to force military intervention and depose Lula.

Bolsonaro claims that the various cases against him are politically motivated, aimed at preventing him from making a comeback in the 2026 elections.

Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court ruled last year that due to an abuse of Bolsonaro’s political power and his baseless claims about the country’s electronic voting system, he would be banned from holding office until 2030.

‘An abominable thing’

Earlier this month, at Bolsonaro’s first testimony at the Supreme Court, the former president denied that there was a coup attempt.

“There was never any talk of a coup. A coup is an abominable thing,” Bolsonaro said.

“Brazil couldn’t go through an experience like that. And there was never even the possibility of a coup in my government.”

Bolsonaro was abroad in Florida in the US at the time of this last-gasp effort to keep him in power after the alleged coup planning fizzled. But his opponents have accused him of fomenting the rioting.

At the same time, Brazilian police have called for Bolsonaro to be separately charged with illegal espionage while president.

According to legal experts, the sentencing part of the coup plot case is expected in the second half of the year. If convicted, Bolsonaro could face up to 12 years in prison.

During his legal troubles, the former president has called for several protests, but his appearances at them have declined in recent months, as have the crowds.

According to estimates by the University of Sao Paulo, about 45,000 people took part in the most recent march on Paulista Avenue in April, almost four times fewer than in February.

Sao Paulo Governor Tarcisio de Freitas, a former Bolsonaro minister, is a top candidate to represent the conservatives in the 2026 presidential election.

WASHINGTON — Court records show that the Trump administration has agreed to spare from deportation a key witness in the federal prosecution of Kilmar Abrego Garcia in exchange for his cooperation in the case.

Jose Ramon Hernandez Reyes, 38, has been convicted of smuggling migrants and illegally reentering the United States after having been deported. He also pleaded guilty to “deadly conduct” in connection with a separate incident in which he drunkenly fired a gun in a Texas community.

Records reviewed by the Washington Post show that Hernandez Reyes has been released early from federal prison to a halfway house and has been given permission to stay in the U.S. for at least a year.

Prosecutors have identified Hernandez Reyes as the “first cooperator” in the case against Abrego Garcia, according to court filings. The Department of Homeland Security maintains that Hernandez Reyes owned a sport utility vehicle that Abrego Garcia was allegedly using to smuggle migrants when the Tennessee Highway Patrol stopped him in 2022. That traffic stop is at the center of the criminal investigation against Abrego Garcia.

Hernandez Reyes is among several cooperating witnesses who could help the administration deport Abrego Garcia.

Abrego Garcia, a construction worker who had been living in Maryland, became a prime focus in Trump’s immigration crackdown when he was mistakenly deported to his native El Salvador in March. Facing mounting pressure and a Supreme Court order, the administration returned him this month to face the smuggling charges, which his attorneys have called “preposterous.”

On Friday, attorneys for Abrego Garcia asked a federal judge in Tennessee to delay his release from jail because of “contradictory statements” by the administration over whether he’ll be deported upon release.

A federal judge in Nashville has been preparing to release Abrego Garcia to await trial on human smuggling charges. But she’s been holding off over concerns that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would swiftly detain him and try to deport him again.

Abrego Garcia’s attorneys are now asking the judge to continue to detain him after statements by administration officials “because we cannot put any faith in any representation made on this issue by” the Justice Department.

Abrego Garcia has pleaded not guilty.

Darrell Wayne Lukas, known to the general public as D. Wayne and to friends simply as Wayne or as “The Coach” if you were in the business, died on Saturday after a brief illness. He was 89.

Lukas’ career, which started in Southern California in 1968, not only built a recognizable brand but helped shape horse racing for more than 50 years. He won 15 Triple Crown races among his lifetime win total of 4,953, having run horses in 30,436 races. His horses earned more than $300 million.

He died at his home in Louisville, Ky., after being diagnosed with a severe MRSA blood infection that affected his heart, digestive system and worsened preexisting chronic conditions. Lukas decided against an aggressive treatment plan that involved surgeries and round-the-clock assistance. Instead, he returned home and entered hospice care.

“It is with heavy hearts that we share the passing of our beloved husband, grandfather and great-grandfather D. Wayne Lukas. who left this world peacefully [Saturday] evening at the age of 89 surrounded by family,” the Lukas family said in a statement released by Churchill Downs.

“His final days were spent at home in Kentucky, where he chose peace, family and faith. As we grieve at his passing, we find peace knowing he is now reunited with his beloved son, Jeff, whose memory he carried in his heart always.

“We are deeply grateful for the outpouring of love, prayers and support from all corners of the racing community — from ractetracks across the country to lifelong friends and respected rivals, and from fans who never missed a post parade when ‘Lukas’ was listed in the program.”

His illness was announced on June 22 along with the decision that he would not return to training. All of his horses were transferred to his longtime assistant Sebastian “Bas” Nicholl.

“Wayne built a legacy that will never be matched.” said Nicholl upon learning Lukas was not returning to racing. “Every decision I make, every horse I saddle, I’ll hear his voice in the back of my mind. This isn’t about filling his shoes — no one can — it’s about honoring everything he’s built.”

Lukas was so good that he was in not one but two halls of fame. He was inducted into the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame in 2007 and the U.S. Racing Hall of Fame in 1999.

“Wayne is one of the greatest competitors and most important figures in thoroughbred racing history,” said Mike Anderson, president of Churchill Downs racetrack in Kentucky, after the Lukas family announced the severity of his illness. “He transcended the sport of horse racing and took the industry to new levels. The lasting impact of his character and wisdom — from his acute horsemanship to his unmatched attention to detail — will be truly missed.”

Lukas’ story started on a small farm in Wisconsin.

Bill Dwyre, who previously was the sports editor of L.A. Times and the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, recently chronicled Lukas’ roots.

“Lukas did not grow up on some farm in Kentucky, mucking stables as a teenager and rubbing elbows all day, every day, with grizzled horsemen,” Dwyre wrote last year after Lukas won the Preakness with Seize the Grey. “Lukas did grow up on a farm, all right, but in the state of Wisconsin, where there is no parimutuel betting, and where horse racing is pretty much confined to county fairs. His birthplace, Antigo, Wis., an hour and a half northwest of Green Bay, had a fair and D. Wayne … liked the horses.

Trainer D. Wayne Lukas looks on as Preakness Stakes winner Seize the Grey cools down after a workout ahead of the 156th running of the Belmont Stakes in 2024.

(Julia Nikhinson / Associated Press)

“But that sort of career was not foremost in his mind. He went to the University of Wisconsin, got his master’s degree in education, started teaching and soon was a high school head basketball coach. For a while, he was an assistant coach in the Big Ten for UW’s John Erickson. He stayed close to the game of basketball, even as his days were dominated by barns and backstretches. Along the way, one of his best friends became Bob Knight. D. Wayne liked the toughness and drive to win of the legendary Indiana University coach.”

Lukas decided to try his hand at training and started at Los Alamitos in 1968 working with quarter horses. It took him 10 years to realize that the real stars — and the money — was in thoroughbred racing. Before leaving the quarter horse ranks, he won 739 races and saddled 24 world champions.

He won his first thoroughbred race on Oct. 20, 1977, at Santa Anita. He won his last race at Churchill Downs on June 12 with 4-year-old colt Tour Player.

In between, he won the Kentucky Derby four times, the Preakness seven times and the Belmont Stakes four times. He has won 20 Breeders’ Cup races. He won the Eclipse Award for top trainer four times and was the leading trainer by wins four straight years from 1987 to 1990. In 1995, he won all three Triple Crown races but with two different horses; Thunder Gulch won the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes and Timber Country won the Preakness. It was the first time a trainer accomplished that feat.

“The most enduring and essential sports legacies can also be the most complicated,” wrote NBC’s Tim Layden, a multiple Eclipse Award-winning journalist, upon learning of Lukas’ illness. “The very best are not just driven, but obsessive. Not just creative, but ingenious. Not just hungry, but voracious. Jordan. Woods. Ali. Armstrong. Rose. One of Lukas’ favorites, and a close friend: Bob Knight. To name a few. … Transcendence demands a selfish eccentricity; because greatness and normalcy are often mutually exclusive. Lukas has lived long enough to earn a warm embrace that he would not have received as a younger man, but that embrace alone doesn’t tell enough of his outsized story and his place in racing history, where he stands very much alone.”

Lukas first made his thoroughbred mark in 1980 when he won the Preakness with Codex. It was not a popular win as Codex beat Derby-winning filly Genuine Risk and then had to withstand an inquiry to officially give Lukas his first Triple Crown win.

Bookending that win was his last Triple Crown race victory, when he won the Preakness last year with Seize the Grey.

“One of the things that was very significant to me [that day] — and maybe it’s because I’m getting a little bit older — but as I came out of the grandstand and out across the racetrack, every one of the guys that were in that race stopped and hugged me and gave me a handshake,” Lukas told The Times after the race.

“That meant more to me than any single thing. [Bob] Baffert, Kenny McPeek, right down the line.”

Lukas did not get the nickname Coach because of his days as a basketball coach but because of the coaching tree he established during his tenure.

Among those that were his assistants were Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, future Hall of Famer Brad Cox, Kiaran McLaughlin, Dallas Stewart, Mike Maker, Mark Hennig, Randy Bradshaw, George Weaver and Bobby Barnett.

Among those Lukas was closest to, but never worked for, is Baffert.

“I asked him for a job one time out of high school, and he turned me down,” Baffert told The Times in 2018, while he was on his Triple Crown run with Justify. “I tell him, ‘I’m sure glad you turned me down because you’d be taking all the credit for this.’ But he probably would have fired me after two weeks because he works way too hard.”

Lukas later introduced Baffert at his U.S. Racing Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

“He told me everybody was laughing and kidding [when they heard I was inducting him,]” Lukas told The Times in 2018. “They were saying he’s not going to have Wayne do it because they thought we were rivals. Yet he came to me, and I said, ‘Bob, I’ll be honored to present you.’ And I did.”

“The media portrayed us as rivals and everything, so we would go along with you guys and then we’d go to dinner later,” Lukas said of Baffert.

“We’ve been friends for a long time. I have great respect for his ability. He’s got an excellent eye for a horse. He’s one of the few guys in the sale that when I pick one out that I like, I know sure as hell he’ll be bidding too.”

Seize the Grey’s trainer, D. Wayne Lukas, left, shakes hands with Bob Baffert, Imagination’s trainer, after Lukas’ horse won the Preakness Stakes in 2024.

(Julia Nikhinson / Associated Press)

In fact, this year at the Preakness Alibi Breakfast, an annual affair at Pimlico where trainers, owners and others tell stories and trade barbs about their career and horses, Lukas and Baffert hijacked the event with witty repartee and joking much to the delight of those in attendance. Their friendship was borne out as genuine.

“The horses were everything to Wayne,” Baffert posted on X after learning of Lukas’ death. “They were his life. From the way he worked them, how he cared for them, and how he maintained his shedrow as meticulously as he did his horses. No detail was too small. Many of us got our graduate degrees in training by studying how Wayne did it. Behind his famous shades, he was a tremendous horseman, probably the greatest who ever lived.”

Lukas’ life on the racetrack had one significant downside, when his son and assistant, Jeff, was run over and permanently injured by a loose horse at Santa Anita in 1993.

“I have a phone with one of those long cords,” Lukas told The Times’ Dwyre in 1999, “and so, I was up and walking around and right near the door when it happened. I was the first one to get to him.”

“One of Lukas’ Triple Crown prospects, Tabasco Cat, had bolted and was loose,” Dwyre wrote. “Jeff Lukas, a veteran horseman well schooled in the procedures for such situations, had stepped in Tabasco Cat’s path and was waving his arms. Horses always stop, or veer away. But this time…

“It’s like when you meet somebody in a narrow hallway,” Lukas said. “You go right and he goes right, and then you both go the other way. But eventually, one goes right and one left. Well, Jeff and the horse both went the same way.”

“Witnesses say that the sound of Jeff Lukas’ head hitting hard, compact ground after the collision could be heard several barns away. There was no blood, just an unconscious, badly injured 36-year-old man.”

The next year, Jeff Lukas had recovered enough to return to the racetrack but it proved too difficult for him to work around horses safely. Jeff eventually moved to Oklahoma and lived in a home his father bought him until Jeff’s death in 2016 at age 58.

Santa Anita issued this statement on Sunday after learning of Lukas’ death.

“Santa Anita joins the racing community in mourning the passing of D. Wayne Lukas. … His on-track success was such that it was easy to overlook his outstanding horsemanship that we were lucky to often witness back at the barn, away from the spotlight.”

Funeral arrangements for Wayne Lukas were not immediately announced.

Lukas is survived by his fifth wife, Laurie; grandchildren Brady Wayne Lukas and Kelly Roy; and great-grandchildren Johnny Roy, Thomas Roy, Walker Wayne Lukas and Quinn Palmer Lukas.

June 29 (UPI) — President Donald Trump said a group of “very wealthy people” wants to buy the Chinese-owned TikTok social media app that is facing a ban in the United States.

During an interview Friday with Maria Bartiromo that appeared Sunday on Fox News, Trump said, “We have a buyer for TikTok, by the way,” declining to name the potential buyers.

“I’ll tell you in about two weeks,” he added.

The president said he believes Chinese President Xi Jinping “will probably” approve the deal for U.S. ownership of the video service, which was founded in September 2016.

President Joe Biden signed a law in 2024 requiring TikTok to be blocked in the United States unless its parent company, ByteDance, sold it to a non-Chinese company over concerns that sensitive user data could be acquired by the Chinese government.

The U.S. Supreme Court voted unanimously on Jan. 17 that TikTok must be banned from U.S. app stores unless the company divested from the platform and sold to an American company by Jan. 19.

Biden said he didn’t want to intervene in the final days of his presidency, the app went dark around 10:30 p.m. ET on Jan. 18 and the app ceased to appear on Apple and Google‘s app stores.

The 170 million U.S. users and around 1 million creators lost access to the app for at least one day of the 23 million new videos uploaded daily. Those using the app spend about an hour a day looking at some of the 23 million new clips uploaded daily, with teens using it for 2-3 hours a day, according to Exploding Topics.

But the next day, the company restored service after Donald Trump said he would pause the deadline for 75 days when he was sworn in as president on Jan. 20, and signed an executive order to do so on his first day in office. He has since pushed off the deadline two more times, with it now delayed until Sept. 17.

In April, the White House said it was close to a deal in which 50% of the app would be owned by an American company. Negotiations ended when Trump announced tariffs on goods coming from China to the United States. Trump proposed 134% tariffs on most goods but it has been scaled back to 30% for some items exempt.

During his first presidency, on Aug. 6, 2020, Trump signed an executive order “action must be taken to address the threat posed by one mobile application in particular, TikTok” from China.

Trump later credited TikTok with gaining more young voters in the 2024 election and seemed to soften on his stance. ByteDance has also been reluctant to turn over rights to the app’s algorithm.

It is the fifth-most social network with 1.6 billion users in the world behind Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and WhatsApp, according to Statistica.

In April, Adweek compiled a list of suitors for U.S. rights, including Applovin, Amazon, Oracle, Blackstone and Andreessen Horowitz. None confirmed negotiations to Addwek.

“It does not feel like these are serious bids for TikTok,” David Arslanian, managing director of Progress Partners, told Adweek. “It is hard to imagine any of these companies, like Amazon and Oracle, successfully operating just a piece of TikTok.”

Josh Jackson’s “The Enduring Wild: A Journey Into California’s Public Lands” is a story of adventures across 41 California landscapes, with photos of beautiful places you are unlikely to have seen, in locations ranging from the Mojave Desert to the Elkhorn Ridge Wilderness in Mendocino County. Early on, the author lays out mind-bending stats: more than 618 million acres in the United States are federally owned public land and 245 million of those belong to the Bureau of Land Management.

Public lands, he notes, “are areas of land and water owned collectively by the citizens and managed by the Federal government.” These lands “are our common ground, a gift of seismic proportions that belongs to all of us.”

Drive across the United States and consider that 28% of all of that is yours. Ours.

Jackson’s assertion that we are all landowners is a clarion call amid a GOP-led push to sell off public land. The shadow of the current assault on public lands weighs heavy while reading this lovely book.

The book has endearing origins. When Jackson could not get a reservation for weekend camping with his kids, a buddy suggested that he try the BLM. Until that moment he had never even heard of the Bureau of Land Management. Yet, 15.3% of the total landmass in California is … BLM.

Jackson starts out with history: All these lands were taken from Native American peoples, and he does not overlook that BLM used to be jokingly referred to as the Bureau of Livestock and Mining. In 1976, a turnaround came via the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, which built a multi-use mandate to emphasize hiking and conservation as much grazing and extraction (a.k.a. mining). This effort to soften the heavy use of public lands by for-profit individuals and companies led to the so-called Sagebrush Rebellion and the election of President Reagan. Arguably, we’ve been struggling with finding the multi-use balance ever after.

Jackson’s first BLM foray was out to the Trona Pinnacles in the Mojave Desert, where he and his two older children camped, playing in a wonderland where “hundreds of tufa spires protrude like drip-style sand castles out of the wide-open desert floor that extend for miles in every direction,” while his wife, Kari, an E.R. nurse, stayed home with their newborn. The pandemic shutdown in 2020 inspired Kari’s suggestion, “Why don’t you start going to see all these BLM lands?”

Jackson’s love affair with BLM lands was not immediate, as just a few miles into his next hike in the Rainbow Basin Natural Area near Barstow, he was underwhelmed, like he was missing something. A few miles later, he sat and considered a Terry Tempest Williams quote from “Refuge”: “If the desert is holy, it is because it is a forgotten place that allows us to remember the sacred. Perhaps that is why every pilgrimage to the desert is a pilgrimage to the self.” Revisiting this quote on repeat, Jackson had an emotional shift, deciding to stop hiking and … start walking.

On his next trip to the Amargosa Canyon, Jackson began by reaching out to the Amargosa Conservancy, learning about the Timbisha Shoshone people whose ancestral land this is, about past mining and dozens of plant and animal species. Committed to going at the pace of discovery, he admired the enchanting, striated geology of Rainbow Mountain, cherished creosote, mesquite and the brave diversity of desert flora and was struck by the gaze of an arrogant coyote. On his return, he found that in three hours, he had only traveled … a mile.

Yet it was during this meander that his writing made a steep drop into seeing, feeling, connecting, plunging toward transcendence.

A highlight of the book is a repeat trip to Central California’s Carrizo Plain, first during a drought, silenced by its sere magnificence. After the heavy rains of 2023, he joined Cal Poly San Luis Obispo botanist Emma Fryer and was overcome by the delirious beauty of a superbloom, feeling like “I had wandered into the Land of Oz.” Fryer observed that the drought was so severe that only the hardy native seed survived within the soil, releasing their beauty the moment water allowed them to come to life. Seeing the same place twice was revelatory, both familiar and completely new.

It’s hard to tell if the places he visits gets more beautiful over the course of the book or his capacity to appreciate them and share his joy has grown. Despite the frequent paucity of BLM cartographic resources, apparently Jackson never got lost or worried about dropping the thread of a trail. Describing his father, Jackson might as well be talking about himself: “I have no memories of my dad being worried or fearful in unfamiliar situations.” Nevertheless, toward the end of the book, when he and his hardy father camped next to the rushing Eel River, Jackson did worry about bears breaking into their tent. Fortunately, the bears did not arrive but, inspired by William Cronon’s “The Trouble With Wilderness,” Jackson’s heart opened as he realized that “Nature” is not out there; nature is wherever we are.

Back in Los Angeles taking long walks with his daughter, past bodegas and car washes, he saw jacaranda, heard owls and coyotes and realized the wild had been here all along. An urban sycamore claimed its space regardless of enclosing cement and car exhaust, as spectacular and venerable as any sycamore in the state.

Can the places Jackson visited for his book endure public larceny? He is tracking the answer to this question, real time, on his Substack, where he’s currently describing the shocking attempts to sell millions of acres of BLM land.

“It’s been a wild few weeks for BLM lands. 540,385 acres in Nevada and Utah were on the chopping block to be sold off,” Jackson recently noted. “Everyone was talking about the land totals — but no one was showing what the landscapes actually looked like. So, I decided to go see them.”

Great advice: Bring a friend, pack water and go.

Watts’ writing has appeared in Earth Island Journal, New York Times motherlode blog, Sierra Magazine and local venues. Her first novel is “Tree.”

NEW YORK — In choosing Zohran Mamdani as their candidate for mayor, Democrats in America’s most Jewish city have nominated an outspoken critic of Israel, alarming some in New York’s Jewish community and signaling a sea change in the priorities of one of the party’s most loyal voting groups.

The 33-year-old democratic socialist’s surprisingly strong performance against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo makes clear that taking a stance against Israel is no longer disqualifying in a Democratic primary. The state Assembly member has declined to support the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish state, refused to denounce the term “global intifada” and supports an organized effort to put economic pressure on Israel through boycotts and other tactics.

Yet he excelled in the city with the largest Jewish population outside of Israel, and with the support of many Jewish voters.

Mamdani’s success reflects the ideological realignment of many American Jews since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israel that led to Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip. Many Democratic voters, including Jews, have grown dismayed by Israel’s conduct in the war and are deeply critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. That is especially true among younger, more progressive voters, many of whom have rejected the once-broadly accepted notion that anti-Israel sentiment is inherently antisemitic.

For others, Mamdani’s showing has spurred new fears about safety and the waning influence of Jewish voters in a city where anti-Jewish hate crime has surged. Last year, Jews were the target of more than half of the hate crimes in the city.

“Definitely people are concerned,” said Rabbi Shimon Hecht, of Congregation B’nai Jacob in Brooklyn, who said he has heard from congregants in recent days who hope Mamdani will be defeated in the November general election, where he will face Mayor Eric Adams, who is running as an independent, Republican Curtis Sliwa, and possibly Cuomo if he stays in the race.

“I think like every upsetting election, it’s a wake-up call for people,” Hecht said. “I strongly believe that he will not be elected as our next mayor, but it’s going to take a lot of uniting among the Jewish people and others who are concerned about these issues. We have to unify.”

Veteran New York Democratic political strategist Hank Sheinkopf put it more bluntly, predicting a hasty exodus of religious Jews from the city and a decline in long-standing Jewish influence that would be replicated elsewhere.

“It’s the end of Jewish New York as we know it,” he said, adding: “New York is a petri dish for national Democratic politics. And what happened here is what will likely happen in cities across the country.”

Israel was a key campaign issue

Mamdani’s top Democratic rival, the former governor, had called antisemitism and support for Israel “the most important issue” of the campaign.

Mamdani’s backers repeatedly accused Cuomo of trying to weaponize the issue. Many drew parallels to the way President Trump has cast any criticism of Israel’s actions as antisemitic, claiming Jews who vote for Democrats “hate Israel” and their own religion.

For some Mamdani supporters, the election results signaled a rejection by voters of one of Cuomo’s arguments: that an upstart socialist with pro-Palestinian views posed a threat to New York’s Jewish community.

Many were focused on issues such as affordability in a notoriously expensive city, or were flat-out opposed to Cuomo, who was forced to resign amid sexual harassment allegations.

Aiyana Leong Knauer, a 35-year-old Brooklyn bartender who is Jewish and backed Mamdani, said the vote represented “New Yorkers, many of them Jewish, saying we care more about having an affordable city than sowing division.”

“Many of us take really deep offense to our history being weaponized against us,” she said. “Jewish people all over the world have well-founded fears for their safety, but Jews in New York are safe overall.”

Others agreed with Mamdani’s views on Israel.

Beth Miller, political director of Jewish Voice for Peace Action, a progressive anti-Zionist group that worked on Mamdani’s behalf, said the candidate “was actually pretty popular among a lot of Jewish voters.”

“That is not in spite of his support for Palestinian rights. That is because of his support for Palestinian rights,” she said. “There has been a massive rupture within the Jewish community, and more and more Jews of all generations, but especially younger generations,” now refuse to be tied to what they see as a rogue government committing atrocities against civilians, she said.

Polls show support for Israel has declined since the war began. Overall, a slight majority of Americans now express a “somewhat” or “very” unfavorable opinion of Israel, according to a March Pew Research Center poll, compared with 42% in 2022. Democrats’ views are particularly negative, with nearly 70% holding an unfavorable opinion versus less than 40% of Republicans.

Beyond the mayoral race

Mamdani’s wasn’t the only race where Israel was on voters’ minds.

In Brooklyn, City Councilwoman Shahana Hanif, who represents Park Slope and surrounding areas, drew criticism for her Palestinian advocacy. Some said she had failed to respond forcefully to antisemitic incidents in the district.

Yet Hanif, the first Muslim woman elected to the City Council, easily beat her top challenger, Maya Kornberg, who is Jewish, despite an influx of money from wealthy pro-Israel groups and donors.

That outcome dismayed Ramon Maislen, a developer who launched Brooklyn BridgeBuilders to oppose Hanif’s reelection and said antisemitism did not seem to resonate with voters.

“We were very disappointed with our neighbors’ response,” he said.

While campaigning against Hanif, he said he was routinely screamed at by residents and accused of supporting genocide.

“I think that those of us in the Jewish community that are attuned to that are cognizant that there’s been some kind of cultural sea change that’s occurring,” he said. “What we’re seeing is a legitimatization of hatred that isn’t happening in any other liberal or progressive space.”

Mamdani’s record and rhetoric

Mamdani has repeatedly pledged to fight antisemitism, including during an appearance on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” where he was asked about his stance. He was joined on the show by city comptroller and fellow candidate Brad Lander, the city’s highest-ranking Jewish official, who had cross-endorsed him. He has also said he would increase funding for anti-hate crime programming by 800%.

But many of his comments have angered Jewish groups and officials, most notably his refusal to disavow the phrase “globalize the intifada,” which has been used as a slogan in recent protests. Many Jews see it as a call to violence against Israeli civilians. In a podcast interview, Mamdani said the phrase captured a “a desperate desire for equality and equal rights in standing up for Palestinian human rights.”

Given another opportunity to condemn the phrase, Mamdani on Sunday told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that it was not his role to police speech and pledged to be a mayor who “protects Jewish New Yorkers and lives up to that commitment through the work that I do.”

Mamdani also supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, which aims to pressure governments, schools and other institutions to boycott Israeli products, divest from companies that support the country, and impose sanctions. The Anti-Defamation League calls it antisemitic and part of a broader campaign to “delegitimize and isolate the state of Israel.”

Mamdani has also said that, as mayor, he would have Netanyahu arrested if the Israeli leader tried to enter the city.

The ADL in a statement Thursday warned candidates and their supporters not to use “language playing into dangerous antisemitic canards that time and time again have been used to incite hatred and violence against Jews.”

In his victory speech, Mamdani alluded to the criticism he’d received and said he would not abandon his beliefs. But he also said he would “reach further to understand the perspectives of those with whom I disagree and to wrestle deeply with those disagreements.”

Colvin writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Jake Offenhartz contributed to this report.

British number five Dan Evans is emotional in his news conference before Wimbledon after a tough year of results has left him feeling he may be “letting people down”.

Evans has had some wins on the grass courts over the past few weeks and faces compatriot Jay Clarke in the first round at SW19 on Tuesday.

Available to UK users only.

England will look to hold on to their crown when the 14th edition of the UEFA European Women’s Championship, or Women’s Euro 2025, begins in Switzerland on Wednesday.

The continent’s top nations will compete over the course of the 26-day tournament across eight host cities.

Here’s everything you need to know about the championship:

When and where is Euro 2025?

Switzerland is playing host to the Women’s Euro for the first time.

The tournament begins in Thun on Wednesday, July 2 and concludes in Basel on Sunday, July 27.

How many countries are participating in the Women’s Euro 2025?

Of the 51 national women’s bodies associated with the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), 16 have qualified for the championship.

They will be divided into four groups:

Group A

• Switzerland
• Norway
• Iceland
• Finland

Group B

• Spain
• Portugal
• Belgium
• Italy

Group C

• Germany
• Poland
• Denmark
• Sweden

Group D

• France
• England
• Wales
• Netherlands

Which teams are favourites to win Women’s Euro 2025?

Apart from holders England and world champions Spain, former Olympic gold medal winners Germany are firm favourites to lift the trophy. Here’s a brief look at each team’s pedigree:

• England: The defending champions will gain confidence from their top rank in UEFA’s rankings heading into the tournament. Under the leadership of their trusted coach, Sarina Wiegman, the Lionesses enter the tournament on the back of mixed results in their UEFA Nations League matches. The young-looking squad will lean on the experienced Lucy Bronze, who will be playing in her fourth Euro, as they look to build on the success of their predecessors.
• Spain: Arguably the most exciting women’s team to watch thanks to their prowess in front of the goal, Spain are the current world champions. The women in red and gold would like to one up their men’s team of the early 2010s by winning the Euro on top of a World Cup title. La Roja have won five of their six competitive matches in 2025, scoring 21 goals in the process.
• Germany: Germans are the undeniable queens of European football, having won the tournament on a whopping eight occasions, including six consecutive titles from 1995 to 2013. Also the world champions twice, they are another in-form team, having won five of their six games in 2025 with 26 goals scored and only three conceded.

Will Aitana Bonmati play in Euro 2025?

Up until Friday, Bonmati’s participation in the tournament was unquestionable as the superstar midfielder is the centrepiece of the Spanish side. However, the 27-year-old tested positive for viral meningitis and was hospitalised in Madrid.

The Spanish football federation, RFEF, however, is hopeful that the star player will return to the squad in a few days despite not being part of the contingent travelling to Switzerland on Sunday.

“After several days hospitalised with viral meningitis, Aitana Bonmati has been discharged from the hospital and will join the Spanish national team in the coming days,” RFEF said in a brief statement.

The Barcelona player, winner of the Ballon d’Or award in 2023 and 2024, posted a photo from her hospital bed on social media on Sunday, giving a thumbs-up and stating: “Fortunately, everything is going well. I hope to return soon.”

Bonmati has been pivotal for Spain, scoring 30 goals in 78 appearances and helping them win the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup and last year’s UEFA Nations League.

Gracias a tod@s por los mensajes recibidos y a l@s que me habéis ayudado estos días. Afortunadamente todo va bien, espero volver pronto. 💪🏼⚔️🧠

Gràcies a totes i tots, us he sentit a prop❤️ pic.twitter.com/GV6ORVEn8i

— Aitana Bonmatí Conca (@AitanaBonmati) June 29, 2025

Who are the key players to watch at Euro 2025?

• Ewa Pajor (Poland): The Barcelona forward is ranked among the world’s top strikers and has scored 43 goals in her 45 appearances for the club in the past season. She has won more than 100 caps for her country, scoring 68 goals in the process and has been named the nation’s top women’s player on five occasions. The tournament debutantes will rely on Pajor’s red-hot form to see them through to the knockouts and beyond.
• Alexia Putellas (Spain): Arguably one of the greatest women to play the game, Putellas will be the mainstay of Spain’s midfield and attack as the world champions seek a third title. The Barcelona player had another incredible season for the Spanish champions, scoring 17 goals in 25 appearances to add to her control of the team’s midfield. Putellas missed out on the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023 and would like to make up for it with a Euro win.
• Klara Buhl (Germany): The German winger has been playing for the European giants Bayern Munich since 2020 and has made 102 appearances. Making her international debut in 2019, Buhl has scored 28 goals for Germany in 67 games. She will be among the top young players at the 2025 championship.
• Lauren James (England): Another bright young European footballer, James has swiftly climbed up the ranks in Wiegman’s squad. The 23-year-old will have plenty of eyes on her as she leads England’s attack in Switzerland. She scored 22 goals for Chelsea in the last season and has seven goals in 27 international appearances.

Who are the past winners of the Women’s Euro championships?

• 1984: Sweden
• 1987: Norway
• 1989: West Germany
• 1991: West Germany
• 1993: Norway
• 1995: Germany
• 1997: Germany
• 2001: Germany
• 2005: Germany
• 2009: Germany
• 2013: Germany
• 2017: Netherlands
• 2022: England

Where are the Women’s Euro 2025 venues?

From stadiums located in the heart of Switzerland’s main cities, to picturesque arenas sitting in the lap of the Alps, these are the eight venues hosting the championship:

• Basel (St Jakob-Park): The venue in Switzerland’s most populous city will host five games, including the home team’s opener, the last quarterfinal and the final. The 35,000-capacity stadium was opened in March 2001 and is the home ground for the city’s eponymous team in the Swiss league.
• Bern (Stadion Wankdorf): The 32,000-capacity home of the Young Boys football club was rebuilt on the site of the 1925-built Wankdorf Stadium, which hosted the famous “Miracle of Bern” FIFA World Cup 1954 final between West Germany and Hungary. It will host four Women’s Euro 2025 fixtures, including the third quarterfinal.
• Geneva (Stade de Geneve): The venue was one of the co-hosts for the UEFA Euro 2008 and has also held rugby games. In the Women’s Euro 2025, the 30,000-capacity stadium will host five matches, including the first quarterfinal and the first semifinal.
• Lucerne (Allmend Stadion): The glittering golden structure of the Swissporarena stands out in the city of Lucerne and is home to its Swiss Super League side. It will host three group-stage games during the tournament.
• St Gallen (Arena St Gallen): The venue in the northwest of Switzerland can host close to 20,000 football fans. It will also host three group-stage games.
• Sion (Stade de Tourbillon): A picturesque football venue, the Stade de Tourbillon sits amid the Alps, overlooked by two prehistoric castles. It is the smallest venue by capacity, 9,570, and will host three group-stage games.
• Thun (Arena Thun): Spectators will have a view of a football match on the field and the Alps in the background when they attend one of the three group-stage games in Thun.
• Zurich (Stadion Letzigrund): The Stadion Letzigrund in Switzerland’s largest city will host three group-stage fixtures, as well as the second quarterfinal and the second semifinal. The home ground for two of the city’s football clubs has a capacity of more than 24,000.

What is the prize money for the Women’s Euro 2025?

According to UEFA, the total prize pot for the tournament is 41 million euros ($48m), more than double the 16 million euros (about $19m) given in 2022.

The champions can get a maximum of 5.1 million euros (about $6m) if they also win all three of their group-stage matches.

All 16 teams will receive a participation fee of 1.8 million euros ($2.1m).

How to buy tickets for the Women’s Euro 2025?

Tickets for all games go on sale at 09:00 GMT on every match day from the group stage up until the knockouts. They will be available on the UEFA ticketing website and start from 22 Swiss Francs ($27.5) and go up to 90 Swiss Francs ($112).

How to watch Euro 2025?

The tournament will be streamed live on the UEFA.tv website, as well as regional broadcasters and streaming services.

Al Jazeera Sport will provide live text and photo commentary stream for a selection of knockout matches, including the final.

What is the format and full match schedule of the Women’s Euro 2025?

Format: All four teams in each of the four groups will play each other once, and the top two teams will progress to the knockout stage, which begins with the quarterfinals.

⚽ Women’s Euro 2025 group stage schedule

Wednesday, July 2
Group A: Iceland vs Finland (16:00 GMT, Thun)
Group A: Switzerland vs Norway (19:00 GMT, Basel)

Thursday, July 3
Group B: Belgium vs Italy (16:00 GMT, Sion)
Group B: Spain vs Portugal (19:00 GMT, Bern)

Friday, July 4
Group C: Denmark vs Sweden (16:00 GMT, Geneva)
Group C: Germany vs Poland (19:00 GMT, St Gallen)

Saturday, July 5
Group D: Wales vs Netherlands (16:00 GMT, Lucerne)
Group D: France vs England (19:00 GMT, Zurich)

Sunday, July 6
Group A: Norway vs Finland (16:00 GMT, Sion)
Group A: Switzerland vs Iceland (19:00 GMT, Bern)

Monday, July 7
Group B: Spain vs Belgium (16:00 GMT, Thun)
Group B: Portugal vs Italy (19:00 GMT, Geneva)

Tuesday, July 8
Group C: Germany vs Denmark (16:00 GMT, Basel)
Group C: Poland vs Sweden (19:00 GMT, Lucerne)

Wednesday, July 9
Group D: England vs Netherlands (16:00 GMT, Zurich)
Group D: France vs Wales (19:00 GMT, St Gallen)

Thursday, July 10
Group A: Finland vs Switzerland (19:00 GMT, Geneva)
Group A: Norway vs Iceland (19:00 GMT, Thun)

Friday, July 11
Group B: Italy vs Spain (19:00 GMT, Bern)
Group B: Portugal vs Belgium (19:00 GMT, Sion)

Saturday, July 12
Group C: Sweden vs Germany (19:00 GMT, Zurich)
Group C: Poland vs Denmark (19:00 GMT, Lucerne)

Sunday, July 13
Group D: Netherlands vs France (19:00 GMT, Basel)
Group D: England vs Wales (19:00 GMT, St Gallen)

⚽ Women’s Euro 2025 quarterfinals

Wednesday, July 16
Winners of Group A vs Runners-up of Group B (Geneva, 19:00 GMT)

Thursday, July 17
Winners of Group C vs Runners-up of Group D (Zurich, 19:00 GMT)

Friday, July 18
Winners of Group B vs Runners-up of Group A (Bern, 19:00 GMT)

Saturday, July 19
Winners of Group D vs Runners-up of Group C (Basel, 19:00 GMT)

⚽ Women’s Euro 2025 semifinals

Tuesday, July 22
Winners of quarterfinal 3 vs winners of quarterfinal 1 (Geneva, 19:00 GMT)

Wednesday, July 23
Winners of quarterfinal 4 vs winners of quarterfinal 2 (Zurich, 19:00 GMT)

⚽ Women’s Euro 2025 final

Sunday, July 27
Winners of semifinal 1 vs winners of semifinal 2 (Basel, 19:00 GMT)

Local authorities have issued fresh warnings against the risk of wildfires and urged people to take shelter, as Southern Europe experiences the summer’s first severe heatwave and as experts link the rising frequency and intensity of soaring temperatures to climate change.

Acute heatwaves were recorded in Italy, Greece, Spain and Portugal through the weekend and into Sunday, with locals and tourists alike battling the sweltering conditions.

Ambulances were also on standby near tourist hot spots.

Two-thirds of Portugal was on high alert on Sunday for extreme heat and wildfires, with temperatures in Lisbon expected to top 42C (107F).

In Lisbon, 39-year-old pharmacist Sofia Monnteiro told the AFP news agency that despite advising people “not to go out” during the hottest hours of the day, “we have already had some cases of heat strokes and burns”.

Several areas in the southern half of Portugal, including Lisbon, are under a red warning until Monday night due to “persistently extremely high maximum temperature values”, said the Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA).

Much of Portugal was also on high alert Sunday for extreme heat and forest fires – as was the Italian island of Sicily, where firefighters tackled 15 blazes Saturday.

In Italy, a few regions — Lazio, Tuscany, Calabria, Puglia and Umbria — were planning to ban some outdoor work activities during the hottest hours of the day in response to the record-high temperatures. Italian trade unions pushed the government to expand such measures at a national level.

On Sunday, the Italian Health Ministry placed 21 out of 27 monitored cities under its highest heat alert, including top holiday destinations like Rome, Milan and Naples.

Hospital emergency departments across Italy have reported an increase in heatstroke cases, according to Mario Guarino, vice president of the Italian Society of Emergency Medicine.

“We’ve seen around a 10-percent increase, mainly in cities that not only have very high temperatures but also a higher humidity rate,” he told the AFP.

It is mainly elderly people, cancer patients or homeless people, presenting with dehydration, heat stroke, fatigue.”

Greece was again on high wildfire alert with the heatwave there expected to continue throughout the weekend.

A large wildfire broke out south of Athens on Thursday, forcing evacuations and road closures near the ancient Temple of Poseidon.

Greek authorities deployed 130 firefighters, 12 planes and 12 helicopters to battle the blaze, while police evacuated 40 people, with five areas under evacuation orders.

In Spain, locals and tourists were desperately trying to keep cool, as temperatures reached as high as 42C (107F) in the southern city of Seville along with other locations in the south and central parts of the country.

Southern regions of Spain recorded temperatures above seasonal averages, prompting health alerts and safety recommendations from authorities. The country’s State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) has said that June is set to break yet another record, becoming the hottest such month since records started.

The ‘urban heat island’ effect

Extreme weather events are becoming increasingly common across Europe’s southern region due to global warming.

A Lancet Public Health study published last year highlighted the increasing risk of heat-related deaths due to climate change. The study predicted that heat-related deaths could more than quadruple by mid-century under current climate policies.

While more people die from cold than heat, the study stressed that rising temperatures will offset the benefits of milder winters, leading to a significant net increase in heat-related mortality.

Scientists say climate change is stoking hotter and more intense heatwaves, particularly in cities where the so-called “urban heat island” effect amplifies temperatures among tightly packed buildings.

“The heatwaves in the Mediterranean region have become more frequent and more intense in recent years, with peaks of 37 degrees [Celsius, 100F] or even more in cities, where the urban heat island effect raises the temperatures even further,” said Emanuela Piervitali, a researcher at the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA).

Experts have warned that intense heat can affect daily life, especially for vulnerable populations such as the elderly and children.

Local authorities have advised against any physical activity during the hottest hours of the day, and recommended drinking plenty of fluids.