In preparing for World Cups and major Tests, one issue for England is the scarcity of northern hemisphere opposition to face on an equal footing.

The costs of attracting a touring nation such as Tonga or Papua New Guinea are prohibitive. Likewise the notion of making the trip south.

Tests against Wales and France have been won by big scores, and perhaps that made the size of England’s Vegas defeat such a shock.

St Helens head coach Dec Hardman – who has worked with England internationals such as Vicky Whitfield and Jodie Cunningham for years at club level – was part of Stuart Barrow’s staff for the trip to the USA.

And he believes it was the right decision to face the Jillaroos.

“The only way we were ever going to know where we’re at was to play that fixture,” Hardman told BBC Sport. “Was it the right time of year? Not quite sure. When is the right time?

“When you play that fixture, it does give you a reality check, but sometimes you need that, to go and make you hungry for what you’re going to experience in 18 months’ time.

“Ultimately, these girls could have a fixture with Australia on the Sunday, the Kiwis on a Wednesday, and Tonga, Samoa or Cook Islands the following week. So it’s: How do we bridge that gap of being competitive?”

Hardman does not claim to have the answers, but believes part of the solution is to listen to the players.

“The big thing is the players having an opinion,” Hardman added.

“It’s important that they tell you how they’re feeling because they are the ones living it.

“They give you the feedback, what their expectations are moving forward. Whether the Rugby Football League [RFL] can meet those expectations or not, I’m not sure.

“Certainly they should have a voice, for sure.”

Japan’s Ishiba and Philippines’s Marcos meet in Manila as nations confront China’s assertiveness in South China Sea.

The leaders of Japan and the Philippines have pledged to deepen their security ties, including increased intelligence sharing, as they grapple with territorial disputes with China.

On his first visit to the Philippines since assuming office in October, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said on Tuesday that the two countries oppose “attempts to change the status quo in the East China Sea and the South China Sea by force or coercion”.

Speaking after talks with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr in Manila, Ishiba said the two leaders agreed to begin negotiations on a defence pact formally known as the Acquisition and Cross-servicing Agreement.

The deal would allow the provision of food, fuel and other necessities when Japanese forces visit the Philippines for joint training under a major defence accord that was signed last year and is expected to be ratified by the Japanese legislature. The Philippine Senate ratified it in December.

Ishiba said he and Marcos “also confirmed the start of government-to-government talks towards sealing a security of information agreement in the future”.

The Philippine president added that Tokyo’s previous security assistance had “allowed our security agencies and especially the Department of National Defence to achieve meaningful upgrades” and praised a “golden age” in their relations.

The talks in Manila were held as both Japan and the Philippines have faced increased tensions with China.

Chinese-Philippine ties have been tested repeatedly by confrontations involving the two nations’ coastguard vessels in the disputed South China Sea.

Japan has its own dispute with China over uninhabited islands in the East China Sea known as the Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan, which are claimed by Beijing but administered by Tokyo.

The Philippines and China are also at loggerheads over a disputed sandbank in the South China Sea.

On Monday, Beijing accused six Filipinos of illegally landing on the Tiexian Reef, also known as Sandy Cay, despite “warnings and dissuasion” from the Chinese side. Beijing said the action “violated China’s territorial sovereignty”.

Their shared grievances over China’s territorial claims have seen Japan and the Philippines draw increasingly close to each other as well as towards the United States.

Late last year, Marcos and former Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited Washington for a trilateral summit with then-US President Joe Biden.

Ishiba said he and Marcos had “affirmed the importance of Japan-US-Philippines cooperation” during Tuesday’s meeting.

On the economic front, the Japanese premier said the two men had also talked about the impact of US President Donald Trump’s tariff blitz.

“We discussed the current measures taken by the United States as well as the impact felt on … the world economy because of the reciprocal retaliation seen between the United States and China,” Ishiba said.

A military parade held in Ho Chi Minh City concludes celebration of 50th anniversary since the fall of Saigon.

Thousands of Vietnamese have waved red flags and sang patriotic songs as a grand military parade held in Ho Chi Minh City concluded Vietnam’s 50th anniversary celebrations of the end of war with the United States.

Wednesday’s event commemorated the first act of the country’s reunification on April 30, 1975, when communist-run North Vietnam seized Saigon, the capital of the US-backed South, renamed Ho Chi Minh City shortly after the war in honour of the North’s founding leader.

A lotus-shaped float carrying a portrait of Ho Chi Minh was near the front of the parade as fighter jets and helicopters carrying red flags flew overhead.

Al Jazeera’s Tony Cheng, reporting from the city, said thousands of people stayed in the streets overnight to get the best vantage point for the parade, which was “a day of sombre reflection but also a day of celebration”.

“I am proud of having contributed to liberating the south,” said 75-year-old veteran Tran Van Truong who had travelled – dressed in full military uniform – from the capital, Hanoi, to see the parade.

“But what’s gone is gone, I have no hatred for those from the other side of the battle,” Truong told the AFP news agency. “We should join hands to celebrate the end of the war.”

For the first time, more than 300 soldiers from China, Laos and Cambodia also took part in the spectacle.

More than 300,000 Chinese soldiers were involved in the bloody conflict, according to state media, providing crucial anti-aircraft defence support and helping with logistics and supplies.

“I think Hanoi is signalling to China that they recognise China’s historical contribution,” said Zach Abuza, a professor at the National War College in Washington who focuses on Southeast Asian politics. “It’s also another way for them to signal: ‘Don’t think our foreign policy is lurching towards the Americans.’”

Strain in US ties

This year marks the 30-year anniversary of diplomatic ties between Vietnam and the US.

In 2023, Vietnam upgraded its relations with the US to that of a comprehensive strategic partner, the highest diplomatic status it gives to any country and the same level of relations as China and Russia.

There are new signs of strain in the relationship with Washington, however, with President Donald Trump’s imposition of heavy tariffs and the cancellation of much foreign aid, which has affected war remediation efforts in Vietnam.

Agent Orange contamination and unexploded ordnance in the countryside still threaten lives. The future of those projects is now at risk because of the Trump administration’s broad cuts to USAID.

Home Bargains is one of the UK’s favourite destinations for cheap, high-quality homeware. 

However, like many other shops on the May 5 bank holiday, the chain might be adjusting its opening hours ahead of the VE Day celebrations.

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Home Bargains’ opening hours

Home Bargains will be remaining open as normal on May 5, 2025, so that customers can do some last minute shopping on their day off. 

The chain did not open on Easter Sunday as there are laws preventing stores with a large shop floor from opening on that particular holiday. 

However, since there are no such restrictions on May 5, Home Bargains is free to open. 

The chain normally opens its doors at 8am and closes again at 8pm, but check in-store to see if your branch will adjust its hours.

Keir Starmer dubbed May 5 “Victory Day” in a nod to Victory in Europe Day (VE) which falls on May 8. 

Since there is no planned day off for May 8, the celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War have been transferred to Victory Day. 

The May bank holiday often sees shoppers flocking to stores to buy items including garden-ware and BBQs, as they enjoy the warmer weather.

Their range of artificial plants, including a beautiful cherry tree, regularly flies off the shelves alongside their elephant-shaped garden lamps.

The chain stocks real olive trees which can transform your garden into a Mediterranean paradise for just £19.99.

The shop’s opening hours mirror many other major high street shops.

Tesco, M&S and Sainsbury’s will all open as normal on May 5. 

Home Bargains’ incredible journey

Home Bargains was first opened in Liverpool in 1976 by its founder, Tom Morris, who was just 21 years old when he launched the store.

Now, the chain is one of the largest privately held companies in the UK.

As of April 2025, there are a staggering 600 Home Bargains shops across the country.

2025 bank holidays

There are still many bank holidays to come in 2025, once May 5 is over. 

The holiday calendar is largely the same, though Northern Ireland and Scotland each have additional bank holidays relating to their own traditions and history.

England and Wales

• May 5, 2025 – Early May bank holiday
• May 26, 2025 – Spring bank holiday
• August 25, 2025 – Summer bank holiday
• December 25, 2025 – Christmas Day
• December 26, 2025 – Boxing Day

Scotland

• May 5, 2025 – Early May bank holiday
• May 26, 2025 – Spring bank holiday
• August 25, 2025 – Summer bank holiday
• December 1, 2025 – St Andrew’s Day
• December 25, 2025 – Christmas Day
• December 26, 2025 – Boxing Day

Northern Ireland

• May 5, 2025 – Early May bank holiday
• May 26, 2025 – Spring bank holiday
• July 14, 2025 – Battle of the Boyne (Orangemen’s Day) (substitute day)
• August 25, 2025 – Summer bank holiday
• December 1, 2025 – St Andrew’s Day (substitute day)
• December 25, 2025 – Christmas Day
• December 26, 2025 – Boxing Day

Jamal Murray’s breakout match against LA Clippers puts Denver Nuggets within a game of the second round of NBA playoffs.

Jamal Murray scored 24 of his game-high 43 points in the second half, and the hosts Denver Nuggets pushed the Los Angeles Clippers to the brink of elimination with a 131-115 win in Game 5 of their Western Conference first-round series.

Denver have won the past two games to take a 3-2 lead in the first-round matchup. Game 6 is on Thursday night in Los Angeles.

Murray scored 11 points in a momentum-turning third quarter on Tuesday night and added 13 more in the fourth, the last on a 3-pointer with 2 minutes 13 seconds left that put the Nuggets up by 20.

Nikola Jokic had 13 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds – his third triple-double of the series – for the Nuggets, who never trailed. They led by 22 in the fourth quarter for the second straight game, but unlike Saturday, they did not give away the entire lead.

The Clippers used a 17-4 run to get within 116-107 with 4:01 left, but Aaron Gordon hit a lay-up, Murray made a free throw after a transition foul and then a fallaway jumper, and Gordon drained a 3-pointer to seal it.

Russell Westbrook, who missed Game 4 with a foot injury, scored 21 points off the Denver bench. Gordon had 23 points, Michael Porter Jr contributed 14 points, and Christian Braun had 11 points and 12 rebounds.

The Nuggets shot 17-for-33 (51.5 percent) from 3-point range.

Los Angeles’ James Harden was held to 11 points on 3-for-9 shooting, but Kawhi Leonard had 20 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds, and Ivica Zubac added 27 points.

Porter opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer and a three-point play, Murray drained one from deep and fed Westbrook for a 12-footer to make it 110-88 before Los Angeles closed within nine.

Murray and Porter hit 3-pointers to prompt a 10-2 run at the start of the third quarter, and the Nuggets went ahead 84-67 midway through the period.

The Clippers scored seven points in 43 seconds to get within 88-80, but Braun’s 3-pointer made it 99-83 heading into the fourth.

Denver won Game 4 101-99 at Los Angeles on Sunday when Gordon sensationally dunked the ball at the buzzer.

Boston Celtics, Indiana Pacers clinch series

The Indiana Pacers and the Boston Celtics became the latest teams to book their places in the second round of the NBA playoffs on Tuesday as the Detroit Pistons thwarted the New York Knicks to keep their postseason hopes alive.

In Indianapolis, the Pacers battled back from a 20-point deficit and then rallied again in overtime to defeat the Milwaukee Bucks 119-118 and seal a 4-1 victory in their NBA Eastern Conference duel.

The reigning NBA champions Celtics had an easier time of it as they overpowered the Orlando Magic with a series-clinching 120-89 victory at Boston’s TD Garden.

The Knicks, leading their series 3-1, missed the chance to join Boston and Indiana in the second round after losing 106-103 to Detroit at Madison Square Garden.

The Pacers advanced to an Eastern Conference semifinal series with top seeds Cleveland after pulling off a remarkable overtime Houdini act.

The Pacers trailed 118-111 with 40 seconds remaining but launched an 8-0 run that culminated with Tyrese Haliburton’s driving layup to clinch victory with 1.3 seconds left on the clock.

A late blunder by Milwaukee’s Gary Trent Jr, who fumbled a wide-open pass to turn over possession and set up Haliburton’s winning layup, proved pivotal.

“Both teams literally left every single ounce of everything they had out there, including timeouts – nobody had anything left,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said.

“But you know, fortune favours the bold. And our guys were bold in the last three quarters, and we’re very grateful and thankful to be moving on.”

WOLVES are front-runners to land Jamie Vardy — with the veteran striker determined to keep playing in the Prem.

The 38-year-old star’s announcement that he will leave relegated Leicester this summer has sparked a flurry of interest.

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Wrexham’s Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney could offer him at least £50,000 a week in the Championship.

And Vardy’s boyhood club Sheffield Wednesday would love to welcome him back after releasing him at the age of 16.

But he is adamant he can still cut it in the top flight.

West Ham and newly-promoted Leeds are also keen.

Wolves boss Vitor Pereira is favourite to land him as he prepares for the exit of £62.5million star Matheus Cunha, most likely to Manchester United.

Vardy has 143 Prem goals for the Foxes and rattled in 24 during their sensational title-winning triumph of 2015-16.

SunSport columnist Harry Redknapp believes Vardy should make the “no-brainer” switch to Wrexham.

Ex-England star Vardy announced his decision to leave Leicester following the club’s relegation to the Championship in a season he called a “s***show”.

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In a heartfelt statement, he said: “It’s something that I’ve thought about and spoken about with my family. I think it’s time.

“I’ll be devastated on the day when it is the last [game], but good things, they come to an end.

“It’s going to be one of those emotional days. Who knows which way that can go. If you ask anyone, I’m not really an emotional guy.

“Nothing like that ever comes across with me, but when you’ve been somewhere for so long, and it is time to say goodbye, you just never know what your personal reaction is going to be.

“I’ve spent 13 unbelievable years at this club, with lots of success, and some downs, but the majority have all been highs.

“It’s finally time to call it a day, which I’m devastated about it, but I think the timing it right.”

WASHINGTON — The Port of Los Angeles will begin operating around the clock as the White House pushes to clear supply chain bottlenecks threatening the holiday shopping season and slowing the country’s economic recovery from the global pandemic, senior Biden administration officials said.

Similar steps have already been taken in recent weeks at the Port of Long Beach. Together the two sprawling facilities are responsible for nearly half of all imports into the United States, making them a key part of logistical networks strained by the coronavirus crisis.

The administration officials said the plan, which is scheduled to be announced Wednesday by President Biden, was brokered by the White House as part of an effort to untangle supply chain problems that are making it harder for Americans to get electronics, cars, lumber and other consumer goods that rely on overseas manufacturing.

“It will help us start to address the backlog,” said one of the officials, who requested anonymity before the announcement.

Under the plan, the Port of Los Angeles will nearly double the number of hours that cargo is moving off container ships and onto highways by having crews work through the night. Members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union will fill the extra shifts, according to officials.

In addition, major shippers and retailers — including Walmart, FedEx, UPS, Samsung, Home Depot and Target — will ramp up their operations to clear cargo out of the ports, freeing up more space on the docks.

The goal is to move an additional 3,500 containers during the night each week.

On Wednesday, Biden is scheduled to announce the plan after a virtual conference involving industry executives and labor leaders. Among the participants are Gene Seroka and Mario Cordero, the executive directors of the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports, respectively.

The president will also probably use the occasion to promote his infrastructure proposals, which would invest in port facilities and transportation networks to expand their capacity.

Supply chain problems first gained wide attention early this year when U.S. automakers were struggling to obtain enough computer chips that are necessary for modern cars to function. In February, Biden announced a review of the issue.

Since then, shortages and bottlenecks have proved more persistent and widespread than many people, including those in the administration, had expected. The problems pose a serious risk to the economy, adding to inflation and constraining spending, which is crucial for the recovery. With companies unable to get parts and supplies, many haven’t been able to produce enough goods to meet growing demand, resulting in lost sales and delays in hiring as firms can’t ramp up as quickly as they would like.

President Biden ordered a review of crucial supply chains Feb. 24.

(Evan Vucci / Associated Press)

IHS Markit, an economic forecasting firm, sees the annual pace of U.S. economic growth slowing to just 1.4% in the third quarter, down from a 6.7% growth rate in the second quarter, in part because of supply chain problems. Fourth-quarter growth is looking weaker than previously expected as well.

“I don’t know if there’s anything that can be done at the White House. I think the underlying cause is COVID-19, and not just in the U.S.,” said Ben Herzon, an economist at IHS.

Ramping up operations at the ports will take time. The Port of Long Beach recently began a pilot program to go to 24 hours at one of its six terminals, but it could take weeks or months before the facility can operate around the clock at all of its terminals — and then only if other crucial links of the supply chain come together.

For months now, container ships from Asia have faced unusually long waits for berths and to unload because there are not enough warehouses or warehouse workers, or enough truck drivers to haul the containers.

As of Tuesday morning, there were 58 container ships anchored near the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, said Noel Hacegaba, deputy executive director at the Port of Long Beach. Although that’s down from a peak of 73 two weeks ago, in normal times there would be few, if any, waiting to dock.

To help ease the bottleneck, the Port of Long Beach recently made 65 acres of vacant land available to be used as a temporary storage site. But that’s not nearly enough to handle the massive volume, especially ahead of the holiday season.

“The situation we’re in, it’s a system, and every link has to align,” Hacegaba said.

Hacegaba said he doesn’t expect relief from the supply crunch until next summer. Other experts say it could be early 2023 before the bottlenecks are cleared.

The magnitude of the shortage of drivers and warehouse workers is unprecedented. Job openings in the transportation, warehousing and utilities sector have been steadily increasing this year and reached 537,000 in August, a 67% increase from February 2020 before the pandemic, according to the Labor Department.

The Biden administration said it was working with states to accelerate licensing of truck drivers, but the shortage has been building for years as older drivers have left the field and fewer younger people have come to replace them.

“As a country, we’ve convinced every young person that they need to go to college to be successful, and we just don’t think that’s the case,” said Mark Allen, president of the International Foodservice Distributors Assn.

He said one way to address the shortage is to lower the minimum age for interstate commercial driver’s licenses from 21 to 18, but that would require legislation.

The U.S. can’t fix the problems on its own. For example, China operates seven of the 10 largest ports in the world, and it recently suspended operations at some. Coronavirus infections have also disrupted operations at overseas factories.

BASEBALL

City Section
Animo Robinson 13, Animo Venice 11
Central City Value 10, Animo Bunche 9
LA Leadership Academy 8, Animo De La Hoya 4
Rise Kohyang 19, CNDLC 4
Triumph Charter 14, Community Charter 1
University Prep Value 14, Smidt Tech 2
Valor Academy 26, Discovery 2

Southern Section
ACE 10, CIMSA 7
Alhambra 4, Montebello 3
Arcadia 3, Crescenta Valley 0
Arrowhead Christian 5, Linfield Christian 2
Artesia 4, Glenn 1
Ayala 7, Bonita 4
Azusa 11, Nogales 9
Baldwin Park 14, Duarte 1
Beverly Hills 13, Compton Centennial 1
Big Bear 12, University Prep 7
Bishop Montgomery 9, Salesian 0
Bolsa Grande 5, Santa Ana Valley 2
Bosco Tech 3, Mary Star of the Sea 1
Brea Olinda 7, Anaheim Canyon 1
Brentwood 5, Village Christian 4
Calabasas 9, Thousand Oaks 8
Calvary Chapel 17, Fairmont Prep 3
Capistrano Valley Christian 12, Newport Beach Pacifica Christian 3
Cate 1, Dunn 0
Cathedral 18, Cantwell-Sacred Heart 4
Century 2, Estancia 1
Chaminade 5, Bishop Alemany 1
Citrus Hill 14, Riverside North 6
Citrus Valley 7, Cajon 1
Claremont 8, Diamond Bar 2
Cornerstone Christian 20, Bethel Christian 0
Corona 5, Eastvale Roosevelt 0
Corona Centennial 8, Riverside King 3
Costa Mesa 5, Katella 3
Covina 9, Charter Oak 1
Crossroads 2, Viewpoint 1
Crossroads Christian 17, NSLA 0
Edgewood 17, Bassett 0
Environmental Charter 5, Animo Leadership 1
Flintridge Prep 10, Pasadena Poly 0
Foothill Tech 18, Bishop Diego 3
Fullerton 8, Laguna Hills 1
Gahr 10, Bellflower 0
Ganesha 30, Workman 0
Gardena Serra 9, St. Paul 4
GLCSC 21, Hillcrest Christian 13
Glendora 8, Walnut 0
Godinez 18, Placentia Valencia 2
Granite Hills 11, Miller 1
Harvard-Westlake 2, Crespi 1
Heritage 5, Hemet 3
Heritage Christian 6, Whittier Christian 1
Hesperia 4, Oak Hills 2
Hillcrest 18, Perris 5
Huntington Beach 18, Edison 1
Indian Springs 15, Pacific 7
Irvine 2, At, Margaret’s 0
Jurupa Valley 4, Patriot 2
La Salle 6, Bishop Amat 5
La Serna 1, Santa Ana 0
Lawndale 14, Inglewood 1
Leuzinger 17, Hawthorne 4
Liberty 12, Lakeside 8
Loara 4, Westminster La Quinta 1
Long Beach Cabrillo 6, Compton 3
Los Alamitos 6, Fountain Valley 2
Maranatha 6, Valley Christian 2
Mayfair 16, Dominguez 1
Mesa Grande Academy 12, Redlands Adventist Academy 5
Moreno Valley 8, Orange Vista 1
Newbury Park 8, Oaks Christian 7
Newport Harbor 5, Marina 4
Norco 6, Corona Santiago 0
Northview 12, Rowland 1
Norwalk 7, Firebaugh 0
Oakwood 4, Milken 0
Orange 5, Savanna 4
Orange Lutheran 16, Mater Dei 0
Oxford Academy 4, Cerritos 3
Palm Desert 7, Shadow Hills 3
Palm Springs 3, Xavier Prep 2
Paloma Valley 8, Valley View 3
Paramount 20, Lynwood 2
Pioneer 7, Whitney 0
Pomona 8, La Puente 4
Providence 4, Rio Hondo Prep 1
Ramona 14, Rubidoux 3
Rancho Alamitos 6, Western 0
Rancho Christian 25, Vista del Lago 3
Rancho Verde 6, Canyon Springs 2
Redlands East Valley 10, Beaumont 4
Ridgecrest Burroughs 10, Serrano 0
Rio Mesa 6, Oxnard 4
Riverside Prep 21, Excelsior Charter 0
San Marcos 6, Buena 2
Santa Barbara 9, Oxnard Pacifica 3
Santa Clarita Christian 13, PACS 0
Santa Monica 4, Culver City 1
Schurr 11, Bell Gardens 1
Segerstrom 11, Buena Park 2
Servite 11, Santa Margarita 4
Shalhevet d. Compton Early College, forfeit
Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 6, Loyola 2
St. Bonaventure 8, Grace 1
St. Francis 5, Sierra Canyon 3
St. John Bosco 6, JSerra 1
St. Pius X-St. Matthias 11, St. Genevieve 6
Sultana 7, Apple Valley 4
Trinity Classical Academy 15, Desert Christian 0
Tustin 10, Santa Ana Calvary Chapel 4
Valley Christian Academy 12, Coast Union 1
Ventura 4, Dos Pueblos 2
West Covina 5, Hacienda Heights Wilson 2
Western Christian 11, Webb 8
Westlake 10, Agoura 2
Windward 6, Campbell Hall 1
Woodcrest Christian 4, Ontario Christian 2
Yucaipa 9, Redlands 0

Intersectional
Loma Linda Academy 7, Public Safety Academy 4
Rolling Hills Prep 15, Rancho Dominguez 7
Royal 11, Granada Hills Kennedy 8

SOFTBALL

City Section
Alliance Bloomfield 17, University Prep Value 16
Animo De La Hoya 19, Rise Kohyang 4
CALS Early College 17, LA Leadership Academy 1
Smidt Tech 14, CNDLC 12

Southern Section
AAE 16, CIMSA 2
Aliso Niguel 3, Tesoro 2
Apple Valley 17, Ridgecrest Burroughs 6
Aquinas 12, Indio 1
Archer 16, Crossroads 2
Arlington 9, Riverside North 3
Ayala 14, Diamond Bar 1
Beckman 1, San Clemente 0
Bellflower 11, Lynwood 0
Bell Gardens 6, Alhambra 5
Bethel Christian 19, Cornerstone Christian 2
Bishop Alemany 6, Flintridge Sacred Heart 0
Bishop Montgomery 7, St. Monica 0
Bonita 17, Walnut 1
Brea Olinda 15, Crean Lutheran 4
California 7, El Rancho 0
Calvary Baptist 20, Sherman Indian 6
Camarillo 11, Royal 8
Cantwell-Sacred Heart 12, Bishop Conaty-Loretto 7
Canyon Springs 7, Heritage 2
Capistrano Valley Christian 11, Downey Calvary Chapel 0
Century 13, Environmental Charter 12
Cerritos 9, Whitney 2
Chaminade 19, Louisville 6
Charter Oak 15, Covina 1
Citrus Valley 19, Redlands 8
Corona 4, Corona Santiago 0
Crescenta Valley 4, Arcadia 2
Cypress 8, Anaheim Canyon 4
El Modena 4, Esperanza 2
Faith Baptist 18, PACS 1
Flintridge Prep 9, Pasadena Poly 8
Fountain Valley 3, Edison 1
Gahr 4, Mayfair 1
Ganesha 20, Pomona 0
Garey 13, Nogales 3
Glendale 17, Hoover 2
Glendora 7, Claremont 1
Grace 9, St.Bonaventure 7
Hart 10, Castaic 0
Hawthorne 21, Lawndale 4
Heritage Christian 26, Maranatha 5
Hesperia Christian 25, Silver Valley 1
Hillcrest 18, Vista del Lago 0
Huntington Beach 3, Marina 2
La Canada 14, Monrovia 4
La Habra 6, El Dorado 5
La Mirada 8, Paramount 3
La Serna 17, Whittier 2
La Sierra 22, Norte Vista 5
Lennox Academy 18, Animo Leadership 1
Leuzinger 27, Compton Centennial 2
Liberty 9, Orange Vista 2
Linfield Christian 12, Arrowhead Christian 2
Long Beach Cabrillo 45, Compton 26
Long Beach Wilson 7, Lakewood 6
Los Alamitos 22, Corona del Mar 0
Los Osos 14, Western 0
Marymount 28, Immaculate Heart 10
Mary Star of the Sea 15, Gardena Serra 1
Mater Dei 13, Santa Margarita 3
Mayfield 14, Westridge 6
Millikan 8, Long Beach Poly 3
Moorpark 7, Oak Park 4
Moreno Valley 11, Lakeside 8
Muir 18, Pasadena 2
Newbury Park 16, Calabasas 0
Norco 6, Riverside King 3
Northview 4 Rowland 2
Norwalk 19, Firebaugh 5
Oak Hills 9, Serrano 8
Oaks Christian 14, Agoura 3
Ontario Christian 11, Woodcrest Christian 3
Orange Lutheran 2, JSerra 1
Oxford Academy 20, Artesia 12
Oxnard Pacifica 12, Santa Barbara 2
Pacific 15, Indian Springs 11
Patriot 12, Jurupa Valley 1
Pioneer 9, Glenn 3
Providence 11, Chadwick 3
Rancho Verde 14, Perris 4
Ramona 24, Rubidoux 0
Redlands East Valley 2, Cajon 0
Rio Mesa 8, Oxnard 4
Riverside Poly 12, Hemet 2
Riverside Prep 9, Excelsior Charter 4
Samueli Academy 23, Webb 13
San Juan Hills 3, Newport Harbor 0
San Marcos 6, Buena 4
Santa Clara 6, Bishop Diego 0
Santa Paula 13, Nordhoff 3
Saugus 14, Golden Valley 1
Schurr 10, Mark Keppel 0
Shadow Hills 10, Palm Desert 0
Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 10, Sierra Canyon 0
Sierra Vista 20, Baldwin Park 0
St. Pius X-St. Matthias Academy 29, St. Bernard 6
Sultana 12, Hesperia 2
Temple City 8, San Marino 6
Thousand Oaks 2, Westlake 1
Trabuco Hills 8, El Toro 6
United Christian Academy 12, California Lutheran 0
University Prep 7, Big Bear 3
Valencia 5, Canyon Country Canyon 0
Valley Christian Academy 21, Coast Union 6
Valley View 6, Paloma Valley 2
Ventura 13, Dos Pueblos 9
Viewpoint 17, Brentwood 1
Villa Park 5, Sonora 4
Warren 16, Dominguez 0
West Covina 18, Hacienda Heights Wilson 6
Western Christian 12, Southlands Christian 1
Yorba Linda 10, Troy 0
Yucaipa 5, Beaumont 0

Intersectional
West Ranch 13, Chavez 5

April 30 (UPI) — The Wisconsin Supreme Court has temporarily removed a state judge who was arrested last week on allegations of helping an undocumented migrant evade capture.

Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan was effectively temporarily suspended from her duties on Tuesday, according to an order from the state’s high court.

“[I]n order to uphold the public’s confidence in the courts of this state during the pendency of the criminal proceeding against Judge Dugan, we conclude, on our motion, that it is in the public interest that she be temporarily relieved of her official duties,” the order signed by Wisconsin Supreme Court clerk Samuel Christensen states.

FBI agents arrested Dugan on Friday on two federal charges: obstructing or impeding a proceeding before a department or agency of the United States and concealing an individual to prevent his discovery and arrest.

She is accused of misdirecting federal agents to allow Eduardo Flores Ruiz, an undocumented migrant, to evade capture.

The affidavit supporting the charges against Dugan states that Flores-Ruiz, a Mexican national, was wanted by federal authorities for being in the country undocumented.

He was scheduled to appear at a hearing that Dugan was presiding over on April 18 in a separate case in which Flores-Ruiz faces three counts of battery-domestic abuse.

When federal immigration officers arrived at the court that day to arrest the suspect, Dugan “became visibly angry, commented that the situation was ‘absurd,’ left the bench and entered chambers,” according to the affidavit.

After confronting the federal agents in the court’s hallways, she is accused of returning to the courtroom and escorting Flores-Ruiz and his counsel out through the so-called jury door.

The court documents state that Flores-Ruiz was able to leave the courthouse and led agents on a foot chase before being arrested.

Some Republicans were quick to applaud the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s decision to remove Dugan, with Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., stating, “Wisconsinites deserve law-abiding judges, not activists.”

“Dugan should be removed permanently,” he said on X.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., similarly called for her permanent removal from the court.

“A black robe and a gavel don’t make a rogue judge above the law,” he said.

If last year’s general election was all consuming and everywhere, this year’s local elections, in truth, are neither.

That is not to denigrate for a moment how much they matter in the places where they are happening, nor the extent to which they will mould the mood of national politics in their aftermath.

But the reality is there are not many contests this year, not least because some have been postponed because of an imminent shake-up in local government structures in some places.

So there is a very good chance you are reading this in a part of the country without any contests.

And there is a good chance too, given what I hear from the political parties, that your heart might not be pulsating in ecstasy even if the community centre down the road is morphing into a polling station tomorrow.

I detect a curious paradox right now: anger confronts an expectation of widespread indifference.

Turnout in local elections that do not coincide with a general election are almost always shrivelled.

But what I pick up anecdotally – I’ve just spent the last few days in Lincolnshire, reporting on the race to be the county’s first directly elected mayor – matches what the research group More in Common has picked up in focus groups.

The group’s UK Director, Luke Tryl, diagnoses a “despondency or misery about the state of Britain that doesn’t feel sustainable”.

Put that sentiment, reduced turnout and a splintering of party support in all sorts of directions into the mixer and what you end up with is a wildly unpredictable politics where the margins between victory and defeat could be very narrow indeed.

Or to put it more bluntly: if not many votes in total then go in lots of different directions, two things are likely: the gap between the winner and the runners-up might be rather limited, and the share of the vote needed to win could be very small.

And winning on a small share of the vote raises immediate questions about your mandate.

The elections analyst Sir John Curtice argues in the Telegraph that “the mainstream is dead”, five parties have a chance of making real inroads in these contests and what stands out now is that both Labour and the Conservatives are struggling, rather than the conventional dynamic of one being up while the other is down.

The Conservatives have spent weeks talking up how down they feel about these elections.

And senior Labour folk too are cranking up the gloom in the conversations I have with them.

Which then leaves us with Reform UK, the Liberal Democrats, the Green Party and an often overlooked element of local English democracy – independents.

This is a huge moment for Reform.

One of the standout trends in British politics since the general election last year has been the party’s rising support in the opinion polls.

What Thursday will test is the extent to which that translates into real votes in real elections.

The party’s talk is big – they say they can win the next general election. The next few days will give us a sense of how or whether, albeit up to four years out from choosing the next government, that is a plausible claim.

When you wake up on Friday morning. if, unlike political nerds, you have actually been to bed, the headlines that will greet you will be about Reform.

That is because a lot of the contests where there is an expectation that they could win are being counted overnight.

There is the parliamentary by-election in Runcorn and Helsby near Liverpool and the race to be Lincolnshire’s first mayor, for a start.

Later in the day on Friday, the emphasis will shift somewhat, as local authorities particularly but not exclusively in the south of England do their counting, and the Liberal Democrats will be looking to make extensive gains against the Conservatives in particular and we will be able to assess if the Green Party’s collection of councillors has grown again.

It is only by Friday teatime that we will have a rounded picture of how all of the parties and the independents contesting these elections have fared.

And then the debate on what it all means will begin.

Mike Peters, the singer for the Welsh rock group the Alarm, has died. He was 66.

Peters died of cancer, which he had battled publicly as an activist and fundraiser for treatments. Peters lived with lymphoma and, later, chronic lymphocytic leukemia. His death was first announced in a statement from his band and his charitable foundation.

The Alarm formed in 1981 in Rhyl, Denbighshire, emerging after the U.K. punk wave of the late ‘70s with a more hook-driven, approachable but fiery sound that won acclaim in the U.K. and abroad. The Alarm sold millions of records and joined a small list of Welsh acts, including Tom Jones and Bonnie Tyler, to find worldwide fame.

Singles like “The Stand,” “Sixty Eight Guns,” “Blaze of Glory” and “Rain in the Summertime” embodied the band’s rousing songwriting. And the group became a favorite opener for stadium-rock acts of the ‘80s including Queen and U2, whose 1983 tour introduced the Alarm to the United States.

The band, proud of its Welsh heritage, in 1989 released “Newid,” a Welsh-language version of its 1989 album “Change.” Peters quit the group in 1991 and performed with his wife Jules — who also fought her own cancer — in the Poets of Justice (he also briefly fronted the Scottish act Big Country). He reunited the Alarm in 2000 and hit the U.K. charts in 2004 when, in a clandestine stunt, he wrote and recorded a single as a fictional teenage punk band, the Poppy Fields. The prank inspired a 2013 feature film, “Vinyl.”

Peters was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 1995 and spent two decades undergoing intensive treatment. In 2005, he was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, which returned in 2015.

With his wife, he co-founded the Love Hope Strength Foundation, which helped recruit bone marrow donors at live concerts. He performed in unconventional locations to raise money for the charity, including Mt. Kilimanjaro and “Big Busk” walking concerts between cancer wards in Wales. Acts including Bono, Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young joined him onstage for charity events, and in 2019 he was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire for his cancer activism.

Peters shot a documentary, “While We Still Have Time,” about his and his wife’s cancer battles. This year he fell ill with a recurrence of Richter’s syndrome — an especially dangerous form of lymphoma.

Peters is survived by his wife and their children, Dylan and Evan.

Spain suffered a major blackout, leaving millions without access to electricity, water and phone signal – but despite the chaos, some seem to have enjoyed it, others not so much

Spain’s power outage had people stranded in the middle of nowhere as trains had stopped working, buildings becoming pitch-black and shops and restaurants came to a stand-still as card payments were down. But what did some holidaying Brits do during all this chaos? Some 12 hours of no electricity and mobile network seemed to have been the end of the world to some, but others actually enjoyed it.

On April 28, Spain as well as Portugal and some areas of France suffered a power outage that caused full-on chaos on the streets, with the full closure of public transport services, such as the metro and trains and people not getting to work.

For 12 hours, Spain had no electricity, water, and mobile phone networks. Dramatic scenes saw people raiding supermarket shelves as they panic-bought essential goods such as water and canned foods, reported The Mirror.

READ MORE: Warning over Spain holiday rule that could see you banned from entering for three years

Nonetheless, the surprising blackout left locals and visitors without any other option than socialising with strangers and helping each other during these uncertain moments.

The unexpected blackout left the entire nation in a state of confusion and disbelief. A fresh start of the week was interrupted without any explanation and social media became flooded with videos from locals and visitors showing what they were up to during the day.

Some clips on Tiktok showed people stocking up on supplies, while others took the abrupt situation as a day off to hang out with friends and enjoy the sunshine without knowing what was going on in the exterior world. Footage on social media shows groups of people gathering together to dance on the beach in Valencia.

Another user wrote on X: “Massive power blackout in Spain and Portugal! No internet, payments are off, and flights are cancelled. Media: Chaos! People are in Panic! What really happened: We just took blankets, beer and had a great time all together.”

Other heart-warming moments showed people singing, dancing, reading, playing card games, and even offering drinks and food until the power came back later in the evening. In Madrid, there were scenes of people hanging out on the streets, cheering and applauding as the lights turned on.

However, some holidaying Brits were not happy to have had their holidays disrupted, with one saying on Tiktok: “Can’t get food, can’t get water, can’t get an ATM because it relies on power, so we can’t get any money out. So it really made me think, it’s the last time I’m leaving the house without cash.”

Describing the situation as “crazy” in Benidorm, another holidaymaker told The Mirror: “Traffic lights are out… phone lines are down… Wow. All the shops are not getting power. I need some food – I haven’t eaten yet – but you can’t get food either.”

READ MORE: Brit tourist gives birth to premature baby in Costa Del Sol hotel garden amid Spain power cuts

While the cause is still unclear, Spain’s Interior Ministry declared a state of national emergency following the nationwide power cut. However, the emergency status only applies to those regions that have requested it. So far, that only includes Madrid, Andalusia and Extremadura.

Thousands of passengers on the metro in Barcelona were evacuated after the blackout. According to local media, traffic lights in the city stopped working, causing chaos as cars tried to overtake each other.

Air travel was also affected, with departures and arrivals being cancelled or delayed, leaving thousands of people stranded. Bars and restaurants were unable to take payments, only accepting the exact amount of cash.

Lt. Col. Oliver L. North’s passionate testimony before a congressional investigating committee may well have generated more public support for President Reagan’s efforts to provide U.S. military aid for the contras, the Los Angeles Times Poll has found.

But the charismatic Marine officer, while scoring a dramatic personal triumph, did not help Reagan’s personal popularity or the way people view his presidency, the survey showed.

In the largest poll yet taken concerning North’s testimony, which captivated millions of television viewers, people were evenly divided on the question of whether the United States should help the contras who are fighting a civil war against Nicaragua’s Marxist regime. The result was 42% to 42%, with 16% undecided.

By contrast, a Times Poll last February found Americans opposed to contra aid, 54% to 31%, with 15% undecided. Surveys by other polling organizations over the last two years have found people opposed to contra aid by ratios of 2 to 1 or more.

Although it is impossible at this point to measure the lasting impact on public opinion of North’s testimony, it is clear that many Americans currently believe he presented a persuasive case for himself regarding his role in the sale of arms to Iran and the diversion of profits to Nicaragua’s rebels.

An overwhelming number of people said they were favorably impressed with North (67%) and considered him to be a convincing witness (74%). They believed his assertion that he acted only under orders from superiors (68%) and said he was “right to follow orders without question, even though they may have been illegal or unethical” (61% to 30%, with 9% undecided).

Lying Supported

Smaller but still significant numbers of people agreed that “there are times when a government official is justified in lying to the American public” (49% agreed, 44% disagreed, with 7% undecided).

In his testimony, North freely admitted lying to Congress about the covert Iran-contra affair before it became public knowledge last November, but he fervently argued that the deception was necessary to protect the operation’s secrecy.

The nationwide telephone survey of 2,311 adults, supervised by Times Poll Director I. A. Lewis, began last Friday and ended on Monday night. The margin of error in the poll is 3 percentage points in either direction.

Reagan’s determination to bankroll the contras and supply them with arms has sparked some of the most divisive foreign policy fights of his presidency. Congress has reversed itself several times–a fact North repeatedly pointed out in his testimony–and faces another battle over the issue this fall, when $70 million in U.S. military aid and $30 million in non-military assistance are due to run out.

Congress had banned U.S. aid for the contras at the time North was involved in funneling profits from Iran arms sales to the Nicaraguan guerrillas. But North insisted to the investigating committee that he had done nothing illegal, declaring: “What we did was constitutional in its essence.”

The White House on Tuesday cited its own polling evidence that North’s testimony had helped to turn around public opinion on contra aid. Reagan’s private pollster, Richard B. Wirthlin, reported that, in a Monday night survey of 600 people, contra aid was slightly favored, 48% to 46%. A similar Wirthlin poll on June 27 found people opposing the aid by more than 2 to 1.

The Times survey showed that North has achieved a recognition most politicians would envy: 94% of Americans are familiar with his name. They describe him most often as “dedicated” and “a man who can get things done.” But only 4% think of him as “a hero,” a characterization applied by Reagan.

Evidence that North’s ardent advocacy of contra aid may indeed have swayed public opinion can be seen by examining the responses of people who said they paid “a lot of attention” to his televised testimony (52%) and those who paid “not much” or no attention (47%). People who paid a lot of attention favored contra aid by 49% to 38%. The figures were virtually reversed for those who paid little attention, 46% against to 34% for.

People who paid a lot of attention to the hearings agreed, more than the others, that a government official sometimes is “justified in lying to the American public,” that North acted under orders from his superiors and that he was right to “follow orders without question,” even if it meant committing “illegal or unethical” acts.

And people who paid a lot of attention to North’s testimony tended to form a more favorable impression of him than they had had before. Impressions became more favorable for 51%; less favorable for only 7%.

But the public had a mixed view of the congressional investigating committee. The characterization most often used was “doing its job.” But next came “politically motivated” and “nit-picking.” Only 6% thought the committee was “fair.”

And, by almost 3 to 2, those surveyed said Congress was “more to blame for the Iran-contra affair” than was Reagan, under whose Administration it occurred. (Congress was blamed by 43%, Reagan by 30%, 12% blamed both equally, and 15% were not sure.)

Another irony, given North’s immense popularity, is that, when people were asked “what upsets you most about the Iran-contra affair,” heading the list was the shredding of documents. North, by his own testimony, was the chief shredder.

Next, people objected to “helping the ayatollah” and “trading arms for hostages while telling our allies not to deal with terrorists.” The least objectionable aspect was “illegally diverting funds to the contras.”

Reagan’s strategy as North’s six days of testimony began unfolding on July 7 was to publicly ignore it. And he wound up not benefiting personally from the outpouring of public support that the articulate former aide generated.

Compared to previous Times surveys, Reagan’s standing did not improve on the measurements of job approval (50%) or the public’s impression of him (58% favorable). A majority believed the President “has lied about the Iran-contra affair” (52% yes, 30% no). And, in particular, they felt that he “knew about the diversion of funds” from the Iran arms sales to the contras (62% yes, 26% no). Reagan has insisted he did not know.

Fifty-nine percent said Reagan’s leadership had been “diminished” or “destroyed.” And 44% felt that at age 76 the President “may be getting too old to keep up with all his responsibilities.”

About half (48%) thought North was not guilty of a crime. Among the rest, 17% believed he was guilty and “should be sent to jail,” 13% figured he was guilty and “should be pardoned” and 22% were not sure. But 61% predicted that, regardless of his guilt or innocence, North would never spend time behind bars.

Also, just 50% felt North “had not lied under oath” to the investigating committee, despite his adamant vow to “tell the whole truth–the good, the bad and the ugly.” Among the rest of those surveyed, 28% said he had lied and 22% were not sure.

If he did lie, it was “to protect the President,” 47% said. Only 16% thought it would have been “to protect himself.”

The survey found great curiosity in the Iran-contra affair generally, with 77% expressing interest. Sixty percent described the congressional hearings as “valuable.” But nearly half also thought they were now “running out of steam.”

NORTH vs. THE COMMITTEE Would you say Oliver North . . .

Is dedicated 37%

Can get things done 27%

Can be bought 11%

Is dangerous 4%

Is a fanatic 4%

Is a hero 4%

Other replies 13%

Would you say the Iran-Contra Committee . . .

Is doing its job 28%

Is politically motivated 20%

Is nit-picking 15%

Is hostile to witnesses 8%

Is thorough 8%

Is fair 6%

Other replies 15%

United States President Donald Trump said this month that his tariffs were bringing in $2bn a day already. The real number turned out to be $192m per day at the time.

While the import revenue has increased slightly since then, it is still nowhere close to what the president had suggested.

On Friday, April 25, according to the most recent data from the US Department of Commerce, the US brought in $285m in customs and certain excise taxes for the day. Thus far in April, the total has hit more than $16.1bn. The daily income is up from $128m that was brought in on January 17, the last day of the administration of former President Joe Biden for which the US Treasury Department released a daily report.

Trump had threatened to impose “retaliatory tariffs” on nearly all trading partners across the globe. He kept the highest at 125 percent for China in addition to an earlier 20 percent rate because of the country’s role in the fentanyl trade, Trump said.

On April 9, barring China, he paused the retaliatory tariffs and put in place a 10 percent levy on all imports to the US. He also kept in place tariffs he had announced in March on imports of cars, steel, aluminium and potash, all of which are now feeding into US revenue. On Tuesday, the White House said Trump was aiming to ease some auto tariffs and companies paying car tariffs would no longer be charged other levies, such as on aluminium and steel, with reimbursements in the pipeline for such tariffs that had already been paid.

Beijing, in turn, has slapped the US with 125 percent tariffs. Since then, both sides have taken tiny steps back. The US exempted some electronic imports from China from its tariffs, and the latter was considering exemptions of certain imports, according to media reports.

All of this is expected to weigh on the US consumer. According to the Budget Lab at Yale, the American public faces the highest average tariff rate in more than a century at 28 percent.

Lasting impact

Before Trump took office, there were still tariffs in place on a multitude of goods ranging from lumber to electric vehicles.

The Biden administration was tough on Chinese goods as well. In 2024, Biden introduced a 100 percent tariff on electric vehicles, 25 percent on steel and aluminium and 50 percent on semiconductor chips. The move, however, was a continuation of a tariff policy laid out during Trump’s first term.

Trump had introduced heavy tariffs on steel in 2018 at 25 percent, and 10 percent on aluminium quickly followed. In 2019, Trump lifted those tariffs on Canada and Mexico. In 2021, Biden walked back tariffs outlined by Trump specifically for the European Union as steel prices surged amid supply chain concerns brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2024, Biden also raised lumber tariffs on Canada – which have been a longstanding point of contention between the two nations – to 14.5 percent, up from 8.5 percent the year before. Those tariffs are expected to more than double in the coming months to 34.5 percent.

The lumber tariffs were slammed as “detrimental” by the National Association of Home Builders amid a housing affordability crisis in the US. But those challenges began in 2017 when the first Trump administration introduced a 20 percent tariff that was later reduced to 8.5 percent in April 2022.

Other notable tariffs introduced by the Biden administration were a result of widespread economic sanctions, including a 35 percent tariff on certain Russian imports in 2022 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Other countries like Canada and the United Kingdom imposed similar tariffs at 35 percent.

Looming tariff jitters

Trump’s tariffs have much of the world on edge, as well as Wall Street and Main Street. The US Commerce Department released a report this month on consumer spending that showed a 1.4 percent increase over last month. While ordinarily that would indicate an uptick in the economy, this time economists think it can be attributed to consumers spending on key goods before prices go up because of the new tariffs.

Other data show consumer confidence tumbling. The University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment Index, released April 11 for the month of March, dropped 11 percent from the month before. In March, the Conference Board reported that consumer confidence fell to a 12-year low.

Companies in the auto industry have already begun furloughs and layoffs. This month, Stellantis laid off 900 people, and General Motors laid off 200 as a result of tariff uncertainty. Volvo announced it would slash 800 US jobs due to the tariffs. The Budget Lab at Yale forecasts that the tariffs could cost 770,000 jobs in the US by the end of the year.

There are concerns in every corner of the world. In the citrus industry alone, there could be 35,000 jobs lost in South Africa because of the tariffs. In the Republic of Ireland, one of the world’s largest producers of pharmaceuticals, tariffs could cost as many as 80,000 jobs. And Mexico has expressed concerns that tariffs could result in the loss of upwards of 400,000 of its jobs.

A Palestinian paramedic who survived a deadly Israeli attack on a group of first responders in southern Gaza last month has been released from Israeli detention, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) says.

Assaad al-Nassasra, an ambulance driver, was among at least 10 Palestinian detainees who were released into the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, the PRCS said.

The agency shared footage on social media that showed a visibly emotional al-Nassasra, dressed in a bright red PRCS jacket, embracing his colleagues after 37 days in Israeli detention.

His exact whereabouts had been unknown after the Israeli military opened fire on Palestinian first responders in the Rafah area of southern Gaza on March 23, killing 15 health workers in an attack that drew widespread outrage and calls for an independent investigation.

“He had been arrested while performing his humanitarian duty during the massacre of medical teams in the Tel Al-Sultan area of Rafah Governorate,” the PRCS said.

The first moments of colleague Asaad Al-Nsasrah’s arrival and reunion with his teammates following his release today, after 37 days in detention by the occupation forces. He had been arrested while performing his humanitarian duty during the massacre of medical teams in the Tel… pic.twitter.com/TzGHbZHeJl

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) April 29, 2025

The PRCS reported last month that Israeli forces opened fire on the medics, who were driving in ambulances to assist wounded Palestinians at the site of an earlier Israeli attack.

The agency said it lost contact with its team and Israeli forces blocked access to the site of the incident.

When United Nations and Palestinian officials were able to reach the area a week later, they found a mass grave where bulldozed ambulances and bodies were buried.

Eight PRCS workers were killed along with six Palestinian Civil Defence team members and one UN employee, the PRCS said.

“This massacre of our team is a tragedy not only for us at the Palestine Red Crescent Society, but also for humanitarian work and humanity,” the agency said in a statement on March 30.

A video recovered from the mobile phone of one of the slain medics showed their final moments. They were wearing highly reflective uniforms and were inside clearly identifiable rescue vehicles before they were shot by Israeli forces.

Amid the international outcry, the Israeli military announced it would investigate what happened.

It said last week that its probe had identified a series of “professional failures”. The army said its code of ethics was not violated and one soldier was dismissed.

The PRCS slammed the Israeli military’s findings and called for an independent and impartial investigation by a UN body.

One of two survivors

Al-Nassasra, 47, is one of two people who survived the attack.

The other survivor, Munther Abed, said at the time that he had seen al-Nassasra being captured, bound and taken away.

The father of six last spoke to his family on the night of the Israeli attack when he disappeared, telling them he was on his way to the PRCS headquarters to break his Ramadan fast with his colleagues, according to his son Mohamed.

When the family tried to call him about dawn the next day, he didn’t respond, and they found out from the PRCS that nobody could reach him or the other emergency workers.

Al-Nassasra had always warned his family that whenever he headed out on a mission, he may not make it back, his son said. But the family tried not to think about that as al-Nassasra continued his work throughout Israel’s 18-month war on Gaza.

His colleague Ibrahim Abu al-Kass also told Al Jazeera that al-Nassasra always carried sweets to offer children to encourage them to play somewhere safe, not in the middle of the road.

Israel has carried out an intensified campaign of arrests during the war. According to the Palestinian prisoner support network Addameer, at least 9,900 Palestinians are currently being held in Israeli detention facilities, including 400 children.

More than 3,400 are held without charge or trial under what’s known as “administrative detention”, which can be renewed for six-month periods indefinitely.

Al-Nassasra was released into Gaza through the Kissufim checkpoint along with the 10 other detainees before they were sent to a hospital in central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah for medical checkups.

Reporting from the city, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum said the released detainees reported being tortured in “horrific ways” and were in a bad physical and psychological state.

Israeli forces have routinely targeted first responders, humanitarian workers and journalists during the Gaza bombardment.

More than 52,300 Palestinians have been killed since the war began on October 7, 2023, while at least 117,905 have been wounded, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.

Former Strictly Come Dancing star Oti Mabuse hints at a major comeback to the BBC One show just like Aljaz Skorjanec, who returned to the professional cast last year

Oti Mabuse has teased she may be up for another waltz on the Strictly Come Dancing dance floor, after seeing another much-loved favourite make a triumphant return. The South African-born star left the hit BBC show in 2022 to pursue other telly ops after seven series.

Oti went on to feature in I’m A Celebrity, be a panellist on The Masked Dancer and a judge on Dancing On ice – as well as have her daughter in 2023. The 34-year-old star says watching Aljaz Skorjanec go back for the most recent series and witnessing how much he loved it has certainly given her food for thought. “Everyone asks me [if I’d return to Strictly],” muses Oti.

READ MORE: Oti Mabuse eyes up major ITV career change after Dancing On Ice was cancelled

“I think right now, with a daughter and everything I’m doing, I’m quite busy, and I’m happy with what I’m doing at the minute. But never say never. The doors are always open, which is really, really nice. Aljaž [Škorjanec] went back and he’s doing really well. I went back to choreograph with him and he’s just in a different space. He’s absolutely sensational. So, you never know.”

Oti took away two glitterballs from her Strictly run – with actor Kelvin Fletcher in 2019 and comedian Bill Bailey the following year.

Despite hanging up her professional dancers shoes, she still is a big part of the show, helping with choreograph. “When I look back on Strictly, I think the whole seven-year journey was amazing,” she reminisces. “I say that the show brought me everything, like me sitting here today, and the relationship still very much continues. There were ups, there were downs; if you can imagine being the first Black anything, anywhere, there will always be ups and downs.”

Born in Pretoria, Oti studied civil engineering at university before her professional ballroom dancing career. She followed in the footsteps of her elder sister, Strictly judge Motsi, 44. Oti took part in the German series Let’s Dance for two series before she joined Strictly. Moving to the UK with her now husband Marius Iepure, 42, also a dancer, Oti opened up about her sense of belonging when she moved her.

“When I lived in Germany, Marius and I used to come to London,” she recalls. “The best dance school was in Croydon, and all the best couples would go there. I remember the first time we’d be walking the streets, and there were so many interracial couples.

“I would say to Marius, ‘There’s us! There’s us! Oh, there we go again!’ And I was just like, ‘Wow, where have I been living? Why am I not here? I just see so many multicultural couples,’ and it felt like, ‘I need that diversity in my life.’ And when I came here, every time we took a lesson, we’d always take a walk. It just felt amazing; it felt like I belonged.”

Oti’s career has taken off since Strictly, and seen her on some of the biggest entertainment shows in the country. As well as The Masked Dancer and Dancing On Ice, she fronted her own ITV breakfast show, a BBC documentary about South Africa. She also hopes of being a regular on Loose Women.

Juggling work with being a mum to her one-year-daughter has been a challenge, Oti admits, but one she is loving. “Motherhood is amazing,” she beams. “It’s really incredible. But if I’m being brutally honest, it’s also the most challenging and exhausting journey of self-discovery that you will ever be on.”

Oti says her girl is keeping her on her toes and has already developed a go get it attitude – just like her mum. “I have a one-year-old who’s very expressive but doesn’t speak, so when something’s happening, I don’t know what’s going on,” explains Oti.

“But she’s so incredible, fun and so determined. She’s like a little me – and it scares the life out of me, because my mum didn’t know what to do with me and I moved to another continent. So now I’m like, ‘I will follow her wherever she goes. If she’s going to a jungle in the Amazon, we’re moving to the jungle in the Amazon.’ She’s a very determined child and it’s exhausting trying to keep up, but I love it.”

The star opened up in the jungle last year about the impact of body shaming. She said people would criticise her weight gain and call her “fat”, saying the comments came when she was being healthy for the first time and they hurt.

Oti says she’s long had a turbulent and “toxic” relationship with her body as a dancer. “Growing up, I always thought that the people who did the best (in dancing) were the thinnest, and you always felt like, ‘If I need to be successful, I need to look like that,’” she said. “And I think it’s not just Latin and ballroom dancers, it’s across the board. All dancers, we always feel like that.

“So we then have this very toxic relationship with our bodies, and even when you walk into the room, and if you’ve lost weight, they go, ‘Oh my gosh, she looks so good.’ And it’s like, ‘Wait, do I look good because I’m small, or do I just look good in general?’ Words hold power over a lot of us as women.”

Oti says she’s working on “rebuilding” her relationship with her body. She tells: “It will be every day, I guess, for the rest of my life, that I’ll just have to work on that relationship, and hopefully by talking about it, it’s going to create more of a conversation around the fact that we need to build our relationship with our bodies in a very healthy way.’’

She says having her daughter – and taking time away from dancing – has helped her find peace with her body “I’m now coming into the world as a human being who used to dance, not as a dancer,” she says. “I still dance, but I’m a person first, before the dancer.

“My body has had its ups and downs; the gaining of the weight, the losing of the weight, having the baby. It’s been such a rollercoaster, but I think it’s normal to experience that as a woman.

“Yes, there are some moments where I feel, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m not happy with what I look like,’ and then I have to say to myself in the mirror, ‘No, you are good. You are perfect. You have had a baby, you’ve had a human being come out of you. It’s okay to not look perfect, as long as you move, as long as you’re trying to be healthy.’”

Read the full interview in the June issue of Prima, on sale today, or visit Prima.

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South Korean lawmakers provide update on estimated casualties following briefing by country’s intelligence agency.

About 600 North Korean soldiers have been killed fighting in Russia’s war in Ukraine, South Korean lawmakers have said, citing intelligence officials.

Speaking after a closed-door briefing by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) on Wednesday, Lee Seong-kweun and Kim Byung-kee told reporters that an estimated 4,700 North Koreans had been killed or injured so far in the war.

Lee and Kim, who co-chair the legislature’s intelligence committee, made their comments two days after Pyongyang confirmed for the first time that it had sent troops to Russia to support Moscow’s war.

In a report by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Monday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was quoted as saying he had ordered the deployment of troops to “annihilate and wipe out the Ukrainian neo-Nazi occupiers and liberate the Kursk area in cooperation with the Russian armed forces”.

The latest casualty figures mark a significant jump from the NIS’s briefing to lawmakers in January, when the spy agency reportedly said that about 300 North Korean troops had been killed in the conflict.

In their briefing to reporters, Lee and Kim, members of the conservative People Power Party and liberal Democratic Party, respectively, said that the NIS estimates that Pyongyang has deployed about 15,000 soldiers in total.

The lawmakers also said that Pyongyang appears to have received technical assistance on spy satellites in return for its assistance, as well as drones, electronic warfare equipment and SA-22 surface-to-air missiles.

“After six months of participation in the war, the North Korean military has become less inept, and its combat capability has significantly improved as it becomes accustomed to using new weapons such as drones,” Lee told reporters.

WASHINGTON — President Trump signed executive orders Tuesday to relax some of his 25% tariffs on autos and auto parts, the White House said, a significant reversal as the import taxes threatened to hurt domestic manufacturers.

Automakers and independent analyses have indicated that the tariffs could raise prices, reduce sales and make U.S. production less competitive worldwide. Trump portrayed the changes as a bridge toward automakers moving more production into the United States.

“We just wanted to help them during this little transition, short term,” Trump told reporters. “We didn’t want to penalize them. ”

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who spoke earlier at a White House briefing Tuesday, said the goal was to enable automakers to create more domestic manufacturing jobs.

“President Trump has had meetings with both domestic and foreign auto producers, and he’s committed to bringing back auto production to the U.S.,” Bessent said. “So we want to give the automakers a path to do that, quickly, efficiently and create as many jobs as possible.”

Trump signed one order Tuesday that amended his previous 25% auto tariffs, making it easier for vehicles that are assembled in the U.S. with foreign parts to not face prohibitively high import taxes.

The amended order provides a rebate for one year of 3.75% relative to the sales prices of a domestically assembled vehicle. That figure was reached by putting the 25% import tax on parts that make up 15% of a vehicle’s sales price. For the second year, the rebate would equal 2.5% of a vehicle’s sales price, as it would apply to a smaller share of the vehicle’s parts.

A senior Commerce Department official, who insisted on anonymity to preview the order on a call with reporters, said automakers told Trump that the additional time would enable them to ramp up the construction of new factories, after automakers warned that it would take time for them to shift their supply chains. The official said automakers would, over the next month, announce additional shifts for workers, new hires and plans for new facilities.

Stellantis Chairman John Elkann said in a statement that the company appreciates the president’s tariff relief measures.

“While we further assess the impact of the tariff policies on our North American operations, we look forward to our continued collaboration with the U.S. Administration to strengthen a competitive American auto industry and stimulate exports,” he said.

General Motors Chief Executive Mary Barra said the automaker is grateful for Trump’s support of the industry, adding that the company looks forward to conversations with the president and working with the administration.

“We believe the President’s leadership is helping level the playing field for companies like GM and allowing us to invest even more in the U.S. economy,” Barra said in a statement.

Jim Farley, president and CEO of Ford Motor Co., stressed that his company does more than its peers to manufacture domestically.

“We will continue to work closely with the administration in support of the president’s vision for a healthy and growing auto industry in America,” Farley said. “As the right policies are put in place, it will be important for the major vehicle importers to match Ford’s commitment to building in America. If every company that sells vehicles in the U.S. matched Ford’s American manufacturing ratio, 4 million more vehicles would be assembled in America each year.”

But changing direction doesn’t help an industry that thrives on stability, said Sam Fiorani, analyst at business forecasting firm AutoForecast Solutions.

“Finding a way to get the auto industry back working has to be paramount in this,” Fiorani said. “The tariffs have not looked at this industry, the way it works, and expect it to be able to jump and relocate production at the blink of an eye. It just doesn’t work that way.

“Making a production change for vehicle manufacturing takes [at] minimum, months, and usually years, along with hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars,” he added. “And so it is not something that they take lightly.”

The Wall Street Journal first reported details of the actions. The White House’s Rapid Response account on X said Trump signed an order Tuesday afternoon to prevent his various tariffs from being stacked on top of his existing taxes on imported autos and auto parts.

The tariffs imposed by Trump were seen by some as an existential threat to the auto sector. Arthur Laffer, whom Trump gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to during his first term, said in a private analysis that the tariffs without any modifications could add $4,711 to the cost of a vehicle.

New vehicles were sold at $47,462 on average last month, according to auto-buying resource Kelley Blue Book. Tariffs stress the automotive supply chain, a complex web that spans the globe. Not only do many auto parts cross North American borders several times before being assembled into a finished vehicle, but also auto manufacturers rely on suppliers around the world for thousands of components.

Increased levies would certainly cost new-car buyers — sensitive to inflation — more, driving them to the used vehicle market and quickly straining the availability of preowned cars. Tariffs also affect the cost of owning and maintaining a vehicle.

The modifications come as Trump marks 100 days back in the White House by going to Michigan, a state defined by auto manufacturing. Trump won the state in last year’s election by promising to increase factory jobs.

Still, it remains unclear what effect Trump’s broader tariffs will have on the U.S. economy and auto sales. Most economists say the tariffs — which could ultimately hit most imports — would raise prices and slow economic growth, possibly hurting auto sales despite the relief that the administration intends to offer on its previous policies.

Boak and St. John write for the Associated Press. St. John contributed to this report from Detroit.

This week’s top 20 high school softball rankings of Southland teams from CalHiSports.com.

Rk, School, Record

1. Norco, 23-2

2. Rosary, 23-2-1

3. Orange Lutheran, 20-3

4. Etiwanda, 19-2

5. La Mirada, 20-4

6. Ganesha, 19-4-1

7. Garden Grove Pacifica, 15-8

8. Camarillo, 18-3

9. Oaks Christian, 16-4

10. Mater Dei, 14-10-1

11. Ayala, 16-2

12. Fullerton, 18-7

13. Anaheim Canyon, 18-7

14. Santa Margarita, 17-7-1

15. El Modena, 16-7

16. El Segundo, 19-5

17. JSerra, 13-12

18. Saugus, 21-4

19. Huntington Beach, 16-7

20. Los Alamitos, 13-11