Month: August 2025

District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan’s emergency order follows a legal complaint brought on behalf of 10 children.

A United States judge has blocked the administration of US President Donald Trump from deporting unaccompanied Guatemalan children for at least the next two weeks, in the government’s ongoing hardline anti-immigration push.

The order, which was issued on Sunday in response to a complaint filed by a pro-immigrant advocacy group, came as some Guatemalan children were reportedly already put onto planes at a Texas airport and huddled inside.

District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan’s emergency decree followed a petition from the National Immigration Law Center in relation to 10 children aged between 10 and 17.

After initially preventing the deportation of the group, Sooknanan, who is based in Washington, DC, widened the order to include all Guatemalan children who had reached the US without a parent or guardian.

Sooknanan also brought forward a hearing about the issue on Sunday due to reports that some of the children were in the process of being removed from the US during the country’s Labor Day holiday weekend.

“I do not want there to be any ambiguity,” the judge said on Sunday, noting that her decision applied broadly to unaccompanied Guatemalan minors.

The flurry of legal activity came days after reports in the US media that the Trump administration was preparing to start child deportations to Guatemala this weekend, following an agreement with the Central American country.

Such a move would constitute a “clear violation of the unambiguous protections that Congress has provided them as vulnerable children”, according to the National Immigration Law Center’s legal challenge.

Although the children should be under the care of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, the US government was set on “illegally transferring them to Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody to put them on flights to Guatemala, where they may face abuse, neglect, persecution, or torture”, the complaint added.

On Friday, Guatemala’s Foreign Minister Carlos Martinez confirmed that his country was willing to receive hundreds of children who were in the US.

Since the start of his second presidential term in January, Trump has attempted to start deporting refugees and immigrants en masse.

His administration’s anti-immigration actions, which have included sending hundreds of people to a notorious prison in El Salvador, have been beset by legal difficulties.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the most high-profile face of the Trump administration’s crackdown and a Salvadoran man legally residing in the US state of Maryland, was mistakenly deported in March. He was severely beaten and subjected to psychological torture in prison there, his lawyers say.

Abrego Garcia now wishes to seek asylum in the US. His lawyers told a judge in recent days that he fears further persecution and torture should the Trump administration succeed in deporting him to Uganda, as it plans to do.

MARC Guehi struck a blow for the good guys as he left Eagles’ boss Oliver Glasner with something to remember him by.

The Palace captain may be moving to pastures new inside the next 24 hours if his proposed move to Liverpool gets the green light.

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But his farewell present was a curling shot that underlined the star quality the Reds are paying for as Unai Emery’s chaotic summer imploded at Villa Park.

Guehi struck Palace’s second goal, building on Jean-Philippe Mateta’s first-half penalty on a night to forget for Villa’s boss.

And Ismaila Sarr rubbed salt into very open wounds by adding a third 12 minutes from time, nodding home after the hosts’ defence had followed the example of keeper Emi Martinez – and gone AWOL.

The Argentinian was left out because his mind was “elsewhere”.

The two-time winner of the world’s best keeper award was nowhere to be seen – apparently his mind was unable to cope with the prospect of a potential move away from Villa Park with Manchester United mulling over an offer.

He was declared unfit to play. And that went too for Emery’s side who spent a large chunk of this going around in circles.

Not so Guehi who may have a money-spinning switch to the champs in the offing.

His name was sung loud and proud by the visiting supporters who were appreciative of his professionalism.

And he had the benefit of celebrating in front of them as Villa’s proud unbeaten record was shattered.

Before tonight, Emery’s side were unbeaten on their own patch in the Premier League over the past 12 months.

But Palace are Villa’s bogey side – and they had a field day.

Glasner’s men have held the upper hand against Villa recently, winning four and drawing one of their last five encounters, including in the FA Cup semi-final four months ago.

As if to hammer home the point, the visiting contingent reminded the hosts of that 3-0 defeat, taunting them with “Did you cry at Wembley?” within seconds of the game getting underway.

By that stage, Villa’s stadium announcer had put a red line through his usual pre-match script which involved introducing the “world’s best” keeper Martinez to the home crowd.

Emery also mumbled his way through a pre-match television interview in which, when quizzed about the Argentinian’s absence, merely repeated the name of the Argentinian’s replacement, saying: “Marco Bizot, Marco Bizot.”

It was a bizarre reply to a fair question. Villa’s boss confirmed last Friday that he “didn’t expect” any of his main stars to leave the club.

It was almost as if any late interest had completely thrown the Spaniard – knocked him out of his stride. Palace then did the same to his team out on the green stuff.

Despite the excitement of a trip to Norway to face Fredrikstad in the Conference League on Thursday evening, Palace came with a game plan that stifled Villa at every turn.

The Eagles looked polished and took a 21st-minute lead when Mateta pulled away from Villa’s two centre-backs to receive a ball from Tyrick Mitchell on the left flank.

The Frenchman spotted Daichi Kamada making a run and threaded a pass into him.

The Japan international pushed the ball past Bizot whose outstretched leg clipped him. Stuart Attwell pointed to the spot.

The Dutch keeper couldn’t stop himself moving as Mateta dithered during his run-up and the Frenchman rolled the ball into the net.

Emery chose to blood Evann Guessand, a £26million signing from Nice, from the start. He showed some nice touches but it was the evergreen Ollie Watkins who posed the greatest threat.

The England international made something out of nothing when John McGinn simply booted the ball down the middle of the pitch, Dean Henderson standing up well to the striker’s shot.

Emery chose to shake it up at the interval. By that stage, Villa were yet to find the net and it was to another Argentinian – a forgotten one – that he turned.

Emi Buendia sparked a response – but it was all huff, puff and no end product.

Guehi then showed them how to do it as Villa failed to clear a Mitchell cross.

Palace moved forward on the left and Guehi took aim with a stunning effort that left Bizot grasping at thin air.

Sarr then sealed the points with a close-range header following a long throw allowing the visiting skipper to leave on a high.

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The U.S. gross domestic product grew 3.3% year over year in the second quarter. That number shows the resilience of the U.S. economy despite higher interest rates and global macroeconomic uncertainty.

In such an environment, investors can particularly benefit from putting their money into companies with scale, durable cash flows, and the ability to ride secular tailwinds.

Image source: Getty Images

Here’s why these two stocks fit the criteria, making them wise buy-and-hold choices for the long term.

1. Nvidia

Nvidia (NVDA -3.38%) has firmly established itself as the leading player in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, as it accounts for nearly 92% of the data center GPU market. That dominance has been the foundation of its robust financial performances of recent years. In its fiscal 2026 second quarter (which ended July 27), Nvidia reported revenues of $46.7 billion, up 56% year over year and exceeding guidance, while its GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) gross margin was 72.4%. Management now expects fiscal third-quarter revenue to reach $54 billion, plus or minus 2%, driven by increasing demand for its Blackwell-architecture GPUs.

Nvidia estimates that between $3 trillion and $4 trillion will be invested in AI infrastructure by the end of 2030. En route to that total, it expects hyperscalers and enterprises to invest nearly $600 billion in data center infrastructure and computational technologies in calendar 2025, nearly double the amount that was invested in 2023. Nvidia’s Blackwell-based AI systems, such as the GB200 NVL System and GB300 platform, are increasingly being used by cloud service providers and consumer internet companies to train and power large AI models.

Nvidia’s proprietary Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) software stack can be used to optimize its hardware for specific AI workloads. CUDA has become the industry standard, used by over 5 million developers. Nvidia has also strengthened its position in networking solutions, where its record quarterly revenue of $7.3 billion was driven by demand for Spectrum-X Ethernet, InfiniBand, and NVLink from customers building massive AI clusters. The company also highlighted that networking is now a $10 billion-plus annualized revenue business for it, underlining its importance as data centers evolve into AI factories.

Although U.S. restrictions on exporting the highest-end GPUs to China have been a headwind for the company, Nvidia is responding by adapting versions of its Blackwell chips (B30A ) that adhere to the new regulations and seeking regulatory approvals for broader deployments. It has already done this with its previous Hopper architecture, creating the H20 for Chinese customers. The company estimates the Chinese market opportunity to be nearly $50 billion in 2025.

Nvidia has also continued to reward its investors. In its fiscal second quarter, it returned $10 billion to shareholders through buybacks and dividends, and the board authorized an additional $60 billion stock repurchase program.

Trading at about 39.5 times expected forward earnings, Nvidia’s stock is quite expensive. However, that valuation seems justified considering its robust financials and unmatched AI ecosystem.

2. Alphabet

Alphabet (GOOG 0.56%) (GOOGL 0.63%) has firmly established itself as a dominant technology powerhouse, with a leadership position in digital advertising and rapidly expanding presences in cloud computing and artificial intelligence. In the second quarter, it reported revenues of $96.4 billion, up 14% year over year, and operating income of $31.2 billion. Those results underscore the scalability and profitability of its business model. The company also had $95 billion in cash and securities on its books at the end of the quarter, giving it the flexibility to keep investing in growth while returning capital to shareholders.

Alphabet’s core advertising businesses have demonstrated remarkable resilience. Google Search continues to provide more than half of total revenues, with AI-enhanced search features such as AI Overviews, AI Mode, and Lens offering new ways for users to access information. This has helped deepen user engagement and improve monetization. YouTube generated nearly $9.8 billion in advertising revenues in the second quarter, while subscriptions added another layer of recurring revenue streams.

Google Cloud accounted for a 13% share of the global spending on cloud infrastructure services in the second quarter, up 1 percentage point year over year. Google Cloud is benefiting from a growing demand for AI infrastructure and generative AI services worldwide. Google Cloud revenues were up 32% to $13.6 billion.

Alphabet has also successfully integrated advanced AI technologies across its entire ecosystem to improve productivity and efficiency, and create better user experiences. Its Gemini models are powering Search, Gmail, Workspace, and Maps. This is helping it hold onto its user base and improve avenues for monetization. Alphabet is also investing in other opportunities such as autonomous driving through its Waymo, healthcare, and quantum computing units — giving investors exposure to next-generation technologies.

It has been returning significant capital to shareholders, including nearly $16.1 billion returned through share buybacks and dividends in the second quarter.

Despite a resilient advertising business, a fast-growing cloud division, and deep AI integration, Alphabet trades at 18.3 times forward earnings, lower than its five-year average of 23.9.

Risks such as increased regulatory scrutiny, a looming court ruling in a major anticompetition case, rising competition in digital advertising, and concerns about the long-term impact of AI on search monetization may be among the reasons why the stock trades at a discounted valuation. Yet this very discount provides investors with the opportunity to buy shares of a dominant, cash-rich business with an AI-enabled platform at a reasonable price.

Considering these factors, Alphabet stock looks like an attractive stock to buy now and hold for the foreseeable future.

IT was 1984 and newly qualified doctor Daniel Drucker was excited to dive into the world of ­scientific research.

Fresh out of the University of Toronto Medical School, the 28-year-old was working at a lab in Boston in the US when his supervisor asked him to carry out a routine experiment — which proved to be anything but.

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For it led to Dr Drucker’s discovery of a previously unknown hormone, sparking a new era in medicine.

What he modestly calls a “happy accident” then kick-started a series of ­discoveries that made today’s game-changing weight loss jabs a reality.

The hormone was called glucagon-like peptide 1 — or GLP-1, as the world now knows it.

And the drugs that have resulted from its discovery have produced amazing effects — with users losing up to a fifth of their body weight.

So far around 50,000 of us have been prescribed jabs on the NHS for weight loss, but it is ­estimated around 1.5million people here are buying them privately — a figure that is expected to rise sharply.

Dr Drucker, now 69, tells The Sun: “I never felt like I was on the brink of something huge.

“It was just a fantastic stroke of luck to be in the right place at the right time and to be part of an ­innovation that could improve the health of hundreds of millions of people all over the world.”

The drugs are now being hailed as a possible cure for a range of other conditions too, including dementia and migraine.

But Dr Drucker warns: “We need to be cautious, respect what we don’t know, and not rush into thinking these medicines are right for everyone.

‘Full of hope’

“There could be side-effects we haven’t seen yet, especially in groups we haven’t properly studied.”

Some studies have also raised concerns about gallbladder problems and in rare cases, even ­suicidal thoughts.

GLP-1 was found to play a key role in regulating the appetite and blood sugar levels, by slowing digestion and signalling a feeling of fullness to the brain.

Fat jabs such as Mounjaro and Wegovy contain synthetic versions of GLP-1, tirzepatide and semaglutide, which mimic the natural hormone with astonishing, fat-busting results.

Originally these drugs — known as GLP-1 agonists — were licensed to treat Type 2 diabetes, due to their ability to stimulate the body’s production of insulin, which cuts high blood glucose levels.

But over the past 15 years, after studies ­confirmed the potential to tackle obesity, pharmaceutical firms have reapplied to have the drugs approved as weight loss treatments.

And now evidence is emerging almost daily to suggest these drugs could help treat and even prevent other chronic and degenerative diseases.

Hundreds of scientific trials are under way, and Dr Drucker is “full of hope”, adding that he would consider taking the drugs himself, to ward off ­Alzheimer’s disease.

He says: “I think the next five years is going to be massive. These drugs won’t fix everything, but if they help even half the ­conditions we are testing them for, we could finally find ­treatments for conditions once thought untreatable.”

Decades after his discovery, Dr Drucker is now a professor of ­medicine at the University of Toronto, and a senior investigator at the affiliated Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, where GLP-1 research now fills his life.

He says: “Every morning I turn on my phone and check what’s happened overnight — what new ­discovery has been made, what could this hormone cure or treat.”

Even so, in May UK health chiefs warned that the jabs must not be taken during pregnancy or in the two months before conception, after studies of animals found that semaglutide can cause ­pregnancy loss and birth defects.

But with human use, no such ­danger has been ­confirmed, Dr Drucker says, and dozens of women have ­conceived while taking them.

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Some scientists even believe GLP-1 drugs may boost ­fertility, and could become a go-to for infertility treatment.

Dr Drucker, listed in Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in 2024, says: “It wouldn’t surprise me if five years from now, once we have more clinical trial evidence, if we start recommending these medicines to help people get pregnant, and have safer pregnancies.”

It is exciting stuff, but Dr Drucker admits he also worries about people using the drugs for the wrong ­reasons — such as slim, young women in pursuit of unrealistic beauty ideals on social media.

He says: “If I’ve got a 17-year-old who wants to lose another five per cent of her body weight to look like some celebrity, that’s a real concern.

“We haven’t studied 10,000 teenage girls on these drugs over five years. We don’t know how they affect bones, fertility, mental health or development in the long term.”

Last year model Lottie Moss, sister of supermodel Kate, revealed she had ended up in hospital after a seizure linked to high doses of weight loss drug Ozempic.

I think the next five years will be massive. These drugs won’t fix everything, but if they help even half the conditions we are testing for, we could find treatments for conditions thought untreatable

Dr Daniel Drucker

A nurse told her the dose she had been injecting was meant for someone twice her size.

Dr Drucker warned that older adults, people with eating disorders and those with mental health ­conditions may respond differently to the drugs.

He says: “We’re still ­learning, and just because a medicine works well in one group doesn’t mean it is safe for everyone.”

One of the biggest risks is dehydration, which OnlyFans star Lottie blamed for her seizure.

Dr Drucker says: “Some people experience nausea and vomiting, which can lead to dehydration, and that in itself can be dangerous.”
He also warns that losing weight too quickly can reduce muscle mass and bone density, which is especially risky for older people.

He adds: “This is why it is important people only take these drugs when being monitored by medical professionals, so they can be properly assessed for side-effects and receive the safest, most effective care.”

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So far at least 85 people in the UK have died after taking weight loss jabs, according to reports sent to the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency watchdog.

While none of the deaths has been definitively linked to the drugs, health bodies noted a “suspicion” that they may have played a role.

Dr Drucker says: “Reports like these can raise flags, but without proper comparison groups they don’t tell the full story.

‘Drugs aren’t candy’

“In fact, large trials show GLP-1 drugs actually reduce death rates in people with Type 2 diabetes and those with obesity and heart disease.

“So far, the evidence looks solid and reassuring.”

With millions of patients treated over the years, GLP-1s have a well-established safety record for diabetes and obesity.

But Dr Drucker warns that for newer uses, such as ­Alzheimer’s, fatty liver disease or sleep apnoea, we need more data.

He says: “I don’t think there are any hidden, terrifying side-effects waiting to be uncovered.

“But that doesn’t mean people should take them lightly. We don’t yet have 20 years of experience ­treating some of these ­conditions.

“We need to approach each new indication with appropriate caution, to really understand the benefits ­versus the potential risks.

“These drugs aren’t candy, they won’t fix everything — and like all medicines they have side-effects.

“I don’t think we should abandon our focus on safety. We need to move carefully and thoughtfully as this field evolves.”

I’m not struggling with Type 2 diabetes or obesity, but I do have a family history of ­Alzheimer’s. I’m watching the trials closely and, depending on the results, I wouldn’t rule out taking them in the future

Dr Daniel Drucker

He continues: “I’m not struggling with Type 2 diabetes or obesity, but I do have a family history of ­Alzheimer’s. I’m watching the trials closely and, depending on the results, I wouldn’t rule out taking them in the future.

“I have friends from college who are already showing early signs of cognitive decline, and there’s hope that in some cases, ­semaglutide might help to slow it.”

Several studies over the years ­support that theory.

A recent study by a US university found that the jabs could prevent Alzheimer’s-related changes in people with Type 2 diabetes.

Separate research from Taiwan found that people on GLP-1 agonist drugs appeared to have a 37 per cent lower risk of dementia.

Dr Drucker now regularly receives messages from people around the world whose lives have been changed by the drugs his lab helped to create.

He says: “I get tons of stories. ­People send me emails and photos, not just showing their weight loss, but how their health has changed in other ways too.”

Some say the jabs have helped their chronic pain, cleared brain fog or improved long-standing health conditions such as ulcerative colitis or arthritis.

Dr Drucker adds: “It’s incredibly heartwarming and I never get tired of hearing these stories.”

But for him there is even deeper meaning attached to his discovery.

His 97-year-old mother Cila, ­originally from Poland, survived the Holocaust, spending months as a child hiding in the family’s attic before they were captured and held in a ghetto, where her mother and sister were later shot dead.

At the end of the war in 1945 she became a refugee in Palestine, then in 1953 she emigrated to Canada, first settling in Montreal then making Toronto her home in the 1990s.

Dr Drucker says his work has helped to ease Cila’s survivor’s guilt which had consumed her for decades.

He says: “She looks at my work and she’s so proud of how many people it could potentially help.”

The Chargers gave up the fewest points in the NFL last season (301) and will need that kind of stout performance again to get a firm foothold in the AFC West.

They will be tested right away, as they open in Brazil against the AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs — a team the Chargers haven’t beaten since 2021 — then face Las Vegas and Denver in the following two weeks. All three division opponents in a row.

Coach Jim Harbaugh was especially pleased with his defense after it notched a strip sack and made a goal-line stand in a preseason victory over New Orleans.

“They just played with a lot of want-to and I’m thrilled with that,” Harbaugh told reporters. “I love guys that play like they want to be on this team. They want to show that they belong. That’s the way they practice and that’s the way they go out and play in the game. That warms the cockles of the heart.”

The defense is transitioning from a familiar fixture. Although his production had tailed off the past few years, Joey Bosa was a stalwart for this team since 2016, predating the club’s move to Los Angeles. The five-time Pro Bowl defensive end signed a one-year deal with Buffalo in March. The Chargers have moved on.

The leader up front is Khalil Mack, who is entering his 12th season and pointed to Harbaugh and general manager Joe Hortiz in explaining why he decided to re-sign with the franchise this offseason.

“Why not here?” Mack asked reporters. “Got tremendous leadership here. … Knowing what Coach Harbaugh is building and what Joe is building, that was a no-brainer.”

It might be an outlier, as he’s typically in single digits for the season, but Mack had 17 sacks in 2023.

Chargers linebacker Khalil Mack will once again be at the forefront of the team’s pass-rushing effort.

(Peter Aiken / Associated Press)

A promising disruptor off the edge is former USC standout Tuli Tuipulotu, who had 8½ sacks last season.

“My standard is to play Khalil,” he told reporters of entering his third season. “He is the standard, that’s what I’m chasing.”

Another seasoned veteran in the rotation is Bud Dupree, who played in all 18 games last season and was tied for second with six sacks. The 11-year veteran re-signed with the team this summer.

A youth infusion could come from outside linebackers Caleb Murphy, in his second season, and rookie Kyle Kennard, who was SEC Defensive Player of the Year at South Carolina last season.

Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh congratulates defensive tackle Teair Tart after a win over the Raiders in September 2024.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Moving to the interior of the defensive line, the Chargers leaned on Teair Tart and Otito Ogbonnia last season, and in an effort to get deeper and similarly athletic at the position, signed veterans Naquan Jones and Da’Shawn Hand.

Defensive coordinator Jesse Minter has praised Ogbonnia’s improved footwork and counter moves in camp.

Jones played with Tennessee and Arizona over the past four seasons and adds depth to the rotation along with Hand, who played with Detroit, Tennessee and Miami during the past six years.

A player to watch is 340-pound rookie Jamaree Caldwell, who is coming off a strong showing at camp.

Chargers linebacker Daiyan Henley could be primed for a breakout season.

(Denis Poroy / Associated Press)

Backing up that defensive front in the middle is Denzel Perryman, the veteran of the linebacker group. He’s in his second stint with the Chargers after brief stays with the Las Vegas Raiders and Houston Texans. He was arrested on a felony weapons charge during training camp, although no criminal charges have been filed in the case.

Among the defenders to watch is Daiyan Henley, a third-year linebacker who had 147 tackles last season, 10½ of those behind the line of scrimmage.

Harbaugh called him “a shining star… ascending to be a superstar.”

Rookie Marlowe Wax was spectacular in the preseason finale against San Francisco, making key tackles all over the place, so it will be worth watching whether he can continue that production when it counts.

The Chargers didn’t break the bank in free agency, but they did open their wallet wide for cornerback Donte Jackson, who had five interceptions for Pittsburgh last season after spending six years with Carolina.

Second-year corners Cam Hart and Tarheeb Still were pressed into duty last season and join Jackson as starters, with Still on the third receiver. There’s going to be a lot of passing in the AFC West with opposing quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes, Bo Nix and Geno Smith lurking.

The Chargers had 15 interceptions last season, almost one per game, putting them in the top quarter of the league.

Minter said during camp that he considers corner Benjamin St-Juste a “fourth starter.”

A young corner to watch is Nikko Reed, who had a pick-six in the Hall of Fame Game and consistently made big plays throughout camp.

“Derwin James told me Reed is a baller,” Harbaugh said. “I’m now agreeing with that statement.”

As for James, he rivals quarterback Justin Herbert as the best player on the roster.

Chargers safety Derwin James Jr. will once again be the biggest force in the secondary this season.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

“I know when Derwin’s there, he’s going to be a wrecker,” Still told reporters. “It’s kind of like, he’s on the side of me and I got to know how he’s going to fit the run, what is he going to do in pass, if I can help him or how I can protect him, how he can protect me.”

Put bluntly by Jackson, intending this as a compliment: “I think DJ’s brain is a football. Literally, you open his head there’s probably a football in there.”

The Chargers line up James all over the defense.

Penciled in to start at free safety is Alohi Gilman, who is entering the final year of his contract. Elijah Molden and rookie R.J. Mickens figure to make significant contributions.

Weapons and support from the West, led by the United States, have been central to Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

The United Kingdom’s and European Union’s relations with Israel remain essentially unchanged despite the war.

Is this complicity? And could there be legal consequences for Western nations and their leaders?

Presenter: Adrian Finighan

Guests:

Michael Lynk – former United Nations special rapporteur for human rights in occupied Palestinian territory

Yara Hawari – co-director of Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network

Ralph Wilde – professor of international law at University College London

Holders Liverpool beat Arsenal 1-0 in English football’s Premier League, while fallen favourites Man City lose 2-1 at Brighton.

Dominik Szoboszlai curled home a brilliant long-range free kick to earn Liverpool a 1-0 win over Arsenal in an early-season meeting between two of the likely Premier League title contenders.

Manchester City was also expected to be challenging for the championship this season, but collapsing to a 2-1 loss at Brighton – for a second straight loss – was another sign that Pep Guardiola’s team has lost its aura of dominance.

Little separated Liverpool and Arsenal at Anfield before Szoboszlai stepped up to an 83rd-minute free kick and whipped it into the top corner from about 30 yards.

“I thought I would take a risk,” Szoboszlai told Sky Sports. “I was confident, so I tried it and finally! It’s a long time when you practice all the time and Trent [Alexander-Arnold] was taking the free kicks, but finally I could have my chance, and I did it.

“This [type of] shot I didn’t practice in the last few weeks as we were shooting from closer, but I had to take a risk and shoot it a little bit harder.”

Filling in at full back in an emergency, the Hungary captain – typically an attacking midfielder – did his best impression of now-departed right back Alexander-Arnold with a top-quality strike that was out of keeping with the rest of the game.

It’s now three straight wins to open the season for Liverpool, the defending champion.

For Arsenal, it was a first loss and first goal conceded – extending its winless record at Anfield dating back to 2012.

“Arsenal had an unbelievable season last season and three times in a row coming second,” Szoboszlai added.

“To be honest, it’s a compliment always to keep on going with City, with Chelsea with us – it is always really hard. They have an unbelievable team and an unbelievable coach.”

Man City lose again as former Liverpool midfielder Milner nets EPL record

City’s defeat at Brighton followed a 2-0 home loss last weekend to Tottenham, which is demonstrating the same vulnerabilities and brittleness it showed last season when surrendering the title to Liverpool after four consecutive years as champions.

“This is the reality: we are not at the level from a long time [ago],” said City midfielder Rodri, the reigning Ballon d’Or winner, who was starting in the league for the first time since September last year following a serious knee injury.

Brajan Gruda surged through an open defence, rounded goalkeeper James Trafford and slotted into an empty net for the 89th-minute winner for Brighton, which trailed to Erling Haaland’s first-half strike – his 88th goal in 100 Premier League appearances since moving to England in 2022.

City conceded an equalizer in the 67th minute after Matheus Nunes raised his arm in the area to block a shot, with James Milner converting the penalty for Brighton to become – at age 39 years and 239 days – the second-oldest scorer in Premier League history. He is also the second youngest, having netted as a 16-year-old for Leeds.

With City noticeably fading, Brighton created a succession of chances before Gruda converted one to seal a repeat of his team’s come-from-behind 2-1 win over City last season.

City’s only points so far this season have come from a 4-0 opening-round win at Wolverhampton, after which pundits were saying Guardiola’s team was back. Now, it has fewer points than Manchester United.

West Ham eased the pressure on manager Graham Potter with a 3-0 win at Nottingham Forest, secured by late goals by Jarrod Bowen, Lucas Paqueta — from the penalty spot — and Callum Wilson.

West Ham lost its first two games in the league, conceding eight goals in the process, and also was eliminated from the English League Cup in midweek.

Paqueta, the Brazil midfielder, celebrated his successful penalty kick by pretending to answer a call and throw away a phone before kissing the badge on his jersey – perhaps a nod to being linked over the past 24 hours with a move to Aston Villa.

Crystal Palace visits Villa in the final game on Sunday to wrap up the Premier League’s third round.

Gordon Ramsay has a message for you this holiday weekend: wear sunscreen.

The Michelin-starred celebrity chef posted Saturday on Instagram that he was diagnosed with skin cancer and had the basal cell carcinoma removed from the side of his face.

Ramsay shared two photos, one of a bandage stretching from his cheek to his neck. Another, a close-up, showed stitch marks directly below his earlobe.

“Grateful and so appreciative for the incredible team at The Skin Associates and their fast reactive work on removing this Basal Cell Carcinoma thank you! Please don’t forget your sunscreen this weekend,” Ramsay wrote in the caption.

His post was not without humor: “I promise you it’s not a face lift! I’d need a refund …” he said.

Ramsay — the host, most recently, of the reality TV show “Hell’s Kitchen” — has not been shy about sharing his health issues on social media, as well as offering cautionary advice to his followers. Last year he posted a video on Instagram after he was in a bicycle accident in Connecticut. In the video, the Scottish-born restaurateur lifted his white chef coat and pointed to expansive bruising on his torso. He urged his followers to “WEAR A HELMET.”

Skin cancers are among the most common cancers diagnosed worldwide, according to the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer. More than 1.5 million new cases were estimated in 2022.

Basal cell carcinoma in particular, which Ramsay was diagnosed with, is a type of non-melanoma skin cancer and the most common overall, says Elizabeth Bahar Houshmand, a double board certified dermatologist based in Dallas.

“But the good news,” Houshmand says, “is there’s a less than 1% chance of metastasis, meaning it would spread to other organs, regions. But it is a skin cancer and needs to be addressed promptly. Usually the treatment is surgical excision and that’s what Gordon Ramsay had done.”

Early detection of basal cell carcinoma, Houshmand says, is key. As are preventative measures, such as wearing sunscreen and SPF clothing.

“It’s generally slow-growing and rarely spreads to other parts of the body, and with early detection and treatment the cure rate is very high,” she says. “Always see your dermatologist if you see an irregularity that’s not going away. Don’t wait. And protect yourself — I like an SPF of 50 or greater and apply it 15 minutes before going outside.”

So if you fire up the grill this weekend — even attempting one of Ramsay’s barbecue favorites — still, make sunscreen the main course.

As of July, over 53 million Americans receive Social Security retirement benefits. A good number of these recipients rely on the Social Security program for most or, in some cases, all of their retirement income, so it’s hard to overstate just how important the program continues to be.

According to the Nationwide Retirement Institute 2025 Social Security Survey, over 60% of Social Security recipients feel as though they’d be financially vulnerable if there were cuts to Social Security benefits. That’s not too surprising, given how much people rely on the social program.

However, what may be surprising is just how soon cuts to Social Security benefits could happen at the current pace of deficit that the program is running on.

Image source: Getty Images.

How Social Security funding works

Before discussing the likelihood of Social Security benefit cuts, it’s essential to understand how the program is funded, which is through payroll taxes. The current rate is 12.4%, with employers and employees paying 6.2% each, and self-employed people paying the full 12.4%.

This tax revenue is put into the Social Security Trust Fund, which consists of the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund and the Disability Insurance (DI) Trust Fund. The OASI program pays benefits to retirees, their families, and survivors of deceased recipients; the DI program pays benefits to disabled workers and their families.

The idea is that working-age people pay into the system to support current retirees, with the understanding that once they’re retired, they’ll be on the receiving end of this support.

What’s the likelihood of benefits being cut?

The Social Security Administration’s (SSA) 2025 Social Security Trustees Report highlighted that the Social Security program cost $1.485 trillion in 2024, while generating only $1.418 trillion in revenue, leaving a $67 billion deficit for the year. Both major Social Security trust funds have experienced a decline over the past decade.

US Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance Trust Fund Assets at End of Year data by YCharts

The same report noted that the OASI trust fund could be depleted by 2033, which would leave the SSA with the ability to pay only 77% of its expected benefits. Considering the number of recipients from the Nationwide report who said cuts would make them financially vulnerable, this is, to put it lightly, far from ideal.

If the current depletion rate continues, the Social Security Trust Fund could be underfunded by more than $25 trillion through 2099 (the DI Trust Fund reserves are not projected to become depleted during this period). If no changes are made, Social Security would need to cut benefits by about 23% beginning in 2034.

According to the Nationwide study, 83% of respondents are concerned about Social Security’s long-term viability, and 74% are worried that the program’s funding could run out in their lifetime. Unfortunately, at the current pace and lack of concrete solutions, these concerns are justified.

What’s causing the current Social Security deficit?

There isn’t a single reason for the current Social Security deficit, but there are four main causes contributing to the problem. The first is that baby boomers are retiring in large numbers, and there aren’t enough tax-paying workers paying into the Social Security program.

The second “problem” is that people are living longer, meaning they’re collecting benefits longer, increasing how much Social Security has to pay out each year. This is good for people, but bad for Social Security.

We’ve also seen an increase in high earners, which means less of their income is being taxed and paid into the program. In 2025, the most income that’s subject to the Social Security payroll tax is $176,100. Any money earned above that is free from the tax.

The last problem is that before the interest rate hike a couple of years ago, interest rates spent a long period at historically low rates. This is a problem for Social Security because the reserves are put into Treasury bonds to earn interest. Low interest rates mean less money earned on these reserves.

All hope isn’t lost

To end on a more positive note, it’s worth pointing out that this isn’t the first time that Social Security has faced funding issues, and in previous times, the federal government has been able to “fix” the issue.

The American political environment is a bit more unpredictable nowadays, so I can’t say for certain if the same will happen. However, given the program’s importance to the livelihoods of millions of Americans, one would assume that it would become a priority for politicians on both sides of the aisle.

HARLINGEN, Texas — A U.S. judge at least temporarily blocked the government Sunday from deporting a group of Guatemalan children who had crossed the border without their families, after their lawyers said the youngsters were loaded onto planes overnight in violation of laws affording protections for migrant kids.

Attorneys for 10 Guatemalan children, ages 10 to 17, said in court papers filed late Saturday that there were reports that planes were set to take off within hours for the Central American country. But a federal judge in Washington said those children couldn’t be deported for at least 14 days, and after a hastily scheduled hearing Sunday, she emphasized that they needed to be taken off the planes and back to the Office of Refugee Resettlement facilities while the legal process plays out.

“I do not want there to be any ambiguity,” said Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan, who said her ruling applies broadly to Guatemalan minors who arrived in the U.S. without their parents or guardians.

Government lawyers, meanwhile, maintained that the children weren’t being deported but rather reunited at the request of their parents or guardians — a claim that the children’s lawyers dispute, at least in some cases.

Similar emergency requests were filed in other parts of the country as well. Attorneys in Arizona and Illinois asked federal judges there to block deportations of unaccompanied minors, underscoring how the fight over the government’s efforts has quickly spread.

Immigrant advocates react

The episode has raised alarms among immigrant advocates, who say it may represent a violation of federal laws designed to protect children who arrive without their parents. While the deportations are on hold for now, the case underscores the high-stakes clash between the government’s immigration enforcement efforts and the legal safeguards that Congress created for some of the most vulnerable migrants.

At the border-area airport, the scene Sunday morning was unmistakably active. Buses carrying migrants pulled onto the tarmac as clusters of federal agents moved quickly between the vehicles and waiting aircraft. Police cars circled the perimeter, and officers and security guards pushed reporters back from the chain-link fences that line the field. On the runway, planes sat with engines idling, ground crews making final preparations as if departures could come at any moment — all as the courtroom battle played out hundreds of miles away in Washington.

Shaina Aber of Acacia Center for Justice, an immigrant legal defense group, said it was notified Saturday evening that an official list had been drafted with the names of Guatemalan children whom the U.S. administration would attempt to send back to their home country. Advocates learned that the flights would leave from the Texas cities of Harlingen and El Paso, Aber said.

She said she’d heard that federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials “were still taking the children,” having not gotten any guidance about the court order.

The Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Sunday.

Plans to remove nearly 700 Guatemalan children

The Trump administration is planning to remove nearly 700 Guatemalan children who came to the U.S. unaccompanied, according to a letter sent Friday by Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon. The Guatemalan government has said it is ready to take them in.

It is another step in the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration enforcement efforts, which include plans to send a surge of officers to Chicago for an immigration crackdown, ramping up deportations and ending protections for people who have had permission to live and work in the United States.

Lawyers for the Guatemalan children said the U.S. government doesn’t have the authority to remove the youngsters and is depriving them of due process by preventing them from pursuing asylum claims or immigration relief. Many have active cases in immigration courts, according to the attorneys’ court filing in Washington.

Although the children are supposed to be in the care and custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, the government is “illegally transferring them to Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody to put them on flights to Guatemala, where they may face abuse, neglect, persecution, or torture,” argues the filing by attorneys with the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights and the National Immigration Law Center.

An attorney with another advocacy group, the National Center for Youth Law, said the organization started hearing a few weeks ago from legal service providers that agents from Homeland Security Investigations — ICE’s investigative arm — were interviewing children, particularly from Guatemala, in Office of Refugee Resettlement facilities.

The agents asked the children about their relatives in Guatemala, said the attorney, Becky Wolozin.

Then on Friday, advocates across the country began getting word that their young clients’ immigration court hearings were being canceled, Wolozin said.

Migrant children traveling without their parents or guardians are handed over to the Office of Refugee Resettlement when they are encountered by officials along the U.S.-Mexico border. Once in the U.S., the children often live in government-supervised shelters or with foster care families until they can be released to a sponsor — usually a family member — living in the country.

The minors can request asylum, juvenile immigration status or visas for victims of sexual exploitation.

Due to their age and often traumatic experiences getting to the U.S., their treatment is one of the most sensitive issues in immigration. Advocacy groups already have sued to ask courts to halt new Trump administration vetting procedures for unaccompanied children, saying the changes are keeping families separated longer and are inhumane.

Guatemala willing to receive the unaccompanied minors

Guatemalan Foreign Affairs Minister Carlos Martínez said Friday that the government has told the U.S. it is willing to receive hundreds of Guatemalan minors who arrived in the U.S. unaccompanied and are being held in government facilities.

Guatemala is particularly concerned about minors who could pass age limits for the children’s facilities and be sent to adult detention centers, he said.

President Bernardo Arévalo has said that his government has a moral and legal obligation to advocate for the children. His comments came days after U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited Guatemala.

Gonzalez and Santana write for the Associated Press and reported from Harlingen and Washington, respectively. AP writers Jennifer Peltz in New York and Corey Williams in Detroit contributed to this report.

Guardiola’s best teams have been built on control, patterns of play and attacking incision.

When City beat Wolves 4-0 on the opening weekend of the season, it was natural to think the troubles that had plagued them last term had been erased over the summer.

But Sunday’s defeat on the south coast was a repeat of the inconsistency City displayed throughout last season.

Guardiola’s side stifled Brighton in the first half, limiting the Seagulls to a single opportunity through Kaoru Mitoma.

Erling Haaland, making his 100th Premier League appearance for City, opened the scoring with his 88th league goal for the club.

But a quadruple substitution by Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler after an hour changed the course of the game, with James Milner, Brajan Gruda, Georgino Rutter and Yasin Ayari entering the fray.

Brighton dominated from there on, equalising from the penalty spot through Milner, before a last-gasp winner from Gruda.

“We conceded two goals. We were excellent for one hour,” Guardiola told BBC Sport.

“After the goal we forgot to play. We were thinking of the consequences.

“I like many, many things we are doing. Like against Tottenham, we started well. I like many things the team has done here today but we were unable to win. When we conceded the goal, we stopped playing.

“It’s one game. The season has just started. There is a long, long season ahead of us. We will see what happens.”

Only Manchester United’s 1992-1993 title-winning team have recovered from losing two of their first three league matches to be crowned champions, and that came during a 42-game season.

“It’s back to the drawing board for Man City,” former Middlesbrough goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer said.

“There are a lot of questions still about this team and Pep Guardiola. Is he going to turn it around? He has never been in a situation quite like this before and the hole keeps getting deeper and deeper.”

Aug. 31 (UPI) — Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Sunday that the world’s two largest economies should be “partners and not rivals” as Russian President Vladimir Putin made his way to a summit in the city of Tianjin with the leaders.

Meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, Modi and Xi “noted the need” to strengthen ties between their populations by resuming direct flights and tourist visa approvals, India’s Press Information Bureau said in a statement.

Flights between the countries have been paused since deadly clashes between their troops in the Himalayas in 2020 over a longstanding border dispute. The visit marks Modi’s first trip to China in seven years, though the pair met in Kazan in 2024, which Xi praised Sunday as the “restart of China-India relations.”

“India is willing to work with China to seek a fair, reasonable, and mutually acceptable solution to the border issue,” China’s Foreign Ministry said in its own statement Sunday. China noted that the border remains “peaceful and stable,” but no timeline was given for when the flights might resume.

Modi noted that India and China both pursue strategic autonomy, and their relations “should not be seen through a third country lens,” India’s statement said. China echoed that sentiment, stating that “bilateral relations will not be influenced by third parties.”

“The two leaders deemed it necessary to expand common ground on bilateral, regional, and global issues and challenges, like terrorism and fair trade in multilateral platforms,” India’s statement reads.

Essentially, the Indian government expressed that India and China are seeking non-U.S.-centric alignment on their shared interests in a “multi-polar” world,” despite their differences in other areas. China’s Foreign Ministry further highlighted their roles as important members of the “Global South.”

“China and India, two ancient Eastern civilizations, are the world’s two most populous countries, and important members of the Global South,” China’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement after the meeting. “Being good-neighborly friends and partners for mutual success and achieving a ‘Dancing of the Dragon and the Elephant’ should be the right choice for both China and India.”

The summit comes after President Donald Trump placed stiff sanctions on India for continuing to buy Russian oil as Russia faces the threat of U.S. sanctions for the war in Ukraine. Putin is also seeking to project a united front with India and China as internal tension in his country over the cost of the war grows.

Russia’s economy has been under growing strain as inflation, currently hovering around 9%, continues to bite, having been fueled by Putin’s wartime expenditures and the ongoing effects of Western sanctions.

On July 25, the Bank of Russia lowered its main interest rate by 2 percentage points, bringing it down to 18% per year, because inflation is easing faster than expected and the economy is gradually stabilizing with price growth slowing significantly earlier in the year, it said in a press release.

The bank said, however, that monetary policy will stay tight for a while. On average, the central bank expects interest rates to stay between 18.8% and 19.6% for 2025, then ease to about 13% in 2026 to make sure inflation continues to fall to its official 4% target by 2026.

Russian economists believe the country can sustain its war efforts for another year or so but new sanctions from the Trump administration, like those on India, could hurt Putin’s war effort.

Other members of the summit include Pakistan and Iran. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also met with Xi ahead of the summit and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is also expected to attend.

While South Asia’s seasonal monsoon brings rainfall that farmers depend on, climate change is making it deadly.

Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province is dealing with the biggest flood in its history, a senior official has said, as water levels of rivers rise to all-time highs.

Global warming has worsened monsoon rains this year in Pakistan, one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change, according to a new study. Downpours and cloudbursts have triggered flash floods and landslides across the mountainous north and northwest in recent months.

Residents in eastern Punjab have also experienced abnormal amounts of rain, as well as cross-border flooding after India released water from swollen rivers and its overflowing dams into Pakistan’s low-lying regions.

“This is the biggest flood in the history of the Punjab. The flood has affected two million people. It’s the first time that the three rivers — Sutlej, Chenab, and Ravi — have carried such high levels of water,” the senior minister for the province, Marriyum Aurangzeb, told a press conference on Sunday.

Local authorities have been evacuating people and using educational institutions, police and security facilities as rescue camps, she said.

Pakistani TV channels also showed people clambering into rescue boats and sailing across fully submerged farmland to safety. Others loaded belongings into boats, salvaging what remained from damaged homes, now abandoned.

In a former classroom in the region, now a makeshift relief camp, pregnant women have begun taking refuge from the floods.

Shumaila Riaz, 19 years old and seven months pregnant with her first child, spent the past four days in the relief camp, enduring pregnancy cramps.

“I wanted to think about the child I am going to have, but now, I am not even certain about my own future,” she told the AFP news agency.

Clad in dirty clothes they have worn for days and with unbrushed hair, women huddled in the overcrowded school hosting more than 2,000 people, surrounded by mud and stagnant rainwater.

While South Asia’s seasonal monsoon brings rainfall that farmers depend on, climate change is making the phenomenon more erratic, and deadly, across the region.

In Multan, authorities have also installed explosives at five key embankments to divert water away from the city, if needed, ahead of a massive wave on its way from the Chenab River.

Multan Commissioner Amir Kareem Khan said drones were used to monitor low-lying areas while teams tried to persuade residents who had not yet evacuated to do so.

“The water is coming in large quantities — we cannot fight it, we cannot stop it,” Deputy Commissioner Wasim Hamad Sindhu said, appealing to people to seek shelter in government-run camps.

Aurangzeb added on Sunday that the Foreign Ministry is also “collecting data regarding India’s deliberate release of water into Pakistan”. There was no immediate comment from India.

India had alerted Pakistan to the possibility of cross-border flooding last week, the first public diplomatic contact between the rivals since a crisis brought them close to war in May.

Punjab, home to some 150 million people, is a vital part of Pakistan’s agricultural sector and is the country’s main wheat producer.

Ferocious flooding in 2022 wiped out huge swathes of crops in the east and south of the country, leading Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to warn that the country faced food shortages.

Jack James Ryan has opened up about his role in the upcoming ITV drama I Fought The Law, which sees him starring alongside Sheridan Smith in the four-part series

Coronation Street and Passenger star Jack James Ryan was left starstruck after working alongside Sheridan Smith on the ITV series, I Fought The Law. The 29-year-old actor, who has become a familiar face in British households, landed a role in the drama, which tells the real-life story of Ann Ming’s fight to change the Double Jeopardy Law and bring her daughter Julie Hogg’s murderer to justice.

Despite spending four months on set, Manchester-born Jack still found himself “geeking out” over his co-star Sheridan, 44. Speaking exclusively to the Mirror, he said: “People say ‘Oh I’ve always loved this actor’ but when I knew that I was going to be playing alongside Sheridan, I couldn’t believe it.”

He continued: “It was just amazing, I have followed her career as a young actor and been totally inspired by the work that she’s done, so getting to spend the last four months watching her work and stealing everything was the best, so much better than drama school.”

Jack also revealed that Sheridan has an incredible ability to instantly “switch on” and get into character at a moment’s notice following a break in filming.

“She is absolutely breathtaking,” he enthused. “To be surrounded by these actors, it has an absolutely great supporting cast throughout the series, so to be surrounded by them felt like I’d won the lottery – this is the type of work that I’ve always dreamed of doing.”

Discussing the show, Jack revealed: “I’ve never been in anything that was based on a true case, or any of the characters have been real, it’s always been fictional stuff. Straight away you feel the pressure to do it justice. Sheridan plays the trailblazer, Ann Ming, who has done so much for raising awareness in the work that she’s done.

“I know that we all felt the pressure, Sheridan and everyone, to do this story justice and deliver it in a sensitive way that was going to be impactful and honouring the people that we’ve lost. And also the people that are still fighting for justice, it wasn’t easy but it was also incredibly exciting to be a part of something which felt like it has the opportunity to really help and change people and have a real impact for the better.

“I’m really, really excited for this to come out, and I think it’s going to be, it’s going to be a really different side to me that people haven’t seen before,” he stated, adding there was a “quite a visual transformation.”

I Fought The Law will explore how Ann and Julie’s relatives coped with her baffling vanishing in Cleveland back in November 1989 after completing her shift at a neighbourhood pizza restaurant. Julie had maintained an extremely strong bond with her parents, Ann and Charlie. She was just 22 when she was killed.

Julie’s remains were found by her mother 80 days after they were concealed behind the panel of her bath by her killer. Nevertheless, her terraced property had been meticulously examined by forensics teams in the days following her disappearance.

The series, adapted from Ann’s memoir, For The Love of Julie, also features Daniel York Lou as Charlie Ming and Enzo Cilenti as DS Mark Brathwaite.

Additionally, Marlowe Chan-Reeves, Olivia Ng, Jake Davies, Victoria Wyant, Kent Riley and Rufus Jones all feature in the programme. Previously, Jack joined forces as a Movember ambassador – championing awareness of men’s mental health and urging blokes to open up.

Looking back on his involvement with the Movember campaign, he explained: “I was already well aware of the amazing work that Movember has done and does for raising awareness and funds for male mental health, just to be a small part of history moving forward is very exciting. It’s such an exciting project and a really meaningful project to get behind, male mental health is so under-reported and so unspoken about.”

I Fought The Law airs tonoght at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX.

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DESMOND HOWARD has signed a big-money extension with ESPN.

The 55-year-old former wide receiver will continue his 20-year stint at the broadcaster following negotiations.

1

The Heisman trophy winner said: “I am thrilled to continue this journey with ESPN.

“There’s nothing I’d rather be doing during the fall than showcasing the incredible sport that we all love alongside my College GameDay family.”

The channel’s content president Burke Magnus was thrilled with the new deal.

He said: “Desmond has played a pivotal role in ESPN and College GameDay’s success for two decades, so we’re thrilled that the Heisman Trophy winner and one of college football’s all-time greats will continue to offer his analysis and perspective – and, of course, occasional friendly jabs – across our coverage.”

The former Michigan Wolverines ace gave one of the most iconic highlights of all time when he struck the famous trophy pose after a return touchdown against archrival Ohio State. 

Howard also etched his place in football history as one of only four men to win the Heisman and the Super Bowl MVP. 

Howard landed that honour with the Green Bay Packers, scoring a kickoff return touchdown to help lead the team to a victory in Super Bowl XXXI.

Michigan retired Howard’s iconic No. 21 jersey in 2015 after he was the first receiver in Big Ten history to lead the conference in scoring. 

Howard set or tied five NCAA records and 12 single-season Michigan records.

In 1991, he won the Heisman Trophy by the second-largest margin in history, claiming 85 percent of the vote.

WASHINGTON — President Trump’s attempt to fire a member of the Federal Reserve’s governing board has raised alarms among economists and legal experts who see it as the biggest threat to the central bank’s independence in decades.

The consequences could affect most Americans’ everyday lives: Economists worry that if Trump gets what he wants — a loyal Fed that sharply cuts short-term interest rates — the result would likely be higher inflation and, over time, higher borrowing costs for things like mortgages, car loans and business loans.

Trump on Monday sought to fire Lisa Cook, the first Black woman appointed to the Fed’s seven-member Board of Governors. It was the first time in the Fed’s 112-year history that a president has tried to fire a governor.

Fed independence ‘hangs by a thread’

Trump and members of his administration have made no secret about their desire to exert more control over the Fed. Trump has repeatedly demanded that the central bank cut its key rate to as low as 1.3%, from its current level of 4.3%.

Before trying to fire Cook, Trump repeatedly attacked the Fed’s chair, Jerome Powell, for not cutting the short-term interest rate and threatened to fire him as well.

“We’ll have a majority very shortly, so that’ll be good,” Trump said Tuesday, a reference to the fact that if he is able to replace Cook, his appointees will control the Fed’s board by a 4-3 vote.

“The particular case of Governor Cook is not as important as what this latest move shows about the escalation in the assaults on the Fed,” said Jon Faust, an economist at Johns Hopkins and former advisor to Powell. “In my view, Fed independence really now hangs by a thread.”

Some economists do think the Fed should cut more quickly, though virtually none agrees with Trump that it should do so by 3 percentage points. Powell has signaled the Fed is likely to cut by a quarter point in September.

Why economists prefer independent central banks

The Fed wields extensive power over the U.S. economy. By cutting the short-term interest rate it controls — which it typically does when the economy falters — the Fed can make borrowing cheaper and encourage more spending, growth and hiring. When it raises the rate to combat the higher prices that come with inflation, it can weaken the economy and cause job losses.

Most economists have long preferred independent central banks because they can take unpopular steps that elected officials are more likely to avoid. Economic research has shown that nations with independent central banks typically have lower inflation over time.

Elected officials like Trump, however, have much greater incentives to push for lower interest rates, which make it easier for Americans to buy homes and cars and would boost the economy in the short run.

A political Fed could boost inflation

Douglas Elmendorf, an economist at Harvard and former director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, said that Trump’s demand for the Fed to cut its key rate by 3 percentage points would overstimulate the economy, lifting consumer demand above what the economy can produce and boosting inflation — similar to what happened during the COVID-19 pandemic emergency.

“If the Federal Reserve falls under control of the president, then we’ll end up with higher inflation in this country probably for years to come,” Elmendorf said.

And while the Fed controls a short-term rate, financial markets determine longer-term borrowing costs for mortgages and other loans. And if investors worry that inflation will stay high, they will demand higher yields on government bonds, pushing up borrowing costs across the economy.

In Turkey, for example, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan forced the central bank to keep interest rates low in the early 2020s, even as inflation spiked to 85%. In 2023, Erdogan allowed the central bank more independence, which has helped bring down inflation, but short-term interest rates rose to 50% to fight inflation, and are still 46%.

Other U.S. presidents have badgered the Fed. President Johnson harassed then-Fed Chair William McChesney Martin in the mid-1960s to keep rates low as Johnson ramped up government spending on the Vietnam War and antipoverty programs. And President Nixon pressured then-Chair Arthur Burns to avoid rate hikes in the run-up to the 1972 election. Both episodes are widely blamed for leading to the stubbornly high inflation of the 1960s and ‘70s.

Trump has also argued that the Fed should lower its rate to make it easier for the federal government to finance its tremendous $37-trillion debt load. Yet that threatens to distract the Fed from its congressional mandates of keeping inflation and unemployment low.

Independence vs. accountability

Presidents do have some influence over the Fed through their ability to appoint members of the board, subject to Senate approval. But the Fed was created to be insulated from short-term political pressures. Fed governors are appointed to staggered, 14-year terms to ensure that no single president can appoint too many.

Jane Manners, a law professor at Fordham University, said there is a reason that Congress decided to create independent agencies like the Fed: Lawmakers preferred “decisions that are made from a kind of objective, neutral vantage point grounded in expertise rather than decisions are that are wholly subject to political pressure.”

Yet some Trump administration officials say they want more democratic accountability at the Fed.

In an interview with USA Today, Vice President JD Vance said, “What people who are saying the president has no authority here are effectively saying is that seven economists and lawyers should be able to make an incredibly critical decision for the American people with no democratic input.”

Stephen Miran, a top White House economic advisor, wrote a paper last year advocating for a restructuring of the Fed, including making it much easier for a president to fire governors.

The “overall goal of this design is delivering the economic benefits” of an independent central bank, Miran wrote, “while maintaining a level of accountability that a democratic society must demand.” Trump has nominated Miran to the Fed’s board to replace Adriana Kugler, who stepped down unexpectedly Aug. 1.

There could be more turmoil ahead

Trump said he wants to oust Cook from the Board of Governors because of allegations raised by one of his advisors that she has committed mortgage fraud.

Cook has argued in a lawsuit seeking to block her firing that the claims are a pretext for Trump’s desire to assert more control over the Fed. A court may decide this week whether to temporarily block Cook’s firing while the case makes its way through the legal process.

Cook is accused of claiming two homes as primary residences in July 2021, before she joined the board, which could have led to a lower mortgage rate than if one had been classified as a second home or an investment property. She has suggested in her lawsuit that it may have been a clerical error but hasn’t directly responded to the accusations.

Trump also has personally insulted Powell for months, but his administration now appears much more focused on the Fed’s broader structure.

The Fed makes its interest rate decisions through a committee that consists of the seven governors, including Powell, as well as the 12 presidents of regional Fed banks in cities such as New York, Kansas City and Atlanta. Five of those presidents vote on rates at each meeting. The New York Fed president has a permanent vote, while four others vote on a rotating basis.

While the reserve banks’ boards choose their presidents, the Fed board in Washington can vote to reject them. All 12 presidents will need to be reappointed and approved by the board in February, which could become more contentious if the board votes down one or more of the 12 presidents.

Reappointing the reserve bank presidents and upending that structure would be “the nuclear scenario,” said Adam Posen, president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

That, he said, “would be the signal that things are truly going off the rails.”

Rugaber writes for the Associated Press.

There’s another Catholic school sports scandal under way, and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles apparently was the only one who didn’t see it coming.

On Saturday, Bishop Montgomery in Torrance announced football coach and co-athletic director Ed Hodgkiss was no longer employed by the school.

In other words, he was fired.

He’s apparently going to be the fall guy for five Bishop Montgomery transfer students being declared ineligible by the Southern Section, multiple Bishop Montgomery suspensions imposed after players left the bench with 24 seconds left in a loss in Hawaii and Bishop Montgomery having to forfeit to No. 1 Mater Dei on Friday because of lack of players.

People in the Southern California football community have been talking about Bishop Montgomery for months as they saw one transfer after another welcomed to the school. Southern Section officials waited for weeks to receive the transfers’ paperwork. Five players were declared in violation of CIF bylaw 202, which includes providing false information.

If a school trying to rapidly improve its football program with short cuts sounds familiar, it is.

In 2020, St. Bernard turned to former Narbonne coach Manuel Douglas, who won eight City titles. Douglas was forced out at Narbonne and didn’t coach in 2019 after a nine-month Los Angeles Unified School District investigation. Narbonne was banned from the 2019 playoffs and forced to forfeit its 2018 City title for use of an ineligible player.

Douglas later resigned in the spring of 2020 when he came under an FBI and IRS investigation over money received from a Narbonne booster to pay for a trip to Hawaii while coaching at Narbonne.

St. Bernard proceeded to drop its football program in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

This past week, a spokeswoman for the archdiocese wrote in an email in response to a request for an update about Bishop Montgomery, “The investigation is ongoing and there are no developments to share at this time. The school and the Department of Catholic Schools are in communication with the CIF Southern Section office as the investigation continues.”

Last spring, Bishop Montgomery’s new principal, Michele Starkey, was asked by The Times in a phone call, whose participants included new school president Patrick Lee, if she was aware of any involvement by the same Narbonne booster tied to Douglas’ resignation in Bishop Montgomery’s program. She said no.

The archdiocese should start its investigation right there. Players don’t start suddenly showing up from all over Southern California with no reason.

Lessons were not learned. Players from last year’s Bishop Montgomery team saw what was happening and transferred out. Maybe the Archdiocese should ask them what was happening.

A Bishop Montgomery parent wrote in a letter to The Times, “Returning players were demoted, excluded from trips or quit; Archdiocesan Catholic values appear secondary to short-term athletic exposure; despite my June outreach to the school, no reply ever came.”

Messages left for Hodgkiss and Lee on Saturday were not returned.

It’s another big mess for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles to clean up, and it was very much preventable if lessons from the past had been learned.

The announcement came hours after overnight Russian strikes on energy sites left 60,000 Ukrainians without electricity.

Ukraine intends to strike deep into Russia following a large Russian drone attack that left 60,000 Ukrainians without electricity, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.

Speaking on Sunday after a meeting with his top general, Oleksandr Syrskii, the Ukrainian president confirmed the new planned strikes on X.

Both sides have intensified their air strikes in recent weeks, with Moscow attacking Ukraine’s energy and transport systems as well as launching deadly strikes in recent days on civilian areas in Kyiv and Zaporizhia, and Ukraine targeting Russian oil refineries and pipelines.

Overnight, Russian drones hit four energy facilities in Ukraine’s Odesa region, according to the private energy company DTEK. The strikes left 29,000 people without electricity, local authorities reported.

The port city of Chornomorsk near Odesa, where one person was injured, was the worst-affected place, regional Governor Oleh Kiper wrote on Telegram. “Critical infrastructure is operating on generators,” he said.

DTEK said emergency repair work would start following the all-clear from the Ukrainian military, which reported that in total, Russia had attacked Ukraine with 142 drones, all but 10 of which it claimed to have downed.

The Russian military suggested on Sunday that it had shot down 112 Ukrainian drones in the past 24 hours.

Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov blamed Europe for the continuation of the war and for hampering United States President Donald Trump’s peace efforts.

“The European warring party is maintaining its fundamental course; it is not giving in,” he said from the sidelines of a summit in China, in a reference to the European Union’s arms deliveries to Ukraine.

His words came just days after a Russian air strike killed at least 23 people and damaged EU diplomatic offices in central Kyiv.

Speaking just hours before Trump’s deadline for Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Zelenskyy, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he thought the war, which began more than three and a half years ago, would not finish soon.

“I am preparing myself inwardly for this war to last a long time,” he told the public broadcaster ZDF on Sunday, noting that diplomatic efforts to bring the conflict to an end could not come “at the price of Ukraine’s capitulation”.

Elsewhere, Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, travelled to Poland on Sunday as part of her tour of EU states that border Russia and its ally Belarus.

Speaking alongside the Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, von der Leyen called Putin a “predator” who could only be kept in check through “strong deterrence”.

The EU Commission president also said that member states bordering Russia and Belarus would receive additional funding from the bloc, calling the defence of its borders a “shared responsibility”.

While the EU continues to highlight Russia’s security risk for the wider continent, the Kremlin has sought to embellish its military achievements in a bid to make its victory in Ukraine seem inevitable, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a US think tank.

In its latest assessment of the conflict, ISW said that Russian army chief General Valery Gerasimov’s claims on Saturday about Russian gains were exaggerated.

The Russian general had suggested that the Kremlin’s forces had captured 3,500sq km [1,351sq miles] of territory and 149 settlements since the start of March.

“Gerasimov’s claims notably inflate Russian gains by roughly 1,200 square kilometres [463sq miles] and 19 settlements,” the ISW said.

Abu Obeida, the spokesman for Hamas’s armed wing, has been killed in an air strike in Gaza City, Israel has said.

Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz congratulated the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Israel’s security agency, Shin Bet, for the “flawless execution” in a post on X.

He gave no detail on the time or location of the operation, but the IDF earlier said its aircraft attacked “a key terrorist” in the al-Rimal neighbourhood on Saturday, prompting reports in Israeli media that Obeida had been the target.

Hamas has not confirmed his death. The Palestinian armed group earlier said dozens of civilians were killed and injured in Israeli strikes on a residential building in the district.

Katz warned on Sunday that many more of Obeida’s “criminal partners” would be targeted with “the intensification of the campaign in Gaza” – a reference to a recently approved Israeli plan to seize control of Gaza City.

Separately, the IDF and Shin Bet offered more details about Saturday’s strikes that targeted the Hamas spokesman.

They said in a joint statement that the operation had been “made possible due to prior intelligence gathered by [Shin Bet] and the IDF’s Intelligence Directorate” that had identified his hiding place.

Obeida was among the few remaining senior members of Hamas’s military wing from before its deadly 7 October 2023 attack on southern Israel.

Five missiles struck the second and third floor of the six-storey apartment in the al-Rimal neighbourhood building simultaneously from two different directions.

The flat that was targeted had been used as a dentist’s surgery. Witnesses reported seeing hundreds of thousands of dollars flying in the air after the strikes, with large sums stolen by locals but later recovered by Hamas.

The joint statement said Obeida “served as the public face of the Hamas terrorist organization” and “disseminated Hamas’ propaganda”.

Over the past few years, Obeida – believed to be about 40 years old – delivered a number of long diatribes against Israel on behalf of Hamas’s military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades.

Always masked in a Palestinian scarf, he became an idol to Hamas supporters throughout the Middle East.

In what may have been his final speech on Friday, Obeida said the fate of remaining Israeli hostages would be the same as that of Hamas fighters, warning Israel against its planned invasion of Gaza City.

Local journalists reported that at least seven people had been killed and 20 injured in the strikes on the densely populated al-Rimal neighbourhood, with children among the casualties.

Mohammed Emad, who runs a barbershop just 100m (328ft) from the site, told the BBC that “the blasts were terrifying – I couldn’t move for more than an hour”.

He added: “I can’t believe I’m still alive. I saw injured children with blood covering their faces, and people were running in every direction as if the world had ended.”

The IDF said that prior to the attack “many steps were taken to reduce the chance of harming civilians, including the use of precision weapons, aerial observations, and additional intelligence information”.

BBC News has been unable to independently verify the claims of either the IDF or Hamas.

In early August, Israel’s security cabinet approved a plan to seize control of Gaza City in a fresh offensive, with the stated aim of bringing the 22-month-long war to an end.

The UN has repeatedly warned that a complete military takeover would risk “catastrophic consequences” for Palestinian civilians and Israeli hostages held in Gaza. The UK’s ambassador to Israel has said it would be “a huge mistake”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to defeat Hamas and defied international criticism of his plans to expand the war.

Israel’s military operation in Gaza began in response to the Hamas-led 7 October attack, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage. Since then, more than 63,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.

While the operation to capture Gaza City has yet to begin in earnest, Israeli attacks on the city – where nearly a million people live – have been ongoing.

One local resident told the BBC that the same apartment building struck on Saturday had already been hit in an earlier Israeli air raid months ago.

The Israeli military has said it plans to evacuate Gaza City’s entire population and move it to shelters in the south before troops move in. Most of Gaza’s population has already been displaced many times during the conflict.

More than 90% of the city’s homes are estimated to be damaged or destroyed, and the healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene systems have collapsed.

Last week, conditions of famine were confirmed in Gaza City and its surrounding areas for the first time.

THREE protesters have been arrested after a police officer was punched in a busy shopping centre.

Masked demonstrators became “aggressive” as a peaceful protest took place on the Isle of Dogs, central London, this afternoon.

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Police said that a small group made their way into the Canary Wharf shopping centre before becoming hostile towards officers.

Following the unrest, cops ordered crowds to remove their masks under Section 60 AA and called in reinforcements.

A Section 35 was also put in place, forcing demonstrators to leave the area.

Shocking footage on social media showed cops tackling protesters to the ground.

The Met confirmed arrests had been made for common assault, possession of drugs and assault on police.

In a statement, the force said: “We have been facilitating peaceful anti-asylum protest on the Isle of Dogs this afternoon.

“Protesters, including some masked, moved into the Canary Wharf shopping centre where a small group became aggressive towards cops.

“We are aware there are young children in the protest area.

“While we deal with any criminality our officers are ensuring the safety of them is paramount.

“One of our officers was punched in the face – luckily they have not suffered significant injury.”

Yesterday, five people were arrested after demonstrators tried to force their way into a migrant hotel in West Drayton, west London.

The Met said a group of masked men attempted to force their way into the Crowne Plaza hotel following peaceful protests.

Nationwide protests were sparked after the landmark ruling to boot migrants out of the Bell Hotel in Essex was overturned.

Epping Forest District Council last week won a bid at the High Court to block migrants from being housed at the hotel.

The temporary injunction meant that the building has to be cleared of its occupants by September 12.

But on Friday, the Court of Appeal overturned the injunction following an appeal by the Home Office and hotel owners Somani.

The latest ruling means the migrants can stay where they are for the time being.

And demonstrations have since continued to spread, with 19 councils vowing to take legal action to boot asylum seekers out of hotels.

The hotel in Essex, has been at the centre of protests after two of its guests were charged with sexual offences.

Angie Claire, 56, who has five grandchildren aged under seven, was protesting outside the building on Friday night.

She told the Sun: “I think it’s absolutely disgusting for the safety of the children in the area.

“I’ve got nothing against immigrants but when they’re causing trouble and problems with our children, they need to be moved on.

“I think they should go home. Why should our government be funding all of this? I think it’s disgusting.

“My children grew up here and they were safe. We never had a worry in the world.

“Now there’s a fear of our children even walking out the front doors so I think it’s best they go.”

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