calling

Nov. 4 (UPI) — Federal prosecutors have charged a suburban Chicago man with a history of making threats online for allegedly calling for the execution of President Donald Trump.

Trent Schneider, 57, of Winthrop Harbor, Ill., was arrested Monday morning and was to make his initial court appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Gilbert in Chicago that afternoon, the Justice Department said in a statement.

The criminal complaint, filed Friday, states the alleged threats were made against the president in posts to the Instagram account truthreaper888, which prosecutors allege was run by Schneider.

According to the court document, Schneider allegedly made threats in an expletive-laden video posted, stating that he was going to “get some guns” and “take care of business myself.”

“I’m tired of all you [expletive] frauds. People need to [expletive] die and people are going to die. [Expletive] all of you, especially you Trump. You should be executed.”

The video was posted to the account 18 times between Oct. 16 and Oct. 21.

Prosecutors also allege that between Sept. 26 and Oct. 21, an illustration of Trump behind a prohibition sign was published to the account 20 times. The picture was accompanied by the caption: “THIS IS NOT A THREAT!!! AFTER LOSING EVERYTHING and My House Auction is 11.04.2025”

“Donald Trump SHOULD BE EXECUTED!!! She cares NOTHING ABOUT YOU or ME!!!”

A concerned citizen in Florida had tipped off authorities to the post after seeing it online, according to the complaint.

The court document states that Schneider is in a pending foreclosure action, with a foreclosure auction scheduled for Monday.

This is not the first time that Schneider has been investigated over online comments.

In 2022, he allegedly posted multiple violent messages about public officials on various social media accounts, and was arrested that December after allegedly making threats to “shoot up” a T-Mobile store.

In March 2023, he was found unfit to stand trial on the related charges.

Trump is a survivor of an assassination attempt on July 13, 2024, when a bullet fired from a would-be assassin grazed his ear while he was campaigning in Pennsylvania as the Republican nominee for president.

Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick has defended remarks he made in March about the Handsworth area of Birmingham, calling it “one of the worst-integrated places” he had ever been to.

In a recording reportedly made during a dinner and published by the Guardian, Jenrick said he had not seen “another white face” in the hour and a half he spent in Handsworth filming a video about litter.

Jenrick stood by his comments on Tuesday, saying he had no regrets about the language he used.

Labour Party chair Anna Turley criticised Jenrick, saying his comments reduced “people to the colour of their skin”.

Handsworth’s Independent MP Ayoub Khan said the remarks were “not only wildly false but also incredibly irresponsible”.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said she did not know the context of the recording but that Jenrick may have been “making an observation” about his visit to the area.

“I wasn’t there so I can’t say how many faces he saw, but the point is that there are many people in our country who are not integrating,” she told BBC Breakfast on Tuesday, adding she was “very worried about what is happening in Birmingham”.

The authenticity of the recording at the Aldridge-Brownhills Conservative Association is not disputed by Jenrick’s team.

In the recording, he goes on to say: “That’s not the kind of country I want to live in. I want to live in a country where people are properly integrated.

“It’s not about the colour of your skin, or your faith, of course it isn’t. But I want people to be living alongside each other, not parallel lives.”

Asked on BBC Radio 5Live on Tuesday whether he regretted the comments made in the recording, Jenrick said: “No not at all and I won’t shy away from these issues.”

“It’s incredibly important we have a fully integrated society”, he said.

“It’s a very dangerous place if we have a country where people are living in ghettoised communities, where people are not living together side-by-side in harmonious communities. We’ve seen the damage that can do in our society,” he said.

“We’ve had major failures of integration in this country for my whole lifetime. We’ve got to fix it, and that’s the comment I was making in Birmingham the other day.”

Responding to the recording, Labour’s Turley said: “This weekend Kemi Badenoch said she stood against a politics that ‘reduces people to categories and then pits them against each other’.

“Robert Jenrick in his leaked comments reduces people to the colour of their skin and judges his own level of comfort by whether there are other white faces around. His comments clearly cross a red line that his leader has rightly laid down.

“People of colour should not have to justify their Englishness, or their Britishness, or their presence in this country, to Robert Jenrick or anyone else.

“Robert Jenrick needs to urgently explain himself and why these comments are in any way compatible with what his party leader said.”

Asked if the number of white people seen in an area is the right measure for integration on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Badenoch said: “The right measure for integration is that people don’t care what people look like.”

She added: “We are a multiracial country. That means we have to work harder to bring people together.”

She said Jenrick was “making a point which I don’t have the context of”.

“I think we should look at these things in the spirit of what was intended, which I believe knowing Rob and hearing him speak, is that he wants, as I do, a country that is well-integrated”.

Jenrick is due to address the Conservative Party’s annual conference on Tuesday, when he will set out plans to put ministers in charge of sentencing policy.

Khan told the Guardian that Jenrick had “misrepresented a storied and diverse community, awkwardly distorting the product of an all-out bin strike to fit his culture-warrior narrative filled with far-right cliches”.

Former Conservative Mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street told BBC Newsnight: “Putting it bluntly, Robert is wrong.”

“Handsworth, it’s come a hell of a long way in the 40 years since the last civil disturbances there and it’s actually a very integrated place,” he continued.

Street also rejected Jenrick’s recorded comment that Handsworth was “the closest I’ve come to a slum in this country”.

The former mayor noted the “incredible hope, optimism and people taking part in education which is based around British values and thinking how they can make a contribution to the future of their region their city and their area.”

“That is not a definition of a slum,” the former Conservative mayor said.

Is there a better inkblot test for America right now than reaction to Bad Bunny being the halftime act for Super Bowl LX?

Soon after his name was announced, social media exploded into meritocracy debates as if the National Football League’s decisions are culturally motivated and not commercially. Taylor Swift is the most streamed artist in Spotify history. Bad Bunny is No. 2. For a domestic sports league trying to grow its popularity globally, the rationale seems clear.

And yet because he is a Puerto Rican who sings in Spanish, conservative talking heads must project outrage and offer listeners nonsensical objections.

“It’s so shameful they’ve decided to pick somebody who seems to hate America so much to represent them at the halftime show,” Corey Lewandowski, a longtime confidant of President Trump who currently advises the Department of Homeland Security, told conservative podcast host Benny Johnson. “We should be trying to be inclusive, not exclusive. There are plenty of great bands and entertainment people who could be playing at that show that would be bringing people together and not separating them.”

Suggesting Bad Bunny hates America is an interesting take given Puerto Ricans have been U.S. citizens since 1917. The three-time Grammy winner also has four No. 1 albums on the very American Billboard pop charts and has already performed during halftime at the Super Bowl back in 2020 with Jennifer Lopez and Shakira. The Federal Communications Commission received more than 1,300 complaints about the show that year with the vast majority being from parents complaining about the stripper pole and twerking of the women, not Bad Bunny’s alleged hate of America.

I don’t know if Lewandowski and Johnson knew any of that before they started talking, but I get the feeling it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. Once Lewandowski suggested ICE was going to be at the Super Bowl — an event that had an average resale ticket price of $8,600 in 2024 — it was clear their conversation wasn’t about solving the immigration problem.

It was clear they didn’t know much about the history of halftime acts either.

In 2006, a Super Bowl held in the heart of Detroit — the birthplace of Motown — rolled out the Rolling Stones, who are from London. In 2010, a Super Bowl in Miami — home of salsa and Afro-Cuban jazz — gave us the Who … who are also from England. In 2002, months after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, U2 — a band from Dublin, Ireland — did the show. There is a decades-long precedent for non-Americans to headline the Super Bowl. Though, again, quick geography lesson: Puerto Rico is part of the United States and Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens.

Detractors like Lewandowski and Johnson want to make English being Bad Bunny’s second language an indictment of his patriotism, as if growing up speaking English is a criterion for citizenship. It isn’t and never has been. Perhaps instead of using their platform to stir fear at a time when calm is needed, the two could see next February’s show as an opportunity to grow. Because honestly, it is so counterproductive to allow influential voices to gaslight the country into forgetting the milestones it’s already crossed. “La Bamba” by Los Lobos was sung in Spanish and hit No. 1 nearly 40 years ago. The only English in the K-pop hit “Gangnam Style” is “hey, sexy lady,” and that song made PSY an international sensation.

Instead of making people fear Spanish at the Super Bowl, maybe encourage them to spend this NFL season learning something beyond “gracias.“ Because in this world, there are people who choose to speak in English and there are people who have no other choice. Only one of those scenarios feels like freedom to me.

That was the topic of discussion in the summer of 2008 after then-Sen. Barack Obama said this at a campaign stop in Georgia: “Understand this, instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English — they’ll learn English — you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish. You should be thinking about how can your child become bilingual.”

At the time many conservatives — such as Tucker Carlson and Lou Dobbs — used those comments not as a prompt to debate the merits of Obama’s remarks regarding U.S. education but as a weapon to attack him. They accused him of being divisive — when years ago Nelson Mandela said when you talk to someone “in his own language, that goes to his heart.” In fact, Dobbs said “instead of diversity, he’s talking about factionalism.” Nonsense that sounds a lot like the echoes we hear from Lewandowski and Johnson today.

It’s not just a question of if our children should be bilingual; it’s also about being curious about the world we live in. This NFL season has already featured games in Ireland and Brazil. Mexico City is an annual event. The league is in it for the bag. And eventually there will be a team based overseas where Spanish is heard, visiting teams carry passports and Bad Bunny is no stranger.

YouTube: @LZGrandersonShow

For the past five years, I’ve been interviewing Hollywood professionals about what they wish they’d known when they were starting out. The entertainment business can feel opaque and overwhelming, and many who navigated it the hard way said they want to help level the playing field for those arriving with passion but without connections.

The best advice — which is collected in a book I co-wrote with my former Times colleague Jon Healey, “Breaking Into New Hollywood: A Career Guide to a Changing Industry” — was often about how they handled chaos. The key to longevity, many said, is how you manage the rejection, instability and heartbreak that are unavoidable in the industry.

And as Hollywood has weathered the COVID-19 pandemic, strikes, recessions and periods of contraction — some reports estimate Hollywood jobs were down 25% in 2024 from their 2022 peak — many of them have had to take their own advice. Decades-long industry veterans have pivoted to adjacent professions, including teaching and advertising. Some of them have left Hollywood altogether.

But others have landed their dream jobs. They’ve learned how to build something from nothing. They’ve gotten to show what they’re capable of, once someone finally gave them a chance.

The most sensible advice to give young people who dream of working in the entertainment industry, they said, is to run in the other direction — or at least have a backup plan. There are so many practical, safer choices that can result in a happy, fulfilling career.

But dreams have a way of resurfacing, no matter how deep you try to bury them. So here’s what I would tell my own kids if they felt Hollywood was their calling.

Learn how all the different parts of Hollywood come together and figure out which jobs best suit your skills.

Many people, when they imagine working in Hollywood, think of only the most high-profile jobs: actor, writer, director and producer. But Hollywood is made of hundreds, if not thousands, of careers, from pre-production, production and post-production, to representation (publicists, agents and managers), design and more.

Some questions you can ask yourself: Do I like being in front of the camera or do I prefer being behind it? Do I want to be on set or would I prefer a desk job? Do I want a leadership role or do I prefer going deep into the day-to-day details? This can help you determine which path you should pursue.

Consider whether this is something you’d do even if no one paid you to do it.

Many Hollywood professionals will tell you not to take unpaid gigs, as it devalues your work and the industry itself. But that’s different from the time and effort you’ll have to devote to becoming extremely reliable at your craft — as well as the work you’ll do to convince people to give you the job (filming auditions, developing pitch decks, building portfolios and creating demo reels).

People across the industry consistently told us it often takes five to seven years before you earn a living wage. You not only have to keep wanting to do it for that long, with no guarantees of success, but you have to see it as an investment in yourself as an artist.

Anchor yourself with two essentials: money and community.

People who come into the industry with wealth and connections will have an advantage. But if you don’t know anyone in the industry, be diligent about saving and investing the money that you’re making from your day job or side gigs.

Prioritize networking by joining or creating your own communities. Networking isn’t just about attending intimidating Hollywood events — it can also mean going to film festivals, taking classes, joining a gym, engaging with your favorite social media influencers, collaborating on passion projects, joining Facebook groups or finding other whisper networks.

Make friends inside of the industry who are going through the same struggles so you can lift each other up. But also make friends outside of the industry who will remind you that there is life outside of Hollywood.

Figure out how you’re going to distinguish yourself.

Hollywood is an extremely competitive industry. The harsh reality is that most people are replaceable. So why would a producer or showrunner hire you over someone else? What unique skills or viewpoints could you bring to a project? Figure this out; it will be your advantage and calling card.

And once you pinpoint what sets you apart, create your own work (whether it’s sketches, designs, animations, TikTok videos or web series) and put what you’re proud of online. You’ll need to get very comfortable with self-promotion. Make sure that you’re on people’s minds if a job opens up that you’d be perfect for.

Learn AI tools.

If I were talking to a current working professional about AI, we would discuss its ethical and legal implications and what unions can do to protect worker rights and fight for fair compensation.

But if I were talking to a young person starting their career, I’d say, embrace the technology and figure out how it can make you more — not less — creative.

Know that it’s good to take breaks from Hollywood — and OK to leave.

Hollywood veterans will tell you that they’ve seen the industry rise and fall, again and again. Each time there’s an upturn, it feels like it won’t last. And each time there’s a downturn, it feels like it might be the end.

If Hollywood is your calling, you owe it to yourself to try, but if your experience in the industry starts to resemble a destructive relationship, you owe it to yourself to take some space or call it quits.

But for as long as you’re out there hustling, have fun on the roller coaster and appreciate every moment you get paid to do what you love.

Sept. 22 (UPI) — Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez confirmed that President Nicolás Maduro sent a letter to U.S. President Donald Trump, saying he was willing to hold direct talks with Trump’s special envoy, Richard Grenell.

“The letter was delivered Sept. 6 to a South American intermediary to be passed on to its recipient. … In it is reflected Venezuela’s irrefutable truth: We are a territory free of illicit activities, peaceful and secure,” Rodríguez said on Telegram, where she also published the letter.

It added: “The military threat against Venezuela, the Caribbean and South America must cease, and the proclamation of a Zone of Peace must be respected.”

In the letter, Maduro said “many controversies have arisen around the relationship between the United States and Venezuela. In the midst of these controversies we have witnessed countless fake news stories circulating in the media.”

He recalled “the fake news claiming that Venezuela had refused to accept migrants returning to our country,” adding that the issue “was resolved and clarified quickly in a conversation with Grenell, Trump’s special envoy to Venezuela.”

Maduro said “This channel has functioned impeccably during the first months of your second administration. We have always sought direct communication to address and resolve any issue that arises between our two governments.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in the daily news briefing Monday that “We have seen the letter. Frankly, I think there were a lot of lies repeated by Maduro, and the administration’s position on Venezuela has not changed.

“We view the Maduro regime as illegitimate, and the president has clearly shown that he is willing to use any and all means necessary to stop the illegal trafficking of deadly drugs from the Venezuelan regime into the United States,” Leavitt said.

The letter was sent days after Trump announced on his social media platform, Truth Social, that he had ordered a “kinetic strike” on a vessel “linked to a cartel” departing Venezuela, saying there was “proof” the boat was carrying drugs. Eleven alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang were killed in the strike.

“In recent weeks, there have been absolutely false accusations of links with mafias and drug-trafficking groups involving Venezuela’s legitimate authorities,” Maduro added in his letter.

In his view, this is the worst “fake news” directed at his country, meant to justify an escalation into an armed conflict that would cause catastrophic damage to the continent. The president said Venezuela is a “territory free of drug production and a country irrelevant in the field of narcotics.”

He also cited United Nations data indicating that only about 5% of the drugs leaving Colombia “attempt” to transit through Venezuela, where they are “fought, intercepted and destroyed” once seized.

He added that “a very relevant fact is that this year we have already neutralized and destroyed more than 70% of that small percentage that tries to cross through the long border of more than 2,200 kilometers we share with Colombia. We have destroyed 402 aircraft linked to international drug trafficking in accordance with Venezuelan law.”

Maduro closed his letter by inviting Trump to “preserve peace through dialogue and understanding across the hemisphere. This and other issues will always remain open for a direct and frank conversation with your special envoy Richard Grenell, to overcome media noise and fake news.”

Between the delivery of the letter and its public release, relations with the United States saw a rapid military escalation: Trump announced successive “kinetic strikes” on boats departing from Venezuela.

At least 15 people have been killed in the airstrikes, with Trump said they were “terrorists” involved in drug trafficking. The fatal interdictions came from expanded U.S. naval deployment in the Caribbean under an “anti-drug” campaign that has included allies.

Venezuela has announced a “Sovereign Caribbean 200” campaign in response to U.S. military movements in the region.

AN EASYJET cabin manager has lost an appeal after being sacked for calling female co-workers “lovely ladies”.

Ross Barr was fired for gross misconduct after crew members and passengers logged multiple complaints about his inappropriate behaviour.

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He had worked for the airline for eight years, and defended his actions as “flirty banter”.

Mr Barr also claimed he was discriminated against or his sexual orientation, alleging it would have been accepted if “a gay colleague” have made the same remarks.

The former cabin manager appealed the decision to let him go at an employment tribunal, but lost.

Mr Barr began working at easyJet in 2014 and became a cabin manager in 2017.

He was hauled into a disciplinary hearing in 2022 and issued a final warning after a sexual harassment complaint.

More allegations of a similar nature were recorded against him in both 2023 and last year.

Customers also claimed he would refer to his team as “lovely ladies” over the PA system.

Passengers further reported he used the tannoy as an opportunity to perform his own comedy routines rather that conduct proper safety briefings.

Mr Barr had confessed to telling a stewardess “oh I have just brushed past your boobs” as he moved past her.

He was also overheard telling another cabin crew member on a separate flight: “I’m not doing anything.. I’m just staring at your ass.”

The comment was made in front of flyers, including young children, according to witnesses.

In another complaint, one woman said: “The entire shift pretty much he was talking about sex or making jokes about it.

“He explained that he had been suspended before due to a speak up speak out that someone previously put in against him because ‘all I said was that her tits would get bigger if she got pregnant, and guess what they did’.

“She also said that he had referred to her and another crew member as his ‘much more attractive colleague’.”

A different complaint was logged after he told a staff member “having a problem trying to stuff it in? Bet you’ve never had that problem”, while she was packing a bag.

Mr Barr argued he did not mean to make anyone uncomfortable and dubbed his comments “banter”.

He was sacked in September 2024 after the hearing but appealed the decision.

The former easyJet worker argued his case had been tainted by previous hearings.

But employment Judge Muriel Robison ruled: “As the cabin manager you are in a position of trust and I feel there has been a breakdown in trust in relation to these situations, you should conduct yourself in a manner that ensures your crew feel safe onboard the aircraft.

“This is not the first time you have been in this situation with regard to your conduct and comments made to female crew members.

“You raised that you were treated differently compared to others under similar circumstances due to your protected characteristics.

“My investigation did not uncover any evidence to substantiate this claim.

“It’s my belief the process followed was consistent and fair, and you were not treated any differently to your colleagues.

“On 19 March, 2024, you successfully completed training that included a thorough focus on diversity, inclusion and equality in the workplace.

“Despite this, your continued behaviour demonstrated a failure to uphold the values and principles outlined in this training.”

This comes after we reported how a mum was left furious after a British Airways flight attendant allegedly lifted her nursing blanket while she was breastfeeding her seven-month-old daughter.

Passenger Shayanne Wright made a sexual harassment complaint against the male host and said the incident left her feeling “violated.”

A British Airways spokesperson confirmed the allegations were being investigated and said the airline “have been in contact with our customer directly to resolve the matter”.

Wright said the airline did not apologise to her, however offered a $250 gift card, later increased to $1000.

Aug. 27 (UPI) — The NAACP is suing Texas over its new congressional maps, calling them racially gerrymandered in violation of the Voting Rights Act.

The nation’s largest civil rights organization filed the motion Tuesday seeking a preliminary injunction against the new maps in ongoing litigation in a 2021 case it filed against Texas over its previously drawn maps, which it said “intentionally diluted the votes of Black Texans and other Texans of color.”

“The State of Texas is only 40% White but White voters control over 73% of the state’s congressional seats,” Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP, said in a statement.

“It’s quite obvious that Texas’ effort to redistrict mid-decade, before next year’s midterm elections, is racially motivated. The state’s intent here is to reduce the members of Congress who represent Black communities, and that in, and of itself, is unconstitutional.”

The NAACP, along with civil rights groups and the Justice Department, under the previous Biden administration, sued Texas in December 2021, alleging Texas’ then newly drawn congressional maps to be in violation of the Voting Rights Act and the 14th Amendment.

Based on new census data, Texas had gained 4 million people, 95% of whom were people of color, gaining the state two new congressional House seats. The NAACP argues the new maps based on the new information were gerrymandered as the new seats, despite the demographic shift, were draw to favor Anglo-majority districts.

In March — amid litigation and after President Donald Trump won re-election and returned to the White House — the Justice Department dismissed its claims in the case, the trial for which ended on June 11.

Less than a month afterward, the Justice Department sent Texas a letter arguing that four Democrat-held congressional seats were racially gerrymandered, instructing Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, to redraw them.

Those redrawn maps are expected to give Republicans five additional seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, which were recently passed by both the Texas state House and Senate.

Democrats have been furious with this change, accusing the Trump administration of attempting a power grab to increase the Republicans’ odds of maintaining control of the congressional branch following next year’s midterm elections.

The NAACP, represented by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, argued in the Tuesday court document that Texas “overtly targeted districts where multiple minority groups together constituted a majority of the voters.”

“Dismantling Congressional districts because of their racial composition is intentional discrimination,” the civil rights group said in the motion.

The civil rights group is asking the court for a permanent injunction against the state from enforcing the alleged gerrymandered maps.

“We now see how far extremist leaders are willing to go to push African Americans back toward a time when we were denied full personhood and equal rights,” NAACP Texas President Gary Bledsoe said in a statement.

“We call on Texans of every background to recognize the dangers of this moment. Our democracy depends on ensuring that every person is counted fully, valued equally and represented fairly.”

THE BBC has full live coverage of this year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup, with England hosting the competition.

It’s been just over ten years since England won the Rugby World Cup and the Red Roses will be hoping they can repeat that feat this year on home soil.

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In 2014 England defeated Canada in the final to win the tournament in Paris.

Since then, they have finished as runner-up in both of the previous two World Cups- losing out to New Zealand in 2017 and again in 2021.

Despite these short comings, England will be confident they can go all the way this year with the Red Roses hosting the competition.

They go in high of confidence, being undefeated in 27 games and Grand Slam winners of the Women’s Guinness Six Nations four times out of four since their 2021 defeat.

When is the Women’s Rugby World Cup?

The World Cup begins with hosts England taking on the USA at the Stadium of Light, the home of Premier League side Sunderland A.F.C.

This game takes place on Friday, August 22, kick-starting the Group-Stages which proceed until Sunday, September 7.

The Quarter-Finals will be played across the weekend of 13-14 September at the Ashton Gate Stadium in Bristol.

The Semi-Finals will be played the following weekend at the same location on September 19 and September 20.

The Allianz Stadium in Twickenham will host the final and bronze final, which will both be played on Saturday, September 27.

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Who are the presenters for the Women’s Rugby World Cup?

Gabby Logan and Ugo Monye lead the BBC’s presenting team for the World Cup, bringing coverage from all the venues in England.

Welsh TV host Logan is one of the UK’s leading broadcasters, doing presenting work for the BBC on Match of the Day and Final Score.

She has also been a key member of the BBC’s presenting team at the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games, 2014 Brazil World Cup, 2018 Russia World Cup, and the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

Ugo Monye, 42, is a former English rugby union player, staring for club and country for 13 years between 2002 and 2015.

Since retiring, the former England international has made the transition into punditry.

Monye has helped cover the Six Nations tournament and he also presents the BBC’s weekly rugby podcast.

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Who are the commentators for the Women’s Rugby World Cup?

Sara Orchard, Andrew Cotter and Claire Thomas lead the commentary team for this year’s World Cup.

They will be joined pitch-side by reporters Sonja McLaughlan, Sarra Elgan and Elma Smit.

How can I watch the Women’s Rugby World Cup?

• All 32 matches will be aired on BBC iPlayer, the BBC Sport website and the BBC Sport app.
• Selected matches, mainly featuring the home nations, will also be broadcast on BBC One or BBC Two. 

MANCHESTER UNITED’S ‘Kid-Messi’ wonderkid JJ Gabriel is set to train with Ruben Amorim’s first team at times this season.

At 14 years old, Gabriel is too young to feature in the FA Youth Cup despite becoming the youngest ever player to feature for the Under-18s.

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The forward will not be 15 years old until October, but is already the talk of Old Trafford and beyond with his fast-tracked displays.

This season’s Youth Cup players have to be born before the cut-off date of 31 August 2010, with Kai Rooney eligible to feature.

Gabriel committed his future to United for at the least the next two years and has been tipped by insiders to become their youngest EVER Premier League player.

He is so highly rated that technical director Jason Wilcox and director of football Matt Hargreaves played active roles in keeping him at the club.

Gabriel, who isn’t even in his GCSE year at school, was handed his first U18 start in Saturday’s 1-0 win at Everton, outperforming players who were mostly older and bigger.

United invited Gabriel to watch Sunday’s 1-0 defeat to Arsenal in the directors’ box, following the teenager’s decision to stay amid interest from Europe‘s biggest clubs.

He was then pictured with Amorim at Carrington on Thursday, with his family also introduced to the United boss.

The Portuguese gaffer, 40, will start working with Gabriel as he will be drafted into the first team group at times throughout the season.

While it’s not unusual for academy players to train with the big boys, it is rare for the youngest players to get the nod.

Gabriel made his debut for the U18s at the beginning of April and scored twice from the bench in a 13-1 hammering of Leeds.

That match saw him become the youngest ever player to feature for the U18s, with club legend Darren Fletcher in charge of his development.

He made a further two appearances for the U18s before the end of the season and scored again, while also featuring for England‘s Under-15s.

Shooting to stardom under the name ‘Kid Messi’ on YouTube five years ago, the schoolboy signed a lucrative deal with Nike in February.

Gabriel, whose full name is Joseph Junior Andreou Gabriel, was born in London and is the son of former Republic of Ireland defender Joe O’Cearuill, who spent most of his career playing non-League after starting out at Watford and Arsenal.

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US President Donald Trump said last week that Intel’s CEO Lip-Bu Tan was ‘highly conflicted’ because of his ties to Chinese firms.

Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan is due to visit the White House after United States President Donald Trump last week called for his removal.

The executive of the tech giant was set to meet the president on Monday, a source familiar with the matter told the Reuters news agency.

Neither Intel nor the White House immediately responded to requests for comment.

Tan is expected to have an extensive conversation with Trump while looking to explain his personal and professional background, according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), which broke the news on Sunday, adding that he could propose ways Intel and the US  government could work together, the paper said.

Tan hopes to win Trump’s approval by showing his commitment to the US and guaranteeing the importance of keeping Intel’s manufacturing capabilities as a national security issue, the WSJ added.

Last week, Trump demanded the immediate resignation of Tan, calling him “highly conflicted” due to his ties to Chinese firms, comments that raised doubts about Tan’s plans to turn around the struggling US chip icon.

It was a rare instance of a US president publicly calling for a CEO’s ouster, and sparked debate among investors.

Tan said he shared the president’s commitment to advancing US national and economic security.

Reuters reported exclusively in April that Tan invested at least $200m in hundreds of Chinese advanced manufacturing and chip firms, some of which were linked to the Chinese military.

Tan, a Malaysian-born Chinese American business executive, was also the CEO of Cadence Design from 2008 through December 2021, during which time the chip design software maker sold products to a Chinese military university believed to be involved in simulating nuclear explosions.

Last month, Cadence agreed to plead guilty and pay more than $140m to resolve the US charges over the sales.

Intel’s stock surged ahead of the meeting. The company, which trades under the ticker INTC, is up more than 7.5 percent for the day as of noon in New York (16:00 GMT).

Hours after the Trump administration demanded that the University of California pay a $1-billion fine to settle federal accusations of antisemitism in exchange for restoring frozen grant funding to UCLA, Gov. Gavin Newsom called the proposal “extortion” and said the state will go to court to protect the nation’s premier university system.

“We’ll sue,” Newsom during a news conference with Texas legislators over California’s effort to counter a contentious Republican redistricting plan in that state.

President Trump is “trying to silence academic freedom” by “attacking one of the most important public institutions in the United States of America,” Newsom said, adding that he would “stand tall and push back against that, and I believe every member of California Legislature feels the same way.”

The federal government on Friday said UC should pay the billion-dollar fine in installments and contribute $172 million to a fund for Jewish students and other individuals affected by alleged violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The statute covers illegal discrimination related to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, including Jewish and Israeli identity.

In addition, the Trump administration demanded sweeping campus changes encompassing protests, admissions, gender identity in sports and housing, the abolition of scholarships for racial or ethnic groups, and submission to an outside monitor over the agreement.

“He has threatened us through extortion with a billion-dollar fine, unless we do his bidding,” Newsom said.

“We will not be complicit in this kind of attack on academic freedom on this extraordinary public institution. We are not like some of those other institutions,” he said.

The governor appeared to be referring to controversial and costly deals the Trump administration secured from Columbia and Brown universities over charges similar to those facing UCLA, deals Newsom criticized a day earlier in public remarks.

In a statement Friday, UC President James B. Milliken, who oversees the 10-campus system that includes UCLA, also seemed to rebuff the demand.

“As a public university, we are stewards of taxpayer resources and a payment of this scale would completely devastate our country’s greatest public university system as well as inflict great harm on our students and all Californians,” Milliken said. “Americans across this great nation rely on the vital work of UCLA and the UC system for technologies and medical therapies that save lives, grow the U.S. economy, and protect our national security.”

Milliken, who said UC was “reviewing” the terms, did not share details of the federal proposal, which sources said was first sent to media outlets before landing in UC inboxes Friday morning.

Four UC senior officials, speaking on background because they were not authorized to publicly comment on negotiations, confirmed the proposal’s details to The Times. A White House official who spoke on background also confirmed the financial figures.

A spokesperson for UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk referred The Times to Milliken’s statement. Federal negotiations are being handled on a UC-wide level.

UC is grappling with how to restore $584 million in frozen medical and science grant funds to UCLA. If the deal was accepted, it would be the largest settlement between a university and the Trump administration, far surpassing a $221-million agreement that Columbia University announced last month. Harvard is also reportedly considering a settlement involving a hefty fine.

“We would never agree to this,” said one of the UC officials who is involved in the deliberations with the Trump administration. “It is more money than was frozen at UCLA. So how does that make sense?”

But another senior UC official said the figure was understandable if it resolved all federal investigations across the system, even if UC may not ultimately agree to it. The federal proposal focuses on UCLA only, not all campuses.

Any payment would be a political liability for the university and state leaders in deep-blue California, where Trump’s policies are highly unpopular. A billion dollars would be a financial burden for a university system that is already facing a hiring freeze, budget squeezes, deferred state funding and scattered layoffs.

UC and individual campuses are under multiple federal investigations into alleged use of race in admissions, employment discrimination against Jews, civil rights complaints from Jewish students and improper reporting of foreign donations.

UCLA has faced the most charges from the government of any UC or public university, many of them tied to a 2024 pro-Palestinian encampment.

The encampment, which unsuccessfully demanded the university divest from weapons companies tied to Israel’s war in Gaza, was targeted in a violent overnight attack last spring and was later the subject of federal lawsuit by pro-Israel Jewish students. The students, along with a professor, accused UCLA of enabling antisemitism by not shutting down the encampment, which plaintiffs said blocked pro-Israel Jews from campus pathways. UCLA settled the suit for $6.45 million, including more than $2 million in donations to Jewish nonprofits.

The Trump administration’s Friday offer follows a similar playbook to agreements it reached with Columbia and Brown universities to restore federal funding and resolve allegations of civil rights violations against Jewish and Israeli students.

Trump wants to remake universities, which he has called “Marxist” hotbeds of liberalism and anti-Israel sentiment. During his second term, federal agencies have suspended or canceled billions in federal medical and science grants related to gender, LGBTQ+ issues or in response to campuses it accuses of being antisemitic. The White House has also attacked campus diversity programs and admissions practices as being illegal discrimination against white and Asian Americans.

University leaders have challenged the notion that cutting medical research helps protect Jewish people. “This far-reaching penalty of defunding life-saving research does nothing to address any alleged discrimination,” Frenk, the UCLA chancellor, said in a campus letter this week.

At UCLA, Trump’s demands include an end to scholarships that focus on race or ethnicity, the sharing of admissions data with the government and changes to campus protest rules. The Trump administration is also proposing that UCLA Health and the medical school cease gender-affirming care for transgender people.

UC has already overhauled practices in some areas called for by the Trump administration — including a ban on protest encampments and the abolition of diversity statements in hiring.

The Trump administration is also saying it wants an outside monitor to oversee the agreement.

The proposal came one day after Newsom said UC should not bend “on their knees” to Trump. Newsom, a Democrat, has fashioned himself as a national anti-Trump figure and is considering a presidential run in 2028.

The university system, run by Milliken — who assumed his role only last week — and the Board of Regents, is independent under the state Constitution. But the governor can exercise political sway over the regents, whose members he appoints. Newsom also holds an ex-officio seat on the board.

“It’s about so much more than the temperament of an aggrieved individual who happens to currently be president of the United States,” Newsom said Thursday.

Kaleem reported from Los Angeles and Wilner from Washington. Times staff Writer Taryn Luna in Sacramento and Seema Mehta in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

THE family of a boy of two murdered by his grandparents are calling for a change in the law.

Ethan Ives-Griffiths was found injured at the home of his mum’s parents but social workers were turned away.

Now relatives on the paternal side have set up a petition for “Ethan’s Law” — giving child services extra powers to bring in police if denied entry.

Mold crown court was told Michael Ives, 47, and Kerry Ives, 46, subjected Ethan to “casual brutality” in Flintshire, North Wales.

They were convicted after a jury heard he was hit or shaken.

Ethan’s mother Shannon Ives, 28, had been living with them and was convicted of causing or allowing his death.

They will be sentenced in October.

Ethan’s paternal family set up a petition calling for an update in child protection services.

The petition also calls for checks to be carried out every five to seven days as opposed to the current 10-days.

It states: “Let us come together to push for these crucial reforms in child protection services.

“By signing this petition, you join us in advocating for the safety and security of all children like Ethan, ensuring that no child suffers in silence.

So far, the petition for ‘Ethan’s Law’ has over 400 signatures.

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As fighting continues between factions in southern Syria and the country’s army faces threats from Israel if it intervenes, Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr says Israel’s posture poses a major challenge to the Syrian government.

BBC Sport pundits Anne Keothavong and Tracy Austin praise Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova’s ability to bounce back from being denied a game winning point due to “an operating error” deactivating the automatic line calling system in her fourth round win over Sonay Kartal at Wimbledon 2025.

Watch live coverage from every court on BBC iPlayer.

Available to UK users only.

Had the ball been correctly called out, Pavlyuchenkova, who had the advantage, would have won the point and taken the lead.

Instead, it was replayed, Kartal won the point and went on to break for a 5-4 lead.

A frustrated Pavlyuchenkova was heard telling the umpire at the changeover: “They stole the game from me. They stole it.”

A spokesperson for the All England Club said: “Due to operator error the system was deactivated on the point in question.

“The chair umpire followed the established process.”

The automated line-calling system, which was introduced at Wimbledon for the first time this year, has been under scrutiny this week, with several players questioning its accuracy and sound level.

Debbie Jevans, chair of the All England Club, said on Friday she was confident in the accuracy of the electronic line calling and in the decision to bring it in.

Billionaire Elon Musk said on Monday that he would form a new political party in the United States if a Republican-leaning Congress passes President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill”, which proposes tax breaks and funding cuts for healthcare and food programmes.

Musk has voiced criticism of the bill on multiple occasions over the past month and began suggesting the idea of the new party on social media starting early June.

Here is more about Musk’s reservations about the bill, and about his new proposed party.

What has Musk said about the America Party?

Musk has been saying that if the bill is passed, Republicans are no different from Democrats, who are often accused by conservatives of being profligate with spending taxpayers’ dollars.

The version of the bill that the Senate is discussing at the moment, if passed by both chambers of Congress, would expand the national debt by $3.3 trillion between 2025 and 2034. The current US national debt stands at more than $36 trillion.

“If this insane spending bill passes, the America Party will be formed the next day,” Musk posted on his social media platform, X, on Monday.

“Our country needs an alternative to the Democrat-Republican uniparty so that the people actually have a VOICE.”

In an earlier post, Musk wrote: “It is obvious with the insane spending of this bill, which increases the debt ceiling by a record FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS that we live in a one-party country – the PORKY PIG PARTY!!”

The debt ceiling, set by the US Congress, determines the upper limit to the amount of money that the US Treasury can borrow. The current debt limit is $36.1 trillion.

Why does Musk oppose the bill?

Once a key aide and major campaign donor for Trump, Musk had a public online falling out with the president in June over his criticism of the bill.

On June 3, Musk wrote on X: “I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination.”

Musk alleged that Trump was linked to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein in a now-deleted post on X. However, Trump and Musk seemed to have reached a detente when Trump told reporters that he wished Musk well while the latter wrote on X on June 11 that he had gone “too far” in his criticism of the US president.

However, since then, Musk has argued in a series of online posts that the bill would increase the debt ceiling, “bankrupt America”, and “destroy millions of jobs in America”.

Musk owns the electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer Tesla. The current version of the bill, with amendments made by the Senate, seeks to end the tax credit for purchases of EVs worth up to $7,500, starting on September 30. This could reduce the consumer demand for EVs in the US.

What is the America Party that Musk proposed?

On June 5, Musk posted a poll on his X account, asking his followers: “Is it time to create a new political party in America that actually represents the 80 percent in the middle?”

While social media polls are known to be nonrepresentative of broader public sentiment, 5.6 million people voted on the poll, and 80.4 percent responded with “yes”. Since then, Musk has repeatedly reposted the poll result, citing it as evidence that most Americans want a new party to be formed.

“Musk believes that 80 percent of Americans are unhappy with the two major parties and are not being represented,” Natasha Lindstaedt, a professor at the Department of Government, the University of Essex, told Al Jazeera.

While that number might not reflect the wider American public, it does point to a trend in the electorate; according to a Gallup poll from 2024, 43 percent of Americans identified as independent, 28 percent identified as Republican and 28 percent identified as Democrat. In other words, more Americans identify as independent than as either Democrat or Republican.

One of Musk’s followers replied to a post on X with an image with the text “America Party”. The world’s richest man responded: “‘America Party’ has a nice ring to it. The party that actually represents America!”

How real is Musk’s threat?

Experts say Musk, whose net worth is $363bn as of Monday according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, would realistically be able to fund a third party in the US. However, it is still unclear whether he would go ahead with his plan or whether his party would have a significant effect on US elections.

“Musk certainly has the financial power to back a third party that could be very disruptive to the Republican Party, but it’s not certain if Musk will take on this risk,” Lindstaedt said.

Lindstaedt recalled how earlier this month, Musk backed down from his criticism of Trump on X. “If we take him at his word, he could spend hundreds of millions on this project,” she added.

“Musk has been ramping up his criticism of the bill lately, and he may find specific legislators [particularly from the House] would be willing to defect if their constituencies are more negatively affected by Trump’s policies,” Lindstaedt said, referring to the House of Representatives. “He will also have the attention of fiscal hawks in particular.”

Lindstaedt added that among American voters, there is a “huge appetite” for a third party.

“The bill will leave the US spending hundreds of billions just in the interest, and the more Americans understand this, the more they may want to flock to something different. US public frustration with the traditional parties is at an all-time high, and Musk may be able to capitalise on this.”

However, Thomas Gift, an associate professor of political science in the UCL School of Public Policy in London, said it was unclear whether Musk is serious and suggested that the barriers to breaking the Republican-Democrat duopoly are hard to scale for anyone.

“This is Elon Musk bluffing,” he told Al Jazeera. “He knows as well as anyone that the power of party machines behind Democrats and Republicans is too much to surmount.”

Gift added that while forming a party is possible, “winning seats in Congress or the White House is another matter entirely”.

“At best, a third party will have little impact on US elections; at worst, it will play ‘spoiler’, taking votes from one of the two parties and de facto giving it to another.”

What has Trump said about Musk?

On Monday, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, saying: “Elon Musk knew, long before he so strongly Endorsed me for President, that I was strongly against the EV Mandate. Electric cars are fine, but not everyone should be forced to own one.”

Trump added: “Without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa. No more Rocket launches, Satellites, or Electric Car Production, and our Country would save a FORTUNE.”

“Perhaps we should have DOGE take a good, hard, look at this? BIG MONEY TO BE SAVED!!!” Trump wrote, referring to the Department of Government Efficiency, an advisory body aimed at boosting government efficiency and upgrading Information Technology, that Musk formed and led at the start of Trump’s second administration, before leaving on May 30.

Several close U.S. allies urged a return to the negotiating table in the wake of American strikes on Iran that fueled fears of a wider conflict, while noting the threat posed by Tehran’s nuclear program. Some countries and groups in the region, including those that support Iran, condemned the move while also urging de-escalation.

President Trump had said Thursday that he would decide within two weeks whether to get involved in Israel’s war with Tehran. In the end, it took just days. Washington hit three Iranian nuclear sites early Sunday in Iran.

While the amount of damage remained unclear, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the U.S. had “crossed a very big red line,” the time for diplomacy was over and Iran had the right to defend itself.

Some have questioned whether a weakened Iran would capitulate or remain defiant and begin striking with allies at U.S. targets scattered across the Persian Gulf region.

Here is a look at reactions from governments and officials around the world.

United Nations

U.N. Secretary General António Guterres said he was “gravely alarmed” by the use of force by the United States.

“There is a growing risk that this conflict could rapidly get out of control — with catastrophic consequences for civilians, the region, and the world,” he said in a statement on the social media platform X. “I call on Member States to de-escalate.

“There is no military solution. The only path forward is diplomacy.”

United Kingdom

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned of escalation beyond the Middle East as he called for all sides to negotiate a diplomatic end to the crisis, saying stability was the priority in the volatile region.

The U.K., along with the European Union, France and Germany, tried unsuccessfully to broker a diplomatic solution in Geneva last week with Iran.

Starmer said Iran’s nuclear program posed a grave threat to global security.

“Iran can never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon and the U.S. has taken action to alleviate that threat,” Starmer said.

Russia

Dmitry Medvedev, who serves as deputy head of President Vladimir Putin’s Security Council, said several countries were prepared to supply Tehran with nuclear weapons.

He didn’t specify which countries, but said the U.S. attack caused minimal damage and would not stop Tehran from pursuing nuclear weapons.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said it “strongly condemned” the airstrikes and called them a “a gross violation of international law, the U.N. Charter, and U.N. Security Council resolutions.”

Iraq

The Iraqi government condemned the U.S. strikes, saying the military escalation created a grave threat to peace and security in the Middle East. It said it poses serious risks to regional stability, and it called for diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the crisis.

“The continuation of such attacks risks dangerous escalation with consequences that extend beyond the borders of any single state, threatening the security of the entire region and the world,” government spokesman Bassem al-Awadi said in the statement.

Egypt

President Abdel Fattah Sisi warned of “grave repercussions” for expanding the Middle East conflict and urged a return to negotiations.

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia, which previously condemned Israel’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities and military leaders, expressed “deep concern” about the U.S. airstrikes, but stopped short of condemning them.

“The Kingdom underscores the need to exert all possible efforts to exercise restraint, de-escalate tensions, and avoid further escalation,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Qatar

Qatar, which is home to the largest U.S. military base in the Middle East, said it “regrets” escalating tensions in the Israel-Iran war.

Its Foreign Ministry in a statement urged all parties to show restraint and “avoid escalation, which the peoples of the region, burdened by conflicts and their tragic humanitarian repercussions, cannot tolerate.”

Qatar has served as a key mediator in the Israel-Hamas war.

Hamas and the Houthis

The Houthi rebels in Yemen and Hamas in the Gaza Strip condemned the U.S. strikes.

The Houthi political bureau in a statement called on Muslim nations to join “the Jihad and resistance option as one front against the Zionist-American arrogance.”

Hamas and the Houthis are part of the “Axis of Resistance,” a collection of pro-Iranian proxies backed by the Tehran government stretching from Yemen to Lebanon that for years gave the Islamic Republic considerable power across the region.

Lebanon

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said the U.S. bombing could lead to a regional conflict that no country could bear and called for negotiations.

“Lebanon, its leadership, parties, and people, are aware today, more than ever before, that it has paid a heavy price for the wars that erupted on its land and in the region,” Aoun said in a statement on X. “It is unwilling to pay more.”

Pakistan

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who spoke by phone with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, condemned the U.S. strikes as a “serious violation of international law,” his office said.

The condemnation comes less than 24 hours after Sharif’s government said on X it was recommending Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in defusing the recent India-Pakistan crisis.

China

China condemned the U.S. strikes on Iran, calling them a serious violation of international law that further inflamed tensions in the Middle East.

In a statement, the Chinese Foreign Ministry urged all parties — especially Israel — to implement a cease-fire and begin dialogue.

“China is willing to work with the international community to pool efforts together and uphold justice, and contribute to the work for restoring peace and stability in the Middle East,” the ministry said.

European Union

The European Union’s top diplomat said Iran must not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon, but she urged those involved in the conflict to show restraint.

“I urge all sides to step back, return to the negotiating table and prevent further escalation,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in a post on social media.

Italy

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said she discussed the worsening crisis with several other members of the Group of 7 leading industrial nations, as well as the Saudi, Emirati and Qatari leaders, and all agreed to work toward negotiations to prevent a widening conflict.

European Council

President Antonio Costa said he was “deeply alarmed” by the bombings and called on all parties to “show restraint and respect for international law and nuclear safety.”

“Too many civilians will once again be the victims of a further escalation,” Costa added. “The EU will continue engaging with the parties and our partners to find a peaceful solution at the negotiating table.”

Netherlands

Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp, whose country is hosting a summit of NATO leaders including Trump on Tuesday and Wednesday, said the government’s national security council would meet later to discuss the issue.

He said the U.S. attacks amounted to “a further escalation of a worrying situation in the Middle East.”

Latin America

Left-wing Latin American governments expressed fierce opposition to the U.S. strikes.

Iran-allied Venezuela called the attacks “illegal, unjustifiable and extremely dangerous.” Colombian President Gustavo Petro said they were an insult to the Middle East. Chilean President Gabriel Boric said they violated “rules we have established as humanity.” Mexico’s Foreign Ministry made “an urgent call for peace.”

In contrast, Argentina’s hard-right president, Javier Milei, a loyal ally of Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, praised the attacks on social media. “Terrorism, never again,” his spokesperson said.

Japan

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba told reporters Sunday that it was crucial to calm the situation as soon as possible, adding that the Iranian nuclear weapons development also must be prevented.

Ishiba, asked whether he supports the U.S. attacks on Iran, declined to comment.

The Vatican

Pope Leo XIV made a strong appeal for peace during his Sunday Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square, calling for international diplomacy to “silence the weapons.”

After an open reference to the “alarming” situation in Iran, the first American pontiff stressed that “today more than ever, humanity cries out and invokes peace, and it is a cry that demands reason and must not be stifled.”

Pope Leo urged every member of the international community to take up their moral responsibility to “stop the tragedy of war before it becomes an irreparable abyss.”

United States President Donald Trump has said he will not call Minnesota Governor Tim Walz in the wake of weekend shootings that killed a Democratic state lawmaker and injured another.

Trump denounced the shootings as an act of “horrific violence” in a statement over the weekend. But on Tuesday, he confirmed to reporters that he would not reach out to Walz, who served as the running mate to his rival in the 2024 presidential election, Democrat Kamala Harris.

“I think the governor of Minnesota is so whacked out. I’m not calling him. Why would I call him?” Trump told reporters on Air Force One. “The guy doesn’t have a clue. He’s a mess. So I could be nice and call him, but why waste time?”

Walz, for his part, said he was not surprised by Trump’s lack of interest in calling him. He did, however, point out that he had spoken with Vice President JD Vance.

“I’m always open to, you know, people expressing gratitude. Vice President Vance assured us, and he delivered, that the FBI would be there as partners with us to get it done,” Walz said. “That was what needed to be done.”

The suspect in the shootings is 57-year-old Vance Boelter, a father of five who was arrested on Sunday night.

He has since been charged with federal counts of murder and stalking in connection with the shootings early on Saturday, which resulted in the killings of Melissa Hortman, a top Democrat in the Minnesota House of Representatives, and her husband, Mark Hortman.

Boelter is also accused of shooting Democratic state Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, both of whom survived.

Prosecutors said that Boelter visited the lawmakers’ homes wearing a face mask and body armour to impersonate a police officer. He allegedly knocked on the Hoffmans’ door, identifying himself as police.

Prosecutors said on Monday that Boelter sent a message to his family after the shootings, which read: “Dad went to war last night.”

Law enforcement officials have said they are still investigating a potential motive in the attack. But investigators have recovered notebooks from the suspect with the names of Democratic lawmakers and abortion rights advocates.

“Political assassinations are rare,” Joseph Thompson, Minnesota’s acting US attorney, said at a news conference. “They strike at the very core of our democracy.”

He added that authorities are searching through Boelter’s notebooks but have not found a “manifesto” clearly laying out his motivations. Boelter’s friends, meanwhile, have told reporters that the suspect was a supporter of Trump and an opponent of abortion rights.

The slayings have spurred increased concerns about political violence in the US. In the past year alone, Trump has faced an assassination attempt, and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro has seen his governor’s mansion targeted in an act of suspected arson.

Between January 6, 2021, and October 2024, the news agency Reuters said it had tallied upwards of 300 cases of political violence in the US.

In the aftermath of last weekend’s shootings, conspiracy theories claiming that the alleged shooter was a leftist ideologue began to circulate, with support from some Republican lawmakers.

Boelter had previously served with other community members on a state workforce development board under two Democratic governors, including Walz, a fact that helped to fuel the rumours.

He had also worked as the director of security patrols at a security services company whose website said he had been “involved with security situations in Eastern Europe, Africa, North America and the Middle East, including the West Bank, Southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip”.

Boelter appeared briefly in court on Monday but did not enter a plea. He is due to appear in court again on June 27.

A NEW blood test to pick up early signs of a cancer which kills more than half of people within three months of diagnosis is being trialled by UK doctors.

The genomic test uses blood samples to look for markers of the deadly disease, which often has vague symptoms.

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Currently, the UK doesn’t have a national screening programme for pancreatic cancer like it does for breast or bowel cancer. 

A huge issue is the disease is often diagnosed at a late stage because it frequently lacks noticeable symptoms in the early stages. 

But a new pancreatic cancer test is being trialled in patients with a recent diagnosis of type 2 diabetes – a known risk factor for the disease.

People over 50 with a new case of type 2 diabetes have a higher chance of also being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer within three years.

Early data suggests the Avantect test is 68 per cent accurate in picking up people with early stages of the disease, which kills almost 10,000 people every year in the UK.

It’s also 97 per cent accurate in ruling out people without pancreatic cancer.

The new clinical trial has been launched at the Cancer Research UK Southampton Clinical Trials Unit.

Zaed Hamady, consultant surgeon and pancreatic researcher at the University of Southampton, who’s leading the trial, said: “There is currently no targeted early detection or surveillance test for the disease meaning patients are often diagnosed late when they become really unwell.

“If we can develop approaches to detect the cancer sooner, then there are more options we may consider to treat the disease, and patients will have a much better chance of long-term survival.

“Although most people with diabetes will not go on to develop the disease, new onset diabetes is associated with a six to eight-fold increased risk.

“This patient group gives us a way to test how accurate the new diagnostic blood test is, and that could potentially help thousands of people in the future.”

According to researchers, newly-diagnosed type 2 diabetes patients often have similar symptoms as a person with early-stage pancreatic cancer.

This is because the cancer destroys the same insulin-producing cells that are also destroyed in diabetes.

‘Earlier diagnosis would have meant time to make more memories with our children’

Sean Cleghorn’s wife, Allison, discovered she had pancreatic cancer at Christmas 2020 but died four weeks later aged 54.

Mr Cleghorn, a father of three from Kingsclere in Hampshire, said: “The only symptom Allison displayed was some slight indigestion and then she was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in the autumn of 2020.

“Allison had always eaten healthily, was active and avoided processed food, so this diagnosis was puzzling for us.

“When we learned that new-onset type 2 diabetes was a potential risk factor for pancreatic cancer, we asked for further testing and a scan confirmed she had terminal cancer.

“We hoped she could have chemotherapy to prolong her life, but she became too weak and died four weeks later.

“Perhaps if she had been diagnosed sooner with a test like the one that’s currently being trialled, we may have had time to make more memories with our three children.”

Angelica Cazaly, senior trial manager for the trial, said: “We are asking people with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes who are attending GP surgeries or diabetic clinics whether they would like to take part in the study.

“Initially, we will collect blood samples from 800 people for testing.

“The results from the test, together with medical information collected from each patient, will help provide researchers with important information on how best to proceed with the rest of the study that will evaluate how accurate the test is at predicting pancreatic cancer.”

‘Exciting time for early detection research’

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Around 10,500 people in the UK are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer every year and just one in 20 survive the disease for 10 years or more.

Samuel Levy, chief scientific officer of ClearNote Health, said: “Our early data demonstrate that our Avantect test can identify pancreatic cancer in stages I and II.

“We are excited to collaborate with the Cancer Research UK Southampton Clinical Trials Unit and the University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust on this transformative study that could redefine how pancreatic cancer is detected and managed for patients at high risk.”

Dr Chris Macdonald, head of research at Pancreatic Cancer UK, said over 80 per cent of people with pancreatic cancer are currently diagnosed too late for treatment.

He added: “This is an exciting time for early detection research, with tests using blood, breath and urine in development which, if shown to be successful in clinical trials, could save thousands of lives every year.

“Early findings from these tests are very promising, but more research is needed to ensure that they are as accurate as possible before they will be available in the GP surgery.”