Great Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson says she has mixed emotions after settling for silver in the 800m final and says she is looks forward to her next race with Audrey Werro.

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About 2,000 residents in Nagekeo were evacuated with damage reported to a number of buildings.

Arnold Welianto, who lives in Talibura village, Sikka, East Nusa Tenggara, told the BBC that he was still asleep when he felt the “very strong shaking”.

“I was startled awake and immediately went to my child’s room,” he said.

“Once we were outside, residents in our neighbourhood, which is located close to the shoreline, had already fled their homes and were heading toward the hills and crowding the roads, while some other residents were standing along the roadside because the sea had also receded.”

“The water remained low for quite some time, so everyone panicked and ran – I went around to the community health centre, and the people there had already been evacuated.”

Welianto said many residents were choosing to remain outdoors because of the earthquake, and ongoing aftershocks meant they were afraid to return home.

Coronation Street newcomer Lucy, played by actress Anya Dewin, has been lashing out after her dad Richie murdered her mum Rachel, but fans are predicting a twist

Coronation Street‘s Lucy is sparking concern with her scary behaviour after a traumatic plot played out.

Lucy’s dad Richie has been arrested for the murder of his wife, Lucy’s mother, Rachel. Tim Metcalfe found Rachel dead at the house, with Richie having blood on his shirt.

Tim has taken Lucy in, and Lucy isn’t allowed to see her dad. Richie claims he killed Rachel in self-defence, with Lucy backing this.

Lucy told Sally and Tim about Rachel apparently tormenting her dad for a while, hitting him too. She claimed Richie acted in self-defence after Rachel tried to hurt him again.

Lucy has been lashing out in the fallout, while we have also seen her traumatised and experiencing nightmares and sleepwalking. While some fans think Lucy is traumatised after potentially witnessing Richie killing her mum, others have an even darker theory.

Some fans think the reason for her behaviour is because she killed Rachel, and that her dad is taking the blame. A fan said: “Anyone else already thinking Lucy did it and Richie is just covering for her?

“That’s quite a temper she has there.” Another fan agreed: “How do we know she didn’t kill her mum? Quite a temper she’s got there.”

A third fan wrote: “Did Lucy kill her mum and the dad is covering by taking the blame.” A fourth said: “My guess is Lucy killed her mum and her Dad is taking the blame.”

Another added: “I’m thinking Lucy killed her mum to stop her hurting her dad, but he’s taking the blame for it.” A final post read: “After last nights #Corrie i am convinced that Lucy killed her mum.”

Others pointed out that the trauma would make her lash out. A fan said: “Richie killed Rachel and Lucy may have seen it. A big fight must have happened when he immediately got back.

“Lucy is having sleep terrors and also sleeping walking due to the trauma. It was proper heartbreaking to hear her cry like that, and t comforting her.

“So Lucy claims that her mum attacked her dad first with a knife, and Richie had to hit her with the doorstop in defence.” Another fan said: “Did Lucy see her abusive mum push her dad over the edge?”

It comes as Corrie fans were left convinced one cast member had leaked a massive spoiler on social media this week. Not only that, but some were convinced it gave away the ending of a major storyline currently airing on the show.

As the future of one character remains up in the air after a murder twist, fans questioned if a social media post ruled out at an exit. Lucy Fallon, who plays Bethany Platt on the soap, posted something on her Instagram this week.

It was a lovely snap of her and her co-star Tina O’Brien, who plays her onscreen mother Sarah Platt. In recent scenes, Sarah confessed to accidentally killing villain Theo Silverton.

She was arrested and charged, and she now faces a court case, with her currently in prison. So when Lucy posted the picture of her and Tina on the set of the ITV soap, fans immediately speculated what it might mean.

Some fans decided it had to mean Sarah was out of prison in a matter of weeks. But this photo is not likely to be a spoiler, and it doesn’t actually mean Sarah’s fate is revealed at all.

Coronation Street airs weeknights at 8:30pm on ITV1 and ITV X. * Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .

Mikel Arteta has said that supporters “don’t have to worry about” his future at Arsenal as he wants to extend his contract and the time left on his deal is “not an issue”.

The Gunners boss is into the final 12 months of his agreement that he signed in 2024 but says he is relaxed about formal talks taking place regarding a renewal.

Arteta has been in charge of Arsenal since 2019 and led the club to their first Premier League title in 22 years last season.

Arsenal face Manchester City in the Community Shield on Sunday (15:00 BST) and Arteta was asked in his news conference about the concern some supporters may have given he is yet to agreed a new deal before the 2026-27 campaign kicks off.

“No, they don’t have to worry about any of that because I want to be here, I’m extremely happy,” Arteta said.

“I feel very grateful to work with the people that I work with and whenever we have the possibility we will resolve that and that’s it.”

The Gunners are attempting to build on their success of last season and strengthen their squad in the transfer window.

They were unsuccessful in their pursuit of Real Madrid winger Vinicius Jr but have signed midfielder Bruno Guimaraes from Newcastle, Greece international winger Christos Tzolis from Club Brugge and made Piero Hincapie’s loan move from Bayern Leverkusen into a permanent transfer for a combined £143.5m.

Goalkeeper Illan Meslier has also arrived on a free transfer from Leeds United while, from last season’s squad, Leandro Trossard, Jakub Kiwior and Christian Norgaard have been moved on.

The Gunners remain interested in Aston Villa‘s Ezri Konsa or Jarell Quansah of Bayer Leverkusen as a further defensive reinforcement in the market following injuries to William Saliba and Jurrien Timber.

With the transfer window open until 1 September, the feeling at the club is that finalising a contract can come at a quieter period in the season.

“There’s always another priority I think and that’s the way we’ve been treating it. Arteta added.

“I think because everybody feels comfortable that the time on the contract is not going to be an issue.

“I think because my will certainly is to be here and I’m very happy here.

“And my feeling from the club is is the same one so I think that’s why everybody doing it things in a really organic way.”

Arsenal also reached the Champions League final last season where they were beaten by Paris St-Germain and Arteta has repeatedly spoken of his ambition since that loss to take the Gunners to next level.

“I’m not going to talk about any individuals, obviously what I can tell you is the ambition of the club.” Arteta said.

“It’s big that we want to improve the squad, we want to evolve the squad in order to achieve that.

“We have obviously detected some areas that they can be strengthened and that’s what we are trying to do.”

Aug. 14 (UPI) — An Atlanta executive was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Friday for running what authorities described as “likely the largest Ponzi scheme in Georgia history.”

Todd Burkhalter, the founder and CEO of Drive Planning, ran a years-long scheme that defrauded thousands of investors of nearly $400 million, prosecutors said.

He used the funds for lavish purchases, including a $2 million yacht, a $2.1 million luxury condo in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and $800,000 in vehicles.

“Todd Burkhalter lured investors to send millions of dollars to Drive Planning for investments that he knew didn’t actually exist,” Georgia U.S. Attorney Theodore Hertzberg said in a statement.

“He promised investors that they were guaranteed substantial returns on their investments, and he ruthlessly encouraged them to deplete their kids’ college funds, take early distributions from retirement accounts, and borrow significant sums at high interest rates,” he added. “The sentences in this case should discourage other financial advisors from choosing insatiable greed and lies over honest investment strategies.”

FBI Special Agent in Charge Marlo Graham said Burkhalter brazenly continued his scheme even while under federal investigation.

“Todd Burkhalter organized what is likely the largest Ponzi scheme in Georgia history to fund an extravagant lifestyle,” Graham said in a statement.

Prosecutors said Burkhalter defrauded more than 2,000 investors from September 2020 to June 2024.

He has also been sentenced to pay more than $230 million in restitution.

Earlier this week, two other people were sentenced in the scheme.

The company’s chief operating officer, David Bradford, was sentenced to four years in prison and $4.2 million restitution.

Julie Edwards, Drive Planning’s chief administrative officer, was sentenced to to years prison and ordered to pay $630,000 in restitution.

According to a new report, the United States federal government has taken a massive step back from its role in protecting civil rights across the country.

On Thursday, the nonprofit Human Rights Watch issued a 112-page analysis of the government’s civil rights activities from January 2025 through the start of 2026, a period that captures the opening months of President Donald Trump’s second term.

The report concludes that the federal agencies responsible for stopping discrimination have largely been gutted of their staff.

Additionally, top-down directives by Trump have de-emphasised the federal government’s role in protecting civil rights across the country, according to the group.

“While claiming to protect all Americans, the administration is rolling back systems that communities have long turned to for relief,” Trey Walk, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.

Which agencies did the report analyse?

The report examines four key agencies within the federal government dedicated to civil rights.

They include the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice, the Office of Civil Rights at the Education Department, the Fair Housing Office at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Human Rights Watch spoke with current and former federal workers, lawyers, complainants and community groups who had been involved in cases alleging discrimination.

It also reviewed court filings and federal agency directives that illustrated the pivot in priorities under the second Trump administration.

What is the history of civil rights enforcement in the federal government?

The federal government’s role in civil rights protections goes back centuries, starting with the US Constitution.

In 1791, Congress ratified an addition to the country’s founding document that established civil protections like the freedom of religion. Those first 10 amendments became known as the Bill of Rights.

Over the decades, more amendments were added, most notably after the US Civil War, to guarantee rights like equal protection under the law.

While the Constitution contains explicit language about religion and race, critics point out that there is no language that confers equal protection based on sex or gender.

The history of the Department of Justice is closely entwined with the need to enforce civil rights law after the Civil War.

Created in 1870, the department addressed several needs, including a push to professionalise and centralise the country’s federal law enforcement. But it also helped prosecute violent white supremacist groups at a time when local authorities, particularly in southern states, sometimes refused to.

The US Civil Rights Movement, starting in the 1950s, also spurred a surge in federal infrastructure. It was the Civil Rights Act of 1957, for instance, that established a dedicated civil rights division within the Justice Department.

How did federal policy change under Trump?

Trump’s second term ushered in a backlash towards policies broadly considered to be part of the “diversity, equity and inclusion” movement, or DEI.

That movement gained popularity in the early 2020s, particularly after the murder of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, sparked a public reckoning over racial inequality.

Trump, however, has called DEI “racially discriminatory”. During his campaign for a second term, he argued that there was a “definite anti-white feeling in this country”.

Since starting his second term, Trump has sought to undo policies that his administration argues give unfair advantages to demographics like women and minorities.

In addition, federal agencies like the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division suspended certain cases they were pursuing, including some involving sexual harassment and transgender rights.

New investigations were opened instead, including against the footwear giant Nike, which was accused this year of discrimination against white employees.

In May 2025, the Department of Justice also announced it would halt investigations and reform agreements involving police departments accused of racial discrimination.

Such measures had been taken in places like Louisville, Kentucky, and Minneapolis, Minnesota, after public outcry over the police killings of unarmed Black people, including Floyd.

What did the Human Rights Watch report find?

The report chronicled an overall weakening in the federal bodies designed to protect civil rights.

Job cuts and resignations were part of that trend. The Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice, for instance, boasted about 365 lawyers in January 2025, when Trump took office.

By the end of that year, three-quarters of those lawyers had left the agency, an exodus driven by what Human Rights Watch called a “coordinated effort to undermine career staff”.

A spokesperson for the Justice Department told Al Jazeera its Civil Rights Division “remains dedicated to protecting the rights of all Americans”.

The department also said it had added 100 personnel since the 2025 departures.

According to the spokesperson, the Civil Rights Division is currently focused on “protecting religious liberty, Second Amendment rights, and women’s and girls’ spaces, standing against illegal race-based policymaking and DEI, and defending parents’ fundamental right to direct their children’s upbringing and education”.

What other offices were affected?

Other agencies in the Human Rights Watch report likewise saw a decrease in their ranks as well as a reduction in their civil rights work.

The Office of Fair Housing went from 31 staffers to 11 by mid-2025. Some 115 complaints prepared by the office and referred to the Justice Department for possible legal action were quashed, according to the report.

At the Department of Education, the Office for Civil Rights initially had 568 workers across 12 offices when Trump took office in 2025. Within a few months, seven of those offices were shuttered, and half of the civil rights-related workers were gone.

Between May and September 2025, the office dismissed about 90 percent of the nearly 10,000 complaints it received, a higher rate than it would have in the past, the report said.

What has been the impact of these changes?

Human Rights Watch found that many victims and communities grappling with discrimination no longer had the benefit of a federal agency to help them in their cases.

One community housing group told Human Rights Watch that the Department of Housing and Urban Development no longer responds in a timely fashion to reported instances of anti-LGBTQ discrimination.

Some federal agencies also appear to have walked away from their role in monitoring discrimination and overseeing reforms around the country, according to the report.

The Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights has a long history of investigating discrimination claims and working with school districts to enact change.

But Human Rights Watch observed that the office has largely stopped dealing with complaints under Trump.

While the Office of Civil Rights required policy changes or monitoring in response to 336 cases in the first half of 2024, only 59 cases received such a remedy over a similar period in 2025.

In Springfield, Massachusetts, for instance, parents complained after white students held a mock “slave auction” on the social media platform Snapchat, where they bid for the sale of their fellow Black students. That case is no longer being pursued by the Office of Civil Rights as of last year.

ROBBIE Williams has revealed he has been diagnosed with autism at the age of 52 — and pals say he is taking it in his trademark stride.

The music legend recently sought a professional assessment after “feeling like there was something he was missing” about himself.

Robbie, who was also previously diagnosed with ADHD, casually revealed the news during a launch for the autumn/winter collection of his Hopeium clothing brand.

He said: “I’ve got ADHD. I’ve just found out I’ve got a bit of autism as well, which I f**ing love, because it explains so much, and it’s like a get-out-of-jail card now.

“If I do all the weird s*** that I do, I go, ‘Sorry, I’m autistic.’”

The married father of four went on: “With ADHD, you can completely and utterly concentrate on something 100 per cent.

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“But absolutely everything else, you just cannot do it. Ask my kids.”

The former Take That star, who also suffers from clinical depression, opened up about his creativity.

He said: “I’m completely and utterly obsessed with creating images and funny things, and if I’m creating images and making what I think are funny things, I’m not thinking about ‘me’.

“My brain is incredibly creative, and it can be creative about everything in the world, including things that can cause you to panic or be scared.”

He also revealed that he struggles to concentrate with background noise or distractions as he becomes overstimulated, saying: “It really throws me off.”

Since being diagnosed just a few weeks ago, The Sun can reveal the singer has met with an AuDHD expert — someone who specialises in both autism and ADHD.

Robbie hopes the meetings will give him a greater understanding of his behaviour.

A source told The Sun: “Robbie has known for some time about his ADHD, but he always felt there was something he was missing.

“Someone suggested he could be autistic, and so within the past few weeks, he sought private medical advice and underwent an assessment.

It’s still early days, but Robbie has spoken with an AuDHD expert to get a greater understanding of what the diagnosis means for him and what options can be put in place to make life easier.

“Like with everything life throws at him, Robbie is taking the diagnosis in his stride.

“It’s business as usual. The diagnosis just gives a greater understanding of what makes Robbie Robbie.”

The Sun was the only newspaper Robbie met during the intimate launch in front of fashion bigwigs at Flannels on London’s Oxford Street.

He told us he hopes his Hopeium brand will bring some fun into the notoriously uptight and judgemental fashion industry.

His new tongue-in-cheek range includes “Gandhi” football tops and shirts adorned with images of a hand flipping the middle finger. Chuckling, he said he is already planning to bring out a Dalai Lama version.

Robbie had a well-documented battle with alcohol and substance abuse in the nineties and early noughties.

But he claimed he is now addicted to creating art and clothes after being clean and sober for over two decades.

Robbie said: “I really got into drawing and creating. I think it’s my addict’s gene. Look, I can no longer do cocaine. No longer do MDMA, no longer drink, so, you know, where does the addiction go to?

“Well, it goes to several places, and one of them is clothes.”

Robbie went on: “It’s a bit of silliness because I love silliness, and there doesn’t seem to be any silliness in fashion.

“It seems to be outlawed because, you know, as much as I love fashion, it’s properly pretentious and very, very serious, isn’t it?”

Robbie plans to draft in his wife Ayda Field, 47, to model the collection in a bid to boost sales.

Robbie, who has recently dramatically trimmed down after turning to weight-loss jabs, also hopes to make his catwalk debut at London Fashion Week.

He said: “Hopefully we will see me modelling it on the runway.

“I mean, I’m in decent nick now, so yeah. I’ve been looking after myself. I’d be happy if any artist started wearing the brand, and Ayda will wear it too.”

He added of his new clobber: “I should be wearing it on my tour – it would make marketing sense.”

The singer is set to play shows across Europe and South America this autumn.

He is also hotly tipped to play Glastonbury next June for the first time since 1998, with sources saying he could follow in Sir Rod Stewart’s footsteps and play the Sunday Legends slot.

Last month, a clip of Robbie went viral after something appeared to fall out of his nose during an unplanned live appearance on German TV at the World Cup in New York.

Some viewers thought Robbie was back taking cocaine.

Rather than fearing for his career, Robbie laughed off the suggestion he had relapsed, and believes no one cares anyway.

He said: “Can I clear something up, please, as well? I didn’t relapse on cocaine at the World Cup, but now forever and ever and ever the internet will be assured of itself that coke fell out of my nose.

“No, it was Nicorette. The thing is, I thought about it the next day — I was lying in bed, and 50 million people had seen me supposedly relapse on coke at the World Cup, and I was like, ‘If I was on coke, it wouldn’t be a f***ing problem anyway, would it? Who f***ing cares?’”

And he said some people seemed to be pleased at the prospect of him doing class A drugs again.

He went on: “So many comments online were like, ‘Good for you, Robbie. Everyone loves the f***ing packet.’ So I made some new fans due to what they thought I was doing.”

Before Spain took on Argentina in the World Cup final last month, Robbie was front and centre in the closing ceremony, taking to the pitch to sing the official Fifa anthem Desire alongside Nicole Scherzinger and Italian singer Laura Pausini.

In keeping with still feeling like he’s just Rob from Stoke rather than one of the biggest-selling British singers of all-time, he swaggered towards the halfway line in a blue Adidas tracksuit – adorned with diamantes for the momentous occasion.

Robbie said: “The sparkles were added at the artist’s request, and it felt so comfy.

“It’s best to be comfy, so when they said, ‘What do you want to wear?’ I just said, ‘I want to wear a tracksuit. Can you put some jewels on it so it’s a bit showbizzy?’”

Insisting he is still just as ambitious as he was three decades ago, Robbie said of his future plans: “Lots of records. I’m 52, still ambitious, still have this gaping chasm that is unfillable.

“Still want, still need, still want to have purpose, I want to be out there doing things. I am still as ambitious as I was when I was 22 and it’s served me well. I have new music, new tours too.”

Robbie, who has been in the public eye since 1992, also said he would be ignoring snobbish critics, saying: “I don’t need validation from the po-faced fashion industry. I never got that from the po-faced music industry.

“I would like validation from the general clothing-buying public.”

Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani took the bullpen mound at Dodger Stadium, with president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and pitching coach Mark Prior looking on, and began his first bullpen throwing session in more than three weeks.

Friday marked an important step in Ohtani’s throwing progression. He threw 34 pitches before the Dodgers’ game against the Milwaukee Brewers, appearing to mix in different pitch types.

Although Ohtani hasn’t landed on the injured list for lingering inflammation and soreness in his left knee, he hasn’t pitched in a game since July 3.

After Ohtani received a lubricating Orthovisc injection in his knee at the beginning of the All-Star break, the Dodgers hoped he would pitch against the Philadelphia Phillies on July 22. But as they monitored his response, it became clear he wasn’t going to be ready.

Instead, Ohtani threw a 31-pitch bullpen. But his recovery regressed, and he was shut down from throwing.

“At the end of the day, he wants to be healthy,” manager Dave Roberts said earlier this week. “He wants to be there in the postseason. I think that did check him up. If you look at how we kind of paused things — we all want to be smart and careful. I’m happy that we’ve done that with him.”

Ohtani restarted catch play on Aug. 7. And after playing catch three more days this week, Ohtani and the Dodgers determined he was ready to throw off the mound again.

“Rather than rush the progression of this I would rather make sure we’re headed in the right direction,” Ohtani said last week. “Making sure we’re taking the right steps.”

Ohtani is expected to go through a bullpen progression and then advance to throwing live batting practice — although Roberts said earlier this week he didn’t know how many of each he’d need before returning.

Because the Dodgers want to keep Ohtani in the lineup, he’ll have to build up in games rather than going on a minor-league rehab assignment.

Ohtani did something similar last season, but then, he was returning to the mound for the first time since 2023 elbow surgery.

“Having kind of done that — an inning here, an inning there and then you sort of build up during the season, absolutely,” said Roberts when asked if 2025 could serve as a blueprint. “And I think he’s seen what that buildup can lead to and how it looks. I certainly feel that he’ll buy in.”

Injury updates

Catchers Will Smith (neck) and Dalton Rushing (elbow) each took steps in their hitting progressions. Both took batting practice before the game.

Smith has been out since early June. Rushing landed on the IL on Aug. 3.

This article details the historical foundations and linguistic origins of Pakistan’s Independence Day, observed annually on August 14th. It explains how the nation emerged from the British Indian Empire in 1947 as a sovereign dominion originally comprised of two distinct wings. The text highlights that the name “Pakistan” serves as both a translation for “Land of the Pure” and an acronym representing several regional territories. Additionally, the source clarifies the timing of the transition at midnight, which resulted in Pakistan and India celebrating their liberty on different calendar days. Finally, it notes the later political shift in 1971 when East Pakistan separated to establish the independent state of  … 

Arday’s appointment as Cambridge’s youngest ever black professor at the age of 37 in 2023 was hailed at the time as a progressive moment.

Announcing his resignation last week, Arday said the “personal cost” of the scrutiny of him had become “too great”.

He said: “While criticism is an inevitable part of academic life, what I have experienced has gone far beyond scholarly disagreement.

“The relentless accusations, speculation and public commentary have taken a profound toll on me and on those I love.”

He stressed that his resignation should not “be mistaken for an acceptance of the narratives that have surrounded me”.

Cambridge initially said claims of plagiarism regarding Arday’s thesis and some journal publications had been investigated by Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) and the journals in question.

LJMU – which awarded Arday his PhD in 2015 – concluded that he had not plagiarised work.

Earlier this week, Cambridge announced an independent investigation into his appointment.

In a letter to university staff at the time, Prof Prentice said: “I fully understand the concerns being raised across the university and well beyond it, regarding Jason Arday’s appointment and I share them…

“That investigation, as you say, should be thorough and transparent, and will be carried out independently by senior academics from within and beyond Cambridge.”

Cambridge celebrated Arday’s appointment as a young black professor, one of a tiny and visible majority in academia. Only one per cent of professors in UK universities are black, making each appointment hugely significant.

The university will have to answer bigger questions including about its duty of care after it put him into a very prominent position.

It may also find itself the lightning rod for anger from several different quarters, including those who feel Arday was persecuted publicly and those who question whether he should ever have been appointed.

Jolyon Maugham from campaign group Good Law Project said Arday’s death was “a tragedy”.

“I do not understand what the public interest was in continuing to hound him after he resigned as a professor and I do not understand what risk assessments media outlets did,” Maugham added.

Speaking to BBC Newsnight, Professor of Black Studies Kehinde Andrews and friend of Arday described him as “very down” after resigning from Cambridge.

“He was very upset. He felt that there was no way out. He effectively wasn’t leaving the house. He had lost a lost of weight,” Andrews said.

“There should be a wakeup call to just how bad black academics actually have it in academia,” he added.

Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy told the programme “the idea that an academic would be dragged through this amount of media scrutiny is unheard of”.

For all their vaunted power, superheroes are at the mercy of the people who write them, draw them, play them on the screen, and by extension the producers and executives who decide what should go where and for how much. Sort of powerless, really.

Sometimes this combination of forces works out well for the hero, and sometimes not so much. The Green Lantern, a secondary figure in the DC Comics pantheon, had the ill luck to be trapped in a 2011 Ryan Reynolds film even its director didn’t like. Fifteen years later, he has had the very good fortune to be played by Kyle Chandler, and additionally to star in a television series — “Lanterns,” premiering Sunday on HBO — rather than a theatrical feature, with its investment in noisy set pieces and earth-shaking battles royale.

I’ve often championed the supposedly humbler medium as the best place to tell these stories, with the time to investigate character, in all its shadings and ambiguities, and a haven for concepts too quirky or niche or … conceptual for conservative big-budget theatrical IP exploitation. And here again, I have been proved right.

Creators Damon Lindelof (“Lost,” “Watchmen” and, best of all, “Mrs. Davis”), comic book writer Tom King and Chris Mundy, who wrote for “Criminal Minds,” “Ozark” and “Bloodline” (in which Chandler starred), have expressly looked to television for inspiration — specifically to “True Detective” (on which Mundy worked), with its uncomfortable partnerships, and “Slow Horses” (for its disreputable hero, I guess), with “Slow Horses” director James Hawes helming the first two episodes. (I detect a hint of “Fargo” as well, for its Midwestern plainscape, dark comedy and bigger-than-life yet somehow ordinary characters.)

“I’m a regular person, like you,” Hal Jordan (Chandler) says in a 1996 TV interview that opens the series; indeed, he’s only super powerful by reason of the gear that comes with the job, a human “beat cop” working as part of the Green Lantern Corps, an extraterrestrial galactic peacekeeping organization — the special ring and the lantern-shaped gizmo that charges it. It gives him the ability to fly and to manifest objects at will, most often a protective green bubble, but also a bottle opener and a $10 bill. (There’s a uniform, but for the most part, he leaves it in the closet.)

Watching that interview is young John Stewart (then a Lantern-obsessed child). We’ll meet him again in 2016, played by Aaron Pierre (“The Underground Railroad”), when most of the action takes place, as a former Marine sniper and art student — human talents that will prove useful — assigned to Hal as a “trainee,” ostensibly to provide backup if something happens to him. Hal, after two seemingly successful decades in the job, is unused to the company and suspicious of the arrangement. (“The big blue bosses may think you’re hot s— but you’re just a f—ing substitute teacher.”) He sets John tests that might kill him, if he is not actually trying to kill him. But he’s also the more genial of the two.

Through an agent whose identity the producers are counting as a spoiler — I’m sure I don’t know why — Hal receives a message that there’s hail in Rushville, Neb. (i.e., aliens!), at which point he jets off from the taco stand where he’s happily been signing autographs and posing for selfies, leaving John to fly there on his own, in the usual way, while the Stooges’ “No Fun” plays on the soundtrack.

They arrive, separately, in the aftermath of a high school football game that has left dead bodies on the field. (Hal suspects some sort of alien rumble.) Here we meet Kelly Macdonald, suppressing her Scottish accent as tough but tender Sheriff Kerry, asserting her jurisdictional rights. Hal finds her “something incredible.” (John: “I think she hates your guts.” Hal: “Yeah, but it’s the way she hates them.”) Kerry is married to lawyer Billy Macon (Jason Ritter), whose father, William (Garret Dillahunt), is a local bigwig, with a cowboy militia and a wife, Zoe (Poorna Jagannathan), who possibly not coincidentally meets John in a bar.

At 60, Chandler is arguably more attractive than ever, with the sort of seasoning that served James Garner so well as Jim Rockford, TV’s greatest detective. Five seasons of “Friday Night Lights” have cemented him in the popular consciousness as a preternaturally decent guy, which allows us to excuse Hal’s less creditable moments, or at least to see things through his eyes. Pierre, 32, who competes in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, has the body of a superhero; he plays John wound tight, humorless, grimly ambitious — he grew up letting his father shoot apples off his head to prove his fearlessness, the primary requirement for a Green Lantern — though the character warms up across the course of the season (which also takes place in 2026). The actors are at their best in their scenes together, which the writers make happen even when it seems impossible. (Spoilers, or I’d explain.)

Combining detective work and science fiction is nothing new — see “Sugar,” currently; “The X-Files,” classically. (And there’s an interrogation scene I’m pretty sure nods knowingly to “Blade Runner.”) “Lanterns” isn’t totally free of cliches, which is practically impossible for sci-fi and crime stories anyway, so many have been told over the years, and to some degree that’s just what we come for. But the series is fresh enough in its details and execution, and strong enough in its writing, and so well performed, that it feels quite original.

I watched “Lanterns” without any particular knowledge of the character, who has been around since 1940, and in this particular version since 1959. (I did a little reading afterward.) Happily, the show is not up to its cowl in DC cross-references and crossovers. There are fleeting mentions of Gotham and Metropolis (where Superman works) and Nathan Fillion reprises his bad-hair Green Lantern from the 2025 “Superman” movie (a long story), but “Lanterns” comes equipped with everything you need to know. Bringing in extra mythology wouldn’t make the confusing parts any less confusing, and would just confuse the parts that aren’t confusing at all. Most every character, whichever side they’re on — and it’s not always easy to tell, given that the aliens look exactly like the humans — comes with layers.

Did I ever fully understand what these factions were after, or even what exactly the factions were? Nope. Did it matter? Nope.

Werro’s triumph was all the more impressive given she suffered a nasty fall in her semi-final on Thursday, before later being reinstated into the final.

Replays showed the left hand of France’s Anais Bourgoin had clipped Werro’s right foot. But, clutching her chest in pain as she jogged across the line, she still faced a race against time to recover.

That drama led to a congested 10-athlete final – but, despite Briton Jemma Reekie’s best efforts, there only ever appeared three contenders for gold.

Hodgkinson had twice beaten Werro during the indoor season – including to win her first world title – but was stunned when the European under-23 champion surged past her at the Stockholm Diamond League this summer and produced the first sub-1:54 clocking since 1983.

Hodgkinson, who achieved the first major outdoor title of her career at the European Championships in 2022 before retaining the title in Rome two years ago, vowed not to allow that to happen again.

But Werro crashed her bid to become the first British woman to win three consecutive European titles in the same event, proving she will be a force to be reckoned with on athletics’ biggest stages over the coming years.

Hodgkinson can also expect Broeders-Bol, third in 1:55.54, to only improve with World Championship gold up for grabs next year, following the rapid progress made by the two-time world 400m hurdles champion since switching events this season.

A new poll shows Lula leading Bolsonaro, but the gap has closed ahead of Brazil’s high-stakes presidential election.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has retained his lead over right-wing Senator Flavio Bolsonaro ahead of October’s election, according to a new poll.

A Quaest survey published on Friday found Lula would take 43 percent of the vote in a simulated run-off, against 40 percent for Bolsonaro, effectively a statistical tie given the poll’s two-point margin of error.

The result marks a narrowing from an earlier Quaest poll on August 5, which had put Lula ahead by a wider five-point margin, 44 percent to 39 percent.

In a first-round scenario, Lula leads more comfortably with 38 percent, followed by Bolsonaro at 31 percent. Three other candidates trail far behind: Renan Santos and Ronaldo Caiado each polled at 4 percent, and Romeu Zema at 2 percent.

Under Brazilian electoral rules, if no candidate secures more than half the valid votes in the first round, the top two finishers advance to a run-off.

Flavio Bolsonaro, the eldest son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, has emerged as the standard-bearer for Brazil’s right after his father was barred from running in the election.

The elder Bolsonaro was ruled ineligible for office after Brazil’s top electoral court found he had abused his power while in office. He was later convicted separately over a plot to overturn his 2022 election loss to Lula.

The poll, conducted by Quaest between August 10 and 13, surveyed 2,004 people and was commissioned by the Brazilian media group Globo.

Lula launched his re-election bid on August 2 at the Workers’ Party convention in Sao Paulo, casting himself as a defender of Brazilian “sovereignty” as pressure from the administration of United States President Donald Trump looms over the race.

He called for increased defence spending and pledged to shield Brazil’s reserves of rare earths and other critical minerals from foreign control. “I want to be prepared, so that no one invades this country,” he said.

He warned that China, the US and France would not get access to Brazil’s mineral wealth without respecting the country’s sovereignty. He also told the convention: “In Brazil, we do not accept anyone sticking their nose where it does not belong.”

Trump has maintained close ties with the Bolsonaros. In June, Lula warned Trump not to interfere in the presidential race.

“Don’t meddle in the Brazilian elections, because the Brazilian elections are a Brazilian problem, just as American elections are their business, not mine,” Lula said.

With the race tightening two months out from the vote, the results so far have shown a competitive presidential race, even as Lula continues to hold a narrow structural advantage heading into the final stretch of the campaign.

At the top of the Times is the news that ex-Cambridge professor Jason Arday, who has been at the centre of a row in-part focused on accusations of plagiarism, has been found dead. The police have said his death is being treated as “unexpected, but is not believed to be suspicious”. Also on the front page, “Burnham calls up the military to tackle fires”.

A former ABC News journalist is suing former colleague CBS News Chief Correspondent Matt Gutman over inappropriate remarks he allegedly made when they worked together several years ago.

Samira Said, a field producer for ABC News for four years, included the claims related to Gutman in a wrongful termination lawsuit filed Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court against her former employer and its parent The Walt Disney Co. Gutman, who joined CBS News in January, is named as a defendant as well.

The suit cited two incidents where Said claims Gutman created a hostile work environment by making inappropriate sexual comments while on the job. While waiting on a public line with Said during an assignment, Gutman allegedly “initiated a discussion rating a female correspondent’s appearance and reducing her professional standing to a numerical score based on her physical attributes.”

Said claims the other male crew members on the assignment joined in and tried to draw her into the conversation by soliciting her views. Said declined and stated the conversation was inappropriate.

The suit cited another exchange when the two covered a press event for a movie release. Said claims she and Gutman disagreed about whether they should leave the work site. “In front of multiple coworkers, Gutman responded by making a sexualized insinuation that Said must have an after-hours date in the city,” the suit said.

The suit also said the remarks made in front of co-workers were demeaning and “reduced [Said’s] professional judgment to a sexualized stereotype.”

Gutman, 48, was the first high-profile talent hire by CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss, who took charge of the division in October 2025. He recently filled in as anchor of the “CBS Evening News” and scored higher ratings than the program’s regular anchor Tony Dokoupil.

Gutman spent 17 years at ABC News where he mostly reported from Los Angeles.

The suit also claims Said was wrongfully terminated from ABC News in 2025 after dealing with mental health issues. The suit accuses the company of violating California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act by not making accommodations for her.

A Disney representative declined comment as executives have yet to see Said’s complaint. CBS News and Gutman also declined comment, having not seen the suit.

Said was assigned to cover the 2022 shooting at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, where she was required to interview child survivors who had witnessed the killing of their classmates. Afterward, she told her supervisor she needed a short leave to attend to her health but was denied.

A psychiatrist eventually approved a medical leave. The suit alleges that shortly after it began Said continued to get assignment requests from David Herndon, then head of ABC’s Los Angeles bureau.

Said was assigned to cover the Los Angeles wildfires in January 2025. She was sent home three weeks in after a supervisor observed her deteriorating physical condition, according to the suit.

Said injured her foot later that year while covering a weather-related story in the area. She reported the injury to supervisors but was denied a request for medical leave after being evaluated by a company doctor.

Said is seeking compensatory and punitive damages along with her attorneys’ fees.

WASHINGTON — A person has been arrested in connection with vandalism at the World War II Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., U.S. Atty. for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro announced Friday.

Pirro announced on X that her office was filing two felony charges against Melissa L. Farris. Pirro said the felony charges are “Depredation Against Property of the United States and Destruction of Veterans’ Memorials.” The offenses carry penalties of up to 10 years in prison.

On Thursday, the words “Clean hands dirty $” were found painted on the monument and bubbles filled a fountain.

“Vandalizing our World War II Memorial is a despicable attack on a sacred monument honoring the Americans who fought and died for our freedom. Those Americans include my father and grandfather,” Pirro wrote.

A woman identified on her Facebook page as Melissa Lovewell posted a video Thursday in which she is seen taking cans of spray paint from her bag and then painting the monument.

“I will wait here to be arrested for spraying our veterans’ fountain,” she says. “It was me, I’m doing it, it’s on camera.”

In a video posted Friday, the woman, who in a separate post said she had been in Washington for three weeks, said she was turning herself in.

The arrest warrant filed in the case indicated that witnesses took pictures of the vandalism occurring, which were circulated among U.S. Park Police officers.

One officer recognized the suspect as someone they arrested Aug. 10 “for unlawfully camping on federal property” just blocks away. She livestreamed that arrest, the warrant said.

The suspect was identified by her Kentucky driver’s license as Melissa L. Farris, of Elizabethtown, Ky.

Farris was expected to be arraigned Friday. The public defender’s office said she was not yet listed in the system and had not been assigned an attorney.

The incident sparked harsh rebukes from Pirro and President Trump and comes after the president blamed damage to the nearby Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on vandals, without providing evidence. That case prompted charges against multiple people, which were dropped when Pirro said evidence showed the damage came from botched repairs after Trump’s renovation at the site.

“Our beautiful World War II Memorial was just hit by Spray Painting Vandals,” Trump said on Friday on his Truth Social site. “First the Reflecting Pool, now this.”

The Interior Department said that the U.S. Park Police were on the scene following the Thursday vandalism and an investigation was ongoing. “The public should know we will find the person responsible for this disgusting act,” the department said.

The Friends of the National World War II Memorial, a nonprofit organization that helps maintain the site, said: “There are many places in our country for expression, debate, and disagreement. A national memorial honoring those who served and those who never returned home should never be used as a canvas for vandalism.”

The Veterans of Foreign Wars called the vandalism “an act of profound disrespect, a slap in the face to the veterans who served and sacrificed and to the families who carried that burden at home.”

A former Olympian was charged in late July with deliberately damaging the Reflecting Pool, but the Justice Department later moved to dismiss that case, saying evidence prosecutors had received refuted the idea that vandals were to blame.

Trump sharply criticized Pirro’s assessment that damage to the Reflecting Pool was the result of shoddy construction and not the work of vandals, as he claimed.

The case dismissal was an embarrassing setback for a Justice Department that had previously echoed Trump’s claims and billed the prosecution as accountability for damage at a Washington landmark, a pet project of Trump. Pirro’s decision to drop the case was also a rare moment during Trump’s second term of an aide or political appointee openly defying him.

Fields writes for the Associated Press.

Johnson-Thompson achieved the sixth global podium of her career at last year’s World Championships – and her third in as many years since recovering from a devastating Achilles rupture.

But she withdrew from the Commonwealth Games last month to focus on being in shape for the Europeans after battling to be fit following an unspecified injury.

“We would always expect with Kat to be coming in, especially with the Europeans, to try and win it,” former Olympic long jump champion Greg Rutherford said on BBC TV.

“This sport is brutal and you are never allowed to enjoy the championships if you are not winning. That’s how it is always put to us, so you never have those moments where you can go in front of a home crowd and just enjoy doing the sport.

“I feel like that’s what she is doing at the moment. It’s not about her coming here to win medals.

“She’s enjoying it rather than stressing herself for medals and that is a big change.”

Former Olympic heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis-Hill added: “She’s at the stage where there is probably going to be very few times that she comes out and is feeling great and has no niggles.

“So you have to make that decision – do I go out and compete anyway or do I step back and potentially miss a load of championships because I am not feeling 100%?”

The heptathletes will return to Alexander Stadium for the long jump on Saturday morning with Sulek-Schubert leading the way on 3,968 points.

Sofie Dokter of the Netherlands sits second on 3,944 points, while Ireland’s Kate O’Connor, who won Commonwealth gold this month, is a further 18 points behind in third with the long jump, javelin and 800m remaining.