Month: October 2026

Missing a number of experienced players, including captain Simone Magill, Laura Rafferty and Nadene Caldwell, McArdle handed a debut to defender Jane McMaster and first caps to Kess Elmore and Charlotte Havern off the bench.

McMaster responded well after giving away the early penalty for Encarnacao’s opener, while Kelmore was lively in the second half and, at 16, it was a big moment for Cliftonville’s Havern to be introduced with 10 minutes remaining.

“It’s fundamental, especially for our younger players, to get this exposure,” McArdle added.

“It’s a risk and it’s brave, but it’s one that will definitely 100% stand strong with us in the long term.

“It will give us that sustainable opportunity to qualify for tournaments in the longer run because we need our younger players to get this exposure, but also for a lot of our senior players as well.”

After impressing in the second half before Pinto’s goal took the wind out of their sails, McArdle said his players will “hurt for the next 24 hours or so” but regroup for the second leg.

Northern Ireland will be without Chambers, who was sent off in the closing stages for grabbing the hair of Carolina Correia.

“There’s the travel over to Portugal thrown in to allow us to relax a wee bit afterwards.

“But once we get there, we’ll look forward to Tuesday again.

“We’re trying to qualify, but there is a longer process as well that we’ll use Tuesday night for.”

The recovered Renoir paintings, valued at millions, were stolen in a daring heist at Cagnes-sur-Mer last month.

Two paintings by the French Impressionist artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir that were stolen from a museum in southern France a month ago have been recovered, the town’s mayor said.

“These two paintings are not simply works of art. They are part of our city’s history,” Bryan Masson, the mayor of Cagnes-sur-Mer, near Nice, said on Friday. “Knowing they have been recovered is an immense relief.”

Six people have been arrested in connection with the theft, local authorities said. Masson did not say where the paintings were found or in what condition.

How the theft unfolded

Two thieves broke into the Renoir Museum a little before 6am on September 8, cutting through a fence to enter the grounds, smashing a window and using an electric saw to cut the clips securing the frames, Masson said at the time.

He described them as “well equipped” and “well informed”.

The museum alarm sounded at 5:48am, and municipal police arrived five minutes later, forcing the thieves to flee.

They had taken four paintings, valued by the mayor at about nine million euros ($10.5m).

Two of the stolen works – Renoir’s “Portrait of Madame Pichon” and “Coco Reading” – were later found dropped in the museum garden, the prosecutor’s office said at the time.

The two works that remained missing were “Portrait of Madame Colonna Romano” and “Young Woman at the Well”, the office said.

Police said last month that the thieves were not first-time offenders and had scoped out the premises.

The Marseille prosecutor opened a theft investigation into an organised gang, and the national office for trafficking in cultural goods joined the probe.

A string of museum heists

The museum, opened in 1960, is in the painter’s last home, where he died in 1919.

“This incident should serve as a warning about the protection of our museums,” Masson said after the robbery.

The theft came less than a year after jewels worth about $100m were stolen from the Louvre in Paris in a daylight robbery.

The four suspected robbers have been arrested, but the jewels have not been found.

In August, Italian police said they had recovered paintings by Renoir, Cezanne and Matisse worth more than $10.4m that were stolen from a museum in March.

It was only Adéla’s second headlining show in Los Angeles — and she was only about 20 minutes into it — but the ascendant pop star already had an apology she needed to get off her chest.

“The next song that I’m gonna sing is a little bit awkward,” she said Thursday night at the Fonda Theatre. “So I’m gonna need y’all to bear with me as I explain why I made a song called ‘The Baddest Bitches Ain’t in L.A.,’ OK?”

Added Adéla: “Please don’t boo.”

To be precise, the song in question is titled “Ain’t in L.A.” — a woozy banger from the 22-year-old’s buzzy debut album, “Prima.” But you took her point: Here she was in front of a hyped-up crowd that included Chappell Roan and members of the girl group Katseye, and what she was about to tell us is that true coolness lies elsewhere.

Based on her assertion that the Hollywood dream machine is “all a lie,” “Ain’t in L.A.” looks back with scorn at Adéla’s experience as a first-round flameout on “Dream Academy,” the build-a-band reality series that documented Katseye’s creation under the watchful eye of the K-pop kingpin Bang Si-hyuk. At the Fonda, Adéla recounted moving here from her native Slovakia and working alongside the show’s other contestants to “try to become pop stars together,” she said.

“And guess what? That didn’t work out for me. But it did for them.” She peered up at the venue’s balcony. “Shout out to y’all,” she said.

Except now it’s working out for Adéla too: Thursday’s show was the first of two at the Fonda behind last month’s release of “Prima,” whose title nods to the singer’s background as a ballet dancer; in addition to “Ain’t in L.A.,” which has more than 190 million streams on Spotify, the album has spun off a second hit in “Nicole Kidman,” which reached No. 1 on that platform’s U.S. singles chart thanks in part to the enthusiastic embrace of the Hollywood meme queen herself.

This week, Kidman appeared in a viral TikTok video showing her, Kristen Wiig, Pedro Pascal and Dua Lipa lip syncing to “Nicole Kidman” at a Chanel fashion show in Paris.

Adéla’s breakthrough comes amid a broader surge by a generation of young pop singers — think of Slayyyter and think of Tinashe — finding success with music that plays up rather than sands down its rough edges; each is working in the wake of Charli XCX’s influential “Brat,” which offered new ways to think about how pop balances polish and filth, swagger and confession.

Adéla made “Prima” with the producers Dylan Brady (of the duo 100 gecs) and Blake Slatkin (who’s scored hits with Lizzo and Justin Bieber); together the three get an appealingly scuzzy sound that puts chirpy vocal hooks over serrated club beats à la “Blackout”-era Britney Spears. What I’m saying, basically, is that the indie-sleaze revival is real.

At the Fonda, Adéla brought her songs to life on a stage that was bare except for a ballet barre, which she and a small crew of dancers used to execute choreography that grew raunchier and more elaborate as the show progressed. Both she and a guy danced en pointe; Adéla never went long without whipping her long pink hair, which was one style choice widely replicated throughout the room.

Before she closed with “Nicole Kidman,” the singer sat down at the front of the stage with her journal and told the crowd she wanted to “take a second and manifest a little bit.” She asked the universe to give her a long career, and she asked that her fans, after having gotten home safe, remember this night forever. She also asked — again — that L.A. not be mad at her for writing “Ain’t in L.A.”

“I really do feel bad,” she said, and not a boo could be heard.

Mikel Arteta says his conscience is clear over Manchester City’s Premier League rule breaches during a period when he was assistant manager at the club.

The Arsenal boss worked under Pep Guardiola between 2016 and 2019, which overlapped with the nine seasons during which City have been found to have broken rules and disguised secret funding of more than £830m.

In his first news conference since the ruling – which the club has appealed – Arteta attempted to bat away questions, saying he wanted to “respect” the ongoing process.

However, towards the end of more than half an hour of questioning, he was asked: “You were at City for three and a half years, is your conscience clear? You had a senior position there, is your conscience clear?”

Arteta answered: “Yes”.

His answer was one word, but it was arguably the most revealing part of the whole interaction.

It was the only occasion where the Spaniard did not in some way revert to his messaging about not giving opinions on the case until such a time as there is a resolution.

Arteta was at no point combative, but it was clear he arrived at Arsenal‘s training ground with a response he was determined to stick to.

Asked if he had spoken to Guardiola, he added: “I prefer not to answer those questions.”

Arteta was asked for his reaction to the damning report from the independent commission, which found City had arranged “sham contracts” with a number of commercial partners to disguise earnings.

He said: “I fully understand the question, but obviously I think it’s very important that we respect the process, the timelines, and it’s still an ongoing process that is not resolved because it’s been appealed.

“My position, and I think the club’s position, is not to make any further comments until this is fully resolved.”

When asked if he thought, that to preserve the integrity of the Premier League, the appeal and sanction needed to be resolved this season, he replied: “The people are responsible to manage this process and to come to the right conclusions and I’m sure it will be done and it will be resolved in the right way. We have to trust that.”

Arteta also added he “100%” believed the Premier League remains the best in the world.

Arsenal, who sit three points behind league leaders City, face fifth-placed Leeds on Saturday at Emirates Stadium.

Negotiators aim to present a proposal to Russia in the coming weeks, meanwhile Putin says resumption of talks unlikely.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said an immediate resumption of peace talks with Ukraine is unlikely, citing drone attacks on Moscow during parliamentary elections last month.

In a phone call with US President Donald Trump on Friday, Putin said Moscow was ready to resume negotiations with Kyiv after the parliamentary elections. However, the drone attacks on the capital made the resumption of trilateral peace talks between Russia, Ukraine and the US unlikely.

“By launching a large-scale drone attack on Moscow, other cities and polling stations on the most important day of the elections, and by targeting some people involved in organising the elections, the Kyiv regime has, in reality, interrupted the possibility of an immediate resumption of the negotiation process,” said Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov about the call with Trump.

“As the president said, we will now assess when these negotiations can resume,” he added regarding the trilateral talks.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday that Russia’s war in Ukraine is at a dangerous stalemate and the United States will keep working towards a deal to end the war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier this week that the country was ready to hold trilateral talks with the United States and Russia this month.

US-Russia diesel deal

Earlier on Friday, Donald Trump announced after the call with Putin that Russia agreed to deliver more than 300,000 tonnes of diesel to American and global markets.

The deal was criticised by US lawmakers, Zelenskyy and European allies.

Zelenskyy called the agreement a “gift to Putin”.

“All that money goes toward the war against people, against Ukraine, against all of us. I believe our team is simply being used as a smokescreen. And that is certainly not fair,” he said in a statement.

In response to the US-Russia diesel deal, a government spokesperson said the United Kingdom would continue to “maintain pressure on Russia through the toughest sanctions regime ever imposed by the UK.”

Iran’s IRGC says it struck a “giant LPG gas carrier named NV Sunshine” that was “attempting to pass through the illegal route” south of the Strait of Hormuz.

The Big Brother house has said goodbye to yet another contestant

A divisive housemate has just been kicked out of the Big Brother house.

The ITV2 competition returned to screens tonight (October 9) for its hotly-anticipated live eviction. The housemates nominated face-to-face earlier this week, leaving carer Pauline and radio presenter Rob at risk of elimination.

Pauline, 31, had received five nominations from Lynx, Philip, Rhianna, Rochelle and Catrin. While 25-year-old Rob received six nominations from Frankie, Lynx, Omar, Philip, Rhianna and Yasmin.

This eviction marked Pauline’s third week being nominated for the public vote in just four weeks, and the Essex-based star was naturally upset to be facing the chopping block yet again. Her response to being nominated sparked a huge row in the house after newcomer Catrin broke down in tears because Pauline refused to speak to her after the face-to-face vote.

Tensions boiled over when Rochelle, 57, found the teaching assistant in tears and decided to confront Pauline. Their heated spat ended with Big Brother issuing a formal warning to Pauline for “unacceptable behaviour”. But has she managed to survive yet another eviction?

Who left Big Brother tonight?

Pauline has been evicted from the Big Brother house following a public vote. Her exit stunned her co-stars and left Yasmin in tears. But the 31-year-old was in good spirits as she danced her way out of the famous house.

Fans were quick to react to the eviction and took to social media to share their thoughts on who was sent packing. “Very disappointing Pauline had to leave just as Twinks brought her back to life. Things were just getting interesting! #bbuk,” commented one.

Someone else shared: “We are getting rid of too many big characters week after week. Can we get rid of some of the deadwood please. We need to keep the drama going #BBUK.”

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Yet another supporter said: “Either option would have been horrible there but happy that Pauline can finally get a bit of peace,” with a fourth fan praising: “at least she came out grinning and dancing! #bbuk.”

Others have been left regretting their votes, with one viewer stating: “We voted the wrong person out. She was finally coming out her shell. Regret voting Pauline now:( #BBUK.”

Tonight’s eviction also came with major news as hosts AJ Odudu and Will Best welcomed The Only Way Is Essex star Gemma Collins into the house as a special guest.

Big Brother returns to ITV2 and ITVX on Sunday (October 11) at 9pm

Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday appointed 13 judges to Superior Court seats, including four posts in Los Angeles County. All but one of the appointees are Democrats.

Brown filled the Los Angeles County Superior Court vacancies with Julie Fox Blackshaw, deputy counsel to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa; H. Jay Ford, currently a commissioner in the county court; Gregorio Roman, a deputy public defender; and private-practice lawyer Douglas Stern of Rancho Palos Verdes.

Blackshaw was a federal court special master from 2002 to 2010, and before that served as legal counsel for a Los Angeles police review commission. She takes the seat being vacated by the retirement of Judge Joan Comparet-Cassani.

In a 1992 story in The Times, Blackshaw was credited with winning the then-largest criminal fine ever levied in a defense contracting fraud case, while working part-time as an assistant U.S. attorney and taking care of her infant daughter.

Brown also named Tracie L. Brown, Harry M. Dorfman and Rochelle C. East to judgeships in the San Francisco County Superior Court, and Erin Alexander and Lisa Rogan to judgeships in the San Bernardino County Superior Court.

He appointed Patricia Guerrero and Michael Popkins to the San Diego County Superior Court.

ALSO:

California fires contractor on tech project

Overhaul of state payroll system at risk of collapse

Half-finished $208-million DMV technology overhaul canceled

paige.stjohn@latimes.com

Dana White has credited Eddie Hearn for making sure the long-awaited fight between Tyson Fury and Antony Joshua will be held in the UK but insisted he was “bored” of their ongoing feud.

The heavyweight bout will take place at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff – despite efforts to host it New York’s Madison Square Garden – on a bill that starts on 11 December, though they are not expected to fight until the early hours of 12 December.

White and Saudi Arabian organisers wanted the bout in the United States, but Joshua and his promoter Hearn refused to budge on their contractual right to have it in the UK.

“You’ve got to give credit to Eddie for really grinding that and making sure that it happened in the UK,” UFC president and Zuffa Boxing chief White told Steve Bunce on the 5 Live Boxing with Bunce podcast.

However, there had been doubts over the contest because of a dispute over the role of White in the promotion of the event.

The fight, which will be shown on Netflix, has been presented as a collaboration between Saudi boxing powerbroker Turki Alalshikh’s The Ring and White.

Hearn has been publicly feuding with White since the launch of Zuffa Boxing earlier this year and said his involvement in the fight “ain’t happening”.

But, Fury and Joshua held a news conference on 30 September, to ease concerns over their fight.

Five Syrians and one Lebanese wounded in latest Israeli attack, officials say.

An Israeli drone attack has wounded six people in Lebanon’s Hermel district, close to the Syrian border, according to the Lebanese health ministry.

The ministry said on Friday that the six wounded included five Syrian nationals, two of them women, and one Lebanese.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported that the drone attack targeted a car.

It added the area has largely been spared such attacks since an Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire was agreed in June.

Israel’s military claimed it struck “a Syrian terrorist” who “operated under the direction of the Iranian regime”, alleging that the man “planned and advanced attacks” against Israeli forces in Syria’s southern territory.

Since the ouster of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes against Syria. It has sent troops into a UN-patrolled buffer zone that had separated Israeli and Syrian forces in the Golan since 1974, and has carried out repeated incursions deeper into Syrian territory, sometimes seizing residents.

Israel has also continued to attack Lebanon since a ceasefire with Hezbollah was agreed in June.

It has vowed to keep troops in so-called security zones along its border in both Syria and Lebanon.

Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa told the UN General Assembly last month: “We reject Israeli attempts to impose a fait accompli. We reject their aggressions, which undermine peace and security.”

He said Israel had carried out “500 air strikes, more than 1,200 incursions and 300 detentions” in Syria.

He also called for Israeli withdrawal from Syrian territory and for the international community to commit to a 1974 agreement that created a UN-supervised separation zone between Israeli and Syrian forces.

Hayden Panettiere‘s former fiancé, Wladimir Klitschko, was granted temporary guardianship of her estate on Friday, following the actor’s sudden death in August.

Klitschko appeared in virtual court on Thursday alongside their 11-year-old daughter Kaya, according to People.

Kaya is the sole heir of the estate of the “Heroes” star, who on Aug. 16 was found unresponsive in a Greenville, S.C., residence. The Greenville County Coroner’s Office ruled the death an accidental overdose involving several drugs, including fentanyl.

Klitschko filed a petition in a Los Angeles County court on Sept. 24, requesting that he be allowed to act as Kaya’s representative. The Ukrainian boxer and Olympic gold medalist has had full custody of their daughter since 2018.

The filing cites items that were seized from her home in a federal investigation with no assurance that they will be returned, as well as unauthorized people who gained access to her Los Angeles residence.

“Without an immediate appointment for these purposes, there is a high probability that property belonging to Hayden’s Estate may be lost, damaged or dissipated before a duly appointed personal representative can be in place to protect it,” the filing stated.

According to the petition, Panettiere and Klitschko hired security before her death to protect her home because an unnamed person gained access inside. Her ex-fiancé feared that the same person would continue to “misappropriate” items belonging to the actor’s estate.

A day before their Oct. 8 court date, Klitschko submitted a supplemental claim to the earlier petition where he believed someone from outside of Panettiere’s family was selling some of her possessions, including jewelry, to a pawn shop, per ABC News.

In addition to seeking guardianship, Klitschko also asked the courts to grant him the ability to “request and authorize law enforcement investigation into the recovery of Hayden’s property believed to have been misappropriated.”

Panettiere and Klitschko had an on-and-off relationship between 2009 and 2018 and were briefly engaged in 2013. In 2014, the “Nashville” and “Ice Princess” star welcomed their daughter, but relinquished full custody to Klitschko in 2018 due to her struggles with postpartum depression and substance abuse.

“It was the hardest thing I could do,” she said during a 2022 appearance on “Red Table Talk.” “But the best thing for my daughter was to make sure she was OK, take care of myself and make sure I could be a good mom to her. And sometimes that means letting go.”

Klitschko has always spoken highly of Panettiere, lamenting his loss on Instagram, where he shared a picture of the two with Kaya (with an orange dot covering her face) on Aug. 18. In his post, he stated that the family was going through “profound shock and grief.” He also acknowledged his ex-fiancé’s experience navigating demands of the entertainment industry.

“Nothing will erase the times we shared or the place she had in our lives,” he wrote in the Instagram caption. “To our daughter Kaya, I will always speak of her mother with respect and make sure she remembers the person she was.”

The next hearing is scheduled for Dec. 7, when permanent guardianship of the estate will be decided; however Kaya does not need to be present.

Times staff writer Alexandra Del Rosario contributed to this report.

Santa Paula voters approved Measure P, an initiative that bars rent increases when a mobile home is sold and was opposed by owners of the city’s six mobile-home parks.

In supporting Measure P’s vacancy controls, voters Tuesday rejected a well-funded campaign by opponents, who said the city would raise taxes to defend the measure in court.

Measure P’s well-organized backers from the city’s 1,500 park residents were forced to scramble late in the campaign after opponents raised more than $47,000 in their attempt to defeat the measure.

In a newspaper-like mailer sent to voters, Measure P’s critics contended that the ballot initiative would also result in shabby parks because of restrictions on the type of repairs that could be charged to park residents.

But supporters increased their efforts after the opposition’s critical mailer and telephone campaigning raised doubts among voters, said Helen Currier, who headed the ballot measure drive.

Rather than rely on the person-to-person campaign that they had planned, supporters placed ads in the local newspaper and on Spanish-language radio stations to combat the high-profile opposition, Currier said.

Others said the park owners had miscalculated by hiring a campaign manager from outside the area.

“They used Los Angeles tactics in a Midwestern-type town,” City Administrator Arnold Dowdy said.

The Portuguese computer hacker who released documents which helped trigger the Premier League investigation into Manchester City will remain in witness protection after authorities in the country suspended the decision to end it.

Football Leaks founder Rui Pinto had been scheduled to leave the protection programme on Saturday, a ruling he previously said had put him in a “life-threatening situation”.

Pinto, 37, disclosed a tranche of confidential football documents, including emails and financial records relating to the English Premier League side.

In 2018, he shared documents with German magazine Der Spiegel, which used them for investigations into City’s finances and alleged breaches of financial fair play rules.

City were recently found guilty of all charges relating to breaches of the Premier League’s financial regulations between the 2009-10 and 2017-18 seasons. They have appealed against the decision.

Pinto became part of Portugal’s witness protection programme in 2020 after agreeing to co-operate with authorities and provide information obtained through the Football Leaks operation.

However, in a statement on Friday,, external Portugal’s Ministry of Justice said a decision to remove Pinto from witness protection had been reversed for the time being, with the body responsible for it – the special security programmes commission – having not adequately “notified” Pinto of grounds for its termination or given him the opportunity to challenge the decision.

Pinto will now be given 10 days to assess a risk assessment conducted by the special security programmes commission that indicates a low threat to his safety.

He posted on X, external thanking Portugal’s Minister of Justice, Rita Alarcao Judice and saying the commission’s initial decision had clearly violated the law and amounted to a “manifest abuse of power”.

Pinto has described himself as a whistleblower, but was convicted in Portugal of offences including illegal access to data and attempted extortion and given a four-year suspended sentence.

He wore a bulletproof vest during his first trial in 2020, which was also subject to heightened security measures.

Earlier this year, he was acquitted of 241 counts of illegally accessing email accounts belonging to a number of sports bodies in Portugal, including Benfica.

Government security forces regain control of Rumbek town after outsiders attempted to take control of the area.

Intercommunal clashes have killed 71 people in South Sudan’s town of Rumbek, in Lakes State, the caretaker government said in a statement.

“According to initial security reports, approximately 71 people were reportedly killed,” including four soldiers, the South Sudanese interim Ministry of Information said in a statement on Friday. The exact number of fatalities has yet to be verified.

According to AFP, witnesses said a group of people from outside Rumbek tried to take control of the town and briefly succeeded. The attackers withdrew when police and military reinforcements arrived. Two witnesses said the fighting moved outside the city limits.

The government statement said, “Rumbek town is currently under the control of Government security forces, and efforts are ongoing to restore normalcy”.

The caretaker government strongly condemned the violence and urged all communities to “exercise maximum restraint and refrain from acts of retaliation that could further escalate tensions”.

Interim government

On September 22, South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir dissolved the transitional government, three months before the country’s first election since its independence in 2011. Kiir appointed a caretaker administration as the country prepares for its first-ever national elections.

His decree ended a power-sharing arrangement set up under a 2018 peace deal that halted a five-year civil war in which about 400,000 people were killed.

Intercommunal conflict has continued across South Sudan, resulting in multiple deadly clashes.

On September 17, 26 people were killed, and 82 were injured during days of fighting in a disputed region on the border between South Sudan and Sudan.

In early March, intercommunal violence left at least 169 people dead after dozens of armed men attacked a town.

CAF had declared the Africa Cup of Nations would be held every four years, but may reverse that decision.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) is reappraising its decision to hold the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) every four years, CAF president Patrice Motsepe declared on Friday, while insisting his organisation did not take orders from FIFA or UEFA.

Motsepe, who last December announced the biennial AFCON would switch to a four-year cycle from 2028, said on Friday that it was “nonsense, absolute rubbish” that CAF was being dictated to by either the world or European governing body.

The decision at the time, bringing the competition to a schedule that aligned with FIFA’s international calendar, rankled many at the 2025 AFCON in Morocco, with some saying it was made with European wishes at heart to the detriment of African interests.

Motsepe, a South African billionaire who is also a vice-president of FIFA, appeared stung by the criticism.

“My No. 1 job, my No. 1 duty is to protect, promote, and advance the interests of Africa,” he said. “And there are times when I have to stand firm and say, ‘Listen, we’re going to fight on this issue.’ And there are times when I have to say, ‘No.’

“The AFCON — because this is one of the issues we’re talking about — we took a decision as Africa because there were lots of issues, but I can guarantee you we have discussed it over the last few days to say we are looking at everything, including having the AFCON coming back every two years,” Motsepe said. “We’re very clear.”

He was speaking at the final day of CAF’s three-day strategy conference in Cape Verde. On Thursday, he reiterated the 54-member body’s “unanimous” support for FIFA’s under-fire president Gianni Infantino, and Infantino reminded his potential election voters of investments FIFA has made for African football since gaining the job 10 years ago.

Motsepe reaffirmed the 2027 Africa Cup will go ahead as planned in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda next year, despite recent media reports from France saying construction projects were not going to schedule and some CAF members were pushing to have the tournament moved.

“You have to believe in Africa. There will be problems, there will be failures, fine, but we will be there. That’s what Mandela taught us,” Motsepe said.

Fan-favourite Gogglebox stars Jenny and Lee have been a staple on the Channel 4 show for 12 years, having joined the show back in 2014.

The Gogglebox star was in hysterics over Jenny’s marriage remark.

Channel 4 viewers tuned in to watch the nation’s favourite armchair critics give their thoughts and reactions on the latest TV shows of the week. However, in between giving their verdicts on the programmes of the week, Gogglebox favourites Jenny and Lee spoke briefly about marriage.

It comes ahead of the stars settling in to watch the latest HBO drama, War, which follows a very public divorce of two well-known figures. Lee asked Jenny: “Would you ever get divorced?”

After a brief pause, she replied: “Don’t know. No, I’d just wait.” Lee burst out laughing at her quick remark about divorce.

Jenny often speaks about her husband, Ray, on the programme, although he’s opted to stay out of the limelight. However, he did make a very brief cameo recently when he phoned Jenny and viewers got to hear his voice.

Last year, Lee shared a throwback image of Jenny on her wedding day to Ray as he celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. He captioned the post: “Wishing my sidekick Jenny and Ray a happy 50th golden wedding anniversary, who gets the medal.”

It wasn’t long before people commented on the post, with many praising Ray’s ‘epic’ sideburns. One person said, “Ray should get a medal for those sideburns alone. Epic.”

Someone else added, “Jeez, those sideburns have a life of their own.” While another said: “Bl**dy hell, look at those side burns. You could ski down them.”

Although Ray was offered to join Jenny on the Channel 4 show when she was first scouted at Beverley Races Ladies’ Day in 2014, he declined, prompting her best friend Lee to take his place on the couch.

The pair have been friends since 1994 when Lee met Jenny at the pub when she was a landlady. Speaking to Ireland’s Big Issue magazine, Jenny commented: “Lee was a customer at my pub, The Crown Inn in Paull. He became a regular in 1994 and used to come in pretty much every night with his partner and we were friends from the off. We’ve been best friends ever since.”

Lee added: “I wish I’ve never gone in the pub – it cost me a fortune. When I first met her she had a perm and I can remember thinking, ‘She needs a haircut’. We were firm friends immediately. I don’t think we’ve ever had an argument. We’re too placid to argue. She makes me laugh too much for me to ever fall out with her.”

Gogglebox is available to watch Friday’s on Channel 4 from 9pm.

WASHINGTON — Federal immigration officers opened fire on a Dominican man in New York because he drove his car into officers’ vehicles and they believed their lives were in danger, a senior Immigration and Customs Enforcement official said Friday.

The 28-year-old man, whom New York City police identified as Oscar Belgal, was shot “superficially” in the neck as ICE officers attempted to arrest him, said Marcos Charles, head of ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations. Authorities have not released details of Belgal’s condition.

Officers used their vehicles to block the man as he attempted to drive away, but he accelerated toward them, Charles said during a news conference with U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin in Washington. The Department of Homeland Security said the news conference was about the “dangerous consequences of sanctuary city policies.”

“Our officers, using their training and believing that their life and the life of the partners and the general public were in danger, used their training and fired weapons,” Charles said.

Belgal had his 5-year-old son in the car with him when the shooting happened, officials said.

Mullin said ICE agents didn’t know the child was in the car, but that Belgal “was aware” and chose to put the boy at risk by trying to evade officers.

ICE previously tried to detain Belgal, Charles says

Belgal was associated with a robbery crew that used mopeds and weapons, and was convicted of grand larceny last year and sentenced to five years of probation, Charles said, adding that he evaded officers in September when ICE tried to arrest him for deportation.

The Legal Aid Society, which was representing Belgal in an ongoing drug case, called Friday for a “full and transparent” investigation of the shooting, the officers involved to be held accountable and an end to “ICE’s escalating presence in New York City.”

Federal agents walk near the scene where a man was shot by an ICE officer during an operation in the Bronx borough of New York on Oct. 8, according to local media and police.

(Charly Triballeau / AFP via Getty Images)

Belgal has pleaded not guilty to narcotics-sale charges in the drug case. The Legal Aid Society did not comment further.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, both Democrats, said late Thursday that they had pressed Mullin and Republican President Trump to release Belgal, but to no avail. They also urged the administration to immediately release ICE officers’ body camera footage of the shooting and to halt immigration enforcement operations in the city.

Mullin said Belgal was being held in a “highly secured” detention facility outside New York City but declined to say where.

Attorneys representing Belgal filed an emergency petition Thursday night calling for his release. A hearing is scheduled for Friday afternoon.

He also confirmed ICE officers were wearing body cameras that were activated, but didn’t say when any of that footage would be released. Under agency policy, bodycam video can be released within 72 hours if “determined that it is in the best interests of the agency.”

On Friday, New York City police released footage from its officers as they arrived at the scene following the shooting. The department previously said its officers were not involved in the arrest and not at the scene when the shooting happened.

The video shows a city officer responding to a chaotic scene where Belgal — sitting on the ground with his hands behind his back and head drooping to one side — was surrounded by several officials. The video shows officers lifting Belgal and placing him in a black SUV. Police said he was taken to a hospital.

“Yo put pressure. Put pressure,” an officer can be heard saying as the SUV reverses down the block.

New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Belgal was pulling into a parking space when a federal officer in plainclothes approached with his gun drawn, followed by another federal officer who also wasn’t in uniform. Belgal started to pull the car forward, and at least one of the officers fired seven rounds, hitting the man below his left ear.

Protesters and local officials decried the shooting as an example of the dangers of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani arrives to speak to the media about the ICE shooting in the Bronx borough of New York on Oct. 8. Mamdani said he would ask President Trump to remove federal immigration agents from the city as tensions flared over the latest shooting involving ICE.

(Charly Triballeau / AFP via Getty Images)

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin takes questions from reporters during a news conference at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters on Friday in Washington, DC. Mullin, joined by ICE officials, addressed Thursday’s shooting of a man in New York City by a federal immigration agent as he spoke out against sanctuary city policies.

(Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images)

“There is no justification for what we have seen today,” Mamdani said late Thursday at the scene of the shooting.

Federal officers who surrounded the vehicle wore construction vests and masks, making it difficult to identify them as immigration officers, he said.

Mullin criticizes NYC’s immigration policies

Mullin devoted much of Friday’s news conference to criticizing Mamdani and New York City’s limits on cooperation with ICE. The Democrat, who took office in January, has restricted local cooperation with immigration enforcement operations and repeatedly called for the abolition of ICE.

“Sanctuary politicians, they create an environment for criminal activity to thrive, not for the American citizens to be safe,” Mullin said.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin takes questions from reporters during a news conference at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters on Friday in Washington, DC. Mullin, joined by ICE officials, addressed Thursday’s shooting of a man in New York City by a federal immigration agent as he spoke out against sanctuary city policies.

(Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images)

ICE has asked local officials in New York to hold onto more than 14,000 people for federal officers to collect and place in immigration detention, he said.

“Silence. Absolute silence is what we have gotten back,” the secretary said. “Why would they release these individuals back onto the streets?”

“We’re enforcing our nation’s laws. We’re not picking and choosing,” Mullin continued. “Why is that controversial? We should all want law and order on our streets.”

ICE has justified other shootings with perceived threats to officers

During Trump’s second term, Homeland Security has often accused suspects of attempting to ram officers with vehicles or otherwise pose a threat and using that as justification for opening fire. But evidence from other shootings involving immigration enforcement officers has sometimes called into question that rationale.

In the Jan. 7 shooting death of Renee Good in Minneapolis, Homeland Security officials initially claimed an ICE officer opened fire in self-defense after Good attempted to run him over with her vehicle. Videos filmed from multiple angles challenged the administration’s narrative.

On July 10, ICE officers fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston as the Mexican national was driving his construction crew to a job site. DHS maintained Salgado Araujo rammed an ICE vehicle, but the three men inside his vehicle disputed the narrative.

Last year in a Chicago suburb, immigration officers fatally shot Silverio Villegas González after they say the Mexican national drove at them and dragged one with his car, causing “serious injuries.” But body camera videos from local police showed the agent who shot Villegas González walking around afterward and dismissing his own injuries as “nothing major.”

Santana and Marcelo write for the Associated Press. Marcelo reported from New York. AP reporters Anthony Izaguirre and Jennifer Peltz in New York City and Ryan Foley in Iowa City, Iowa, contributed to this report.

Melanie Marx bought Angel City season tickets before the team was a team. It had no players, no coach and no uniform. It was more a concept than a reality and Marx bought in.

“I’ve always had pride for this team.” she said. “This was the first team from the NWSL that I’ve been able to say that I’m a supporter for.”

Yet supporting Angel City, she says, has been as exhausting as it has been exciting. Once the most valuable women’s professional sports team in history, Angel City has had one winning season and made just one playoff appearance in its first four seasons.

Attendance declined more than 22%, high-profile players such as Alyssa Thompson, Christen Press, Ali Riley and Madison Hammond have either been transferred away, retired or been allowed to leave and the team hasn’t re-signed popular captain Sarah Gorden for next season. At the same time, it has gone through five coaches and three general managers/sporting directors in less than five years.

Angel City defender Gisele Thompson celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal.

(Lindsey Wasson / Associated Press)

That’s not exactly what Marx signed up for.

“I’m upset as a fan, of course, and I’m upset as a season-ticket holder,” she said. “But I’m also upset as a fan of these players and someone who’s been invested in this league of almost 10 years.”

“What keeps myself and others coming back week to week is because of the players themselves,” she added. “Because the results on the pitch haven’t always matched the ambitions of the supporters.”

During the past three months, that support has finally been rewarded. Following Sunday’s draw with first-place Gotham FC, the reigning NWSL champion, Angel City (12-8-7) heads into the league’s two-week international break riding a seven-game unbeaten streak and is in sixth place in the 16-team table, in position for another playoff berth.

The team has lost just twice in 16 games under interim coach Leif Gunnar Smerud. Its 12 victories with three games to play is already a franchise record for a single season, as are its 45 goals. After posting a substantial negative goal differential in its first four seasons, Angel City’s plus-16 mark this year in best in the league.

And in the current international break, the team had a record nine players called up to various national teams. It’s one of the most dramatic turnarounds in NWSL history, one that may have saved at least a portion of the team’s most loyal fan base.

“My renewal for next year just recently came up and I was on a bit of knife’s edge deciding whether I want to go ahead,” said Michael Jaeger, an attorney who has had multiple Angel City season tickets in section 133 since the first season. “There have been consistent problems throughout.

“I really want the team to succeed. Given the recent successes, I did go ahead and re-up for next year because I’m feeling optimistic.”

Optimistic but not necessarily confident.

“I am not feeling like ‘OK, this is what I’ve been waiting for. The team’s really turned a corner,’” Jaeger said. “That to me would be success on the field, plus a decision about Sarah Gorden, plus [a] permanent head coach who we know is at least going to have one or more seasons to have things play out.

“So I don’t think we’re there yet. I like the current trend but because not a lot has necessarily changed about the front office, I’m not ready to say ‘OK, we’re fully on the right track.’”

Angel City has only itself to blame for that lack of trust. When the team launched with a massive ownership group that included Hollywood A-listers, former U.S. women’s national team stars and sports luminaries including Serena Williams and Billie Jean King, it promised to ignite a revolution in women’s sports.

Angel City FC fans chant during a match against the San Diego Wave at BMO Stadium on May 9.

(Luiza Moraes / Getty Images)

“We’re not just building a soccer club. We want to build an organization that has impact,” said Julie Uhrman, one of its team’s three founding owners.

And while Angel City has done real, meaningful work in the community, providing millions of meals to the hungry, funneling millions of dollars into community programs and taking a courageous stand against ICE raids across Southern California, as a soccer team it hasn’t delivered on its promises.

The loyal fans blame the front office, which has waived nearly six dozens players and five managers, including interim coaches, through its revolving doors since the first season. Mark Parsons, who won six trophies as manager with the Portland Thorns, was hired 20 months ago to stabilize things but his highly touted global search for a coach ended with Alexander Straus spending just a year with the club — going 7-15-5 in parts of two seasons — while Parsons unsettled the roster by making more than 40 transactions.

“There’s just a lack of trust in the front office frankly,” said Nadia Johnson, who attended games every season but didn’t buy season tickets until this year. “We’re still doing these chaotic things, which is really frustrating as a fan.”

And the chaos may not be ending anytime soon. Despite his success, Smerud has not publicly been guaranteed anything beyond this season; officially, the team is still searching for a new manager.

Gorden, the captain and anchor of the defense, is out of contract at the end of the season as is veteran Claire Emslie. Meanwhile Sydney Leroux, 36, who has played one minute the past two seasons as she deals with mental health issues, is signed through 2027.

At the same time, Parsons has built the league’s youngest roster around players whose performances are bigger than their names. Goalkeeper Angelina Anderson, 25, is third in the league with nine clean sheets and 12 wins. Brazilian Maiara Niehues, 22, already has a franchise-record nine goals while Evelyn Shores, 21, has tied the single-season record with seven assists and defender Gisele Thompson, Alyssa’s sister, leads all outfield players with 2,420 minutes.

“I am excited about how diverse our team is and really how they’ve grown,” season ticket-holder Johnson said. “It’s playoff crunch time and so it’s always exciting, especially when your team is in it. So I’m excited to see where they go.”

But after four seasons of mediocrity and worse, however, she’s learned to keep her fingers crossed.

“I’m not confident if we get a rough patch next year what decisions will be made in terms of trying to repair that,” she said. “So yeah, that’s where I’m at.”