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Five Chargers were named to the AFC’s Pro Bowl squad Tuesday, including the team’s “quarterbacks” on both sides of the ball.

Both quarterback Justin Herbert and safety Derwin James Jr. received the honor. They are joined by outside linebacker Tuli Tuipulotu, tackle Joe Alt and kicker Cameron Dicker.

Herbert, receiving Pro Bowl recognition for the second time, is the third player in NFL history to begin a career with six consecutive seasons with at least 3,000 yards passing and 20 touchdowns.

James, a five-time Pro Bowl pick, is the only defensive back in the NFL this season to collect at least 80 tackles (five for loss) with multiple sacks and interceptions.

Dicker is the most accurate kicker in NFL history and the team’s Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year club winner. He leads all AFC kickers with 36 made field goals and 141 points scored.

Tulipulotu, a former USC standout, is ranked third in the NFL with 13 sacks, and has a career-high 20 tackles for loss.

The only surprise in that group is Alt, who made the transition from right to left tackle after left tackle Rashawn Slater suffered a season-ending injury in training camp. Alt was a stalwart on the line for the first three weeks of the season before sustaining an ankle injury 10 snaps into the Week 4 game against the New York Giants. He returned in Week 8 to face Minnesota, but was carted off in Week 9 at Tennessee an injury to the same ankle, this time requiring season-ending surgery.

Nonetheless, he’s an outstanding tackle and earned his first Pro Bowl honor, which is determined by the consensus votes of fans, players and coaches.

Four more Chargers were named Pro Bowl alternates: outside linebacker Khalil Mack, linebacker Del’Shawn Phillips for special teams, cornerback Donte Jackson and fullback/defensive lineman Scott Matlock.

Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford, receiver Puka Nacua and edge rushers Jared Verse and Byron Young were voted to the Pro Bowl, the NFL announced.

Stafford, 37, has passed for a league leading 4,179 yards and 40 touchdowns, with five interceptions, for a Rams team that is 11-4 and currently seeded sixth for the NFC playoffs. The Rams play the Atlanta Falcons on Monday night in Atlanta in the second-to-last game of the regular season. Stafford also made the Pro Bowl in 2014 and 2023.

Quarterbacks Sam Darnold of the Seattle Seahawks and Dan Prescott of the Dallas Cowboys also made the NFC roster.

Nacua, a third-year pro, leads the NFL with 114 catches and ranks second with 1,592 yards receiving. He was also voted to the Pro Bowl as a rookie in 2023.

Young, also a third-year pro, has amassed 11 sacks, which ranks ninth in the NFL. This is his first Pro Bowl recognition.

Verse has 6 1/2 sacks and is regarded as one of the league’s most disruptive forces. He also made the Pro Bowl as a rookie last season, when he was also voted NFL defensive rookie of the year.

The Pro Bowl Games will be held Feb. 3 in San Francisco.

Blake Griffin, Candace Parker, Jamal Crawford, the 1996 U.S. Olympic women’s basketball team, Bruce Pearl and Kelvin Sampson were among the first-time nominees announced Friday that will be considered for enshrinement into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame next year.

Also among the notable first-time nominees: Elena Delle Donne and Joe Johnson as players, and Mike D’Antoni as a contributor.

Nearly 200 players and teams were on the list unveiled by the Hall, including some finalists that fell short of enshrinement in the 2025 class — Jennifer Azzi, who was a member of that 1996 U.S. women’s team that won gold at the Atlanta Games. Azzi is a nominee again as an individual this year.

“The candidates for the Class of 2026 have each left an indelible impact on the game of basketball,” said John L. Doleva, president and CEO of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. “Through defining performances, influential leadership, and achievements that helped elevate the sport on the national and international stage, this year’s ballot recognizes those whose legacy continues to shape how the game is played, coached, and celebrated.”

Finalists are typically announced at NBA All-Star weekend in February. The 2026 class will be unveiled April 4 at the NCAA Final Four, with enshrinement weekend Aug. 14 and 15 at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn., and at Symphony Hall in Springfield, Mass.

Other finalists a year ago who are back on the ballot include Gonzaga coach Mark Few; NBA legends Marques Johnson and Buck Williams; and Jerry Welsh — who coached Potsdam in upstate New York to NCAA Division III titles in 1981 and 1986.

Molly Bolin, the first player signed by the Women’s Professional Basketball League, is back as well, as is former Serbian professional player and longtime coach Dusan Ivkovic — already a FIBA Hall of Famer.

Doc Rivers, the only NBA coach with more than 1,000 wins who isn’t yet in the Hall of Fame, is a nominee again, as are Amar’e Stoudemire and legendary broadcaster Marv Albert.

Some teams that will also be considered include the 1936, 1972 and 1976 U.S. Olympic men’s teams; the 1982 Cheyney State team coached by C. Vivian Stringer that lost to Louisiana Tech in the inaugural NCAA Division I women’s national championship game; the Kentucky Wesleyan men’s teams that won three Division II national titles in a four-year span during the late 1960s; and the 1963 Loyola Chicago men’s team that won the NCAA title and broke racial barriers in the sport by using as many as four Black starters.

Greg Biffle’s plane caught fire after crash-landing at a regional airport, state authorities said. Other victims have not yet been identified.

A former NASCAR driver has been identified as one of seven people who died in a plane crash in the southern United States.

Authorities said Greg Biffle and members of his family died when a private jet crashed on Thursday while trying to land at Statesville Regional Airport, north of Charlotte, North Carolina.

Flight records showed the plane was registered to a company run by Biffle.

“Although the post-crash fire prevents us from releasing a definitive list of the occupants at this time, it is believed that Mr Gregory Biffle and members of his immediate family were occupants of the airplane,” state police said.

Further details about the victims were not immediately available.

Throughout his 16-year career, Biffle won more than 50 races across the three racing-circuit types offered by NASCAR, a US-based association for car races.

He placed first in 19 races at the Cup Series, considered NASCAR’s top level. He also won the Craftsman Truck Series championship in 2000 and the Xfinity Series title in 2002.

Biffle’s plane had taken off from the airport shortly after 10am local time on Thursday (15:00 GMT), but it then returned to North Carolina and was attempting to land there, according to tracking data posted by FlightAware.com.

Video from WSOC-TV showed first responders rushing onto the runway as flames burned near scattered wreckage from the plane.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) were investigating the crash.

All told, the NTSB has investigated 1,331 crashes in the US in 2025.

A key Russian airbase in occupied Crimea has been targeted by a Ukrainian drone strike, according to Ukraine. Authorities in Kyiv claim that drones hit a MiG-31BM Foxhound interceptor, as well as elements of an S-400 air defense system, at Belbek Air Base, near Sevastopol.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the government’s main internal security agency, reported that a successful drone strike operation was carried out overnight by forces from its Special Group “Alpha.” Russian officials, including the governor of Sevastopol, claim that the attack was repelled with 11 drones downed and resulted in no damage.

The SBU has published a series of video stills showing the attack, with footage taken from the perspective of the long-range one-way attack drones heading toward their targets. Based on the imagery, the drones could well be the same fiber-optic types that have been launched from Ukrainian drone boats.

Further videos were posted to social media by residents of Crimea, showing explosions and attempts by Russian troops to shoot down the drones. At this point, it should be noted that, without the full videos of the strikes, we cannot be sure whether the drones detonated or the degree of damage they might have caused.

According to the SBU, damage was recorded to a MiG-31, a 92N6 (NATO reporting name Grave Stone) long-range multifunction radar that is part of the S-400 system, two Nebo-SVU long-range surveillance radars, and a Pantsir-S2 surface-to-air missile system.

Ukraine claims that the targeted MiG-31 was carrying a full combat load, although the available video reveals that it carries no armament under its wings. Potentially, it carries air-to-air missiles below the fuselage, but the forward-mounted examples are also not visible. While it looks like a real aircraft rather than a decoy, it remains possible that it may have been a non-operational example. However, recent satellite imagery assessed by TWZ shows a MiG-31 sporadically at the base in recent weeks, sometimes sitting out in the open.

It’s worth noting, too, that the reported 92N6 system (seen below) was covered with camouflage and/or anti-drone netting, making its positive identification harder. It could also have been a 96L6 (Cheese Board) all-altitude detection radar, also associated with the S-400 air defense system.

As to the estimated value of these items of equipment, the SBU put a figure of $30-50 million on the MiG-31, depending on configuration and armament, $30 million on the 92N6, $60-100 million for each of the Nebo-SVUs, and $12 million for the Pantsir-S2.

“The SBU continues its effective work to destroy air defense systems in Crimea that cover important military and logistical facilities of the occupiers,” the agency said in a statement on its Telegram channel. “The elimination of components of this echeloned system significantly weakens the enemy’s defense and military capabilities in the Crimean direction.”

Belbek plays a key role in Russia’s war in Ukraine and, as such, has been targeted by Ukraine in the past.

The significance of the airbase, in particular, lies in the fact that its aircraft and air defenses help extend coverage deeper into Ukraine, as well as providing critical screening for the nearby Russian naval base at Sevastopol, and also extend this coverage far out into the Black Sea.

Belbek Air Base was used by Ukraine before Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. Today, it is home to the 38th Fighter Aviation Regiment (38 IAP, in Russian nomenclature), a unit that you can read more about here. When Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Belbek received an influx of additional combat aircraft deployed from units in Russia. These have included examples of the Su-30SM and Su-35S, as well as Su-34 Fullback strike fighters, and MiG-31s.

MiG-31s, together with the very long-range air-to-air missiles they carry, have been a particular threat to the Ukrainian Air Force.

In October 2022, during take-off from Belbek, a MiG-31BM departed the runway, crashed, and was completely burned out. The navigator/weapons system officer ejected successfully from the rear cockpit, while the pilot was killed.

The airbase’s value means that it has received new hardened aircraft shelters and additional construction to help shield aircraft from drone attacks and other indirect fire. This is part of a broader push by the Russian military to improve physical defenses at multiple airfields following the launch of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Notably, the MiG-31 was targeted while standing in the open, unprotected. Its twin cockpit canopies were open, suggesting it was being prepared for a sortie or had recently returned from one.

As well as previous drone attacks, Ukrainian forces have employed U.S.-supplied Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) short-range ballistic missiles with cluster munition warheads against the base, with a notably destructive ATACMS barrage in May of last year. That attack resulted in two MiG-31s being burnt out, confirmed in post-strike satellite imagery. Since then, however, the use of hardened aircraft shelters at Belbek will have made the resident aircraft less vulnerable to the effects of ATACMS armed with cluster munitions, in particular.

The Russian Aerospace Forces began the current conflict with around 130 MiG-31s in active service, a small number of them adapted to carry Kinzhal aero-ballistic missiles. The two aircraft destroyed previously at Belbek are the only confirmed combat losses, though thast ight change when more details of the latest drone strike become available.

Russian MiG-31 Downs Ukrainian Su-25 from high altitude

The same attack on Belbek in May 2024 saw the Russians lose elements of an S-300 or S-400 air defense system, including what looked to be another 92N6 radar.

The targeting of Belbek again overnight, which Ukraine claims caused significant damage to prized air defense assets, shows that Ukraine is continuing to apply pressure on Russian forces in Crimea and is using a variety of weapons to achieve this.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

When it comes to the greatest Premier League game ever, where do you even start?

Manchester United and Bournemouth served up an eight-goal thriller on Monday, which former Liverpool and England defender Jamie Carragher described as the “best game” so far this season in the English top flight.

Speaking on Sky Sports, Carragher said: “That’s what makes the Premier League the greatest product in the world.

“For the majority of that Manchester United were absolutely fantastic. Bournemouth were not at the races at all in the first half but they were fantastic in the second half. What a game. Brilliant.

“I think we have just seen the best game of the Premier League season so far.”

The Red Devils famously played out a 5-5 draw at West Brom in Sir Alex Ferguson’s final match in charge of the club in 2013.

And United’s 4-4 draw against the Cherries was the 17th time the scoreline has occurred in the Premier League era.

But where does Monday’s match rank among some of the other remarkable contests we have seen down the years?

Her brown face, green mantle and forgiving gaze is a mainstay of Southern California: In front yards. As murals. On decals flashing from car windows and bumpers. Sold at swap meets in the form of T-shirts, ponchos, statues, bags and so much more.

Tomorrow, it will be the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and She couldn’t come soon enough. 2025 will go down as one of the best and worst years ever to be a Catholic in the United States.

Members of my faith are in positions of power in this country like never before. Vice President JD Vance is a convert. A majority of the Supreme Court are practicing Catholics. Names of past Catholic diasporas like Kennedy, Bondi, Loeffler and Rubio dot Trump’s Cabinet. This week, he became the first president to formally recognize the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, a Catholic holy day celebrating Mary, the mother of Jesus.

“For nearly 250 years, Mary has played a distinct role in our great American story,” Trump declared, offering a brief Catholic history of the United States that would’ve made this country’s Puritan forefathers retch. He even shouted out Our Lady of Guadalupe’s feast day, commending the “steadfast devotion to Mary that originated in the heart of Mexico.”

It’s the second year in a row where Trump has wrapped himself in the Empress of the Americas. Last year, he shared Her famous image on social media on Sept. 8, when Catholics celebrate the birth of the Virgin Mary, with the caption “Happy birthday, Mary!”

I wish I could say Guadalupe is changing Trump’s shriveled excuse of a heart. But it’s impossible to reach that conclusion when so many Catholics in the U.S. face unholy persecution because of his deportation deluge.

A study released earlier this year by a coalition of evangelical and Catholic groups found that 61% of immigrants at risk of deportation in this country identify as Catholic, while nearly one-fifth of U.S. Catholics “would be impacted” by someone being deported. The latter figure is nearly three times the rate that evangelicals face and four times the rate of other Christian denominations.

Guadalupanos — people with a special devotion to Guadalupe, the overwhelming majority of whom are Latino — can’t even venerate Her in peace this year because of Trump.

The neighborhood house that I visit every year to pray the novena in honor of Guadalupe with others has seen way fewer people than last year. In Chicago, where immigration agents terrorized residents all fall, officials at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in suburban Des Plaines are seeing the same even as they adopt security measures to reassure attendees. Out in the Coachella Valley, a beloved pilgrimage in honor of la guadalupana held for more than 20 years was canceled, with organizers announcing on Facebook in Spanish that the faithful should instead do a “spiritual interior pilgrimage where our mother invites us to keep us united in a secure environment.”

Since July, San Bernardino diocese bishop Alberto Rojas has allowed Catholics to skip Mass because of all the raids in the Inland Empire. He was joined this week by Diocese of Baton Rouge Bishop Michael Duca as la migra now roams Louisiana. “We should be anticipating the joy of Christmas, surrounded by our family in celebration,” Duca wrote, “instead of the experience of anxiety and fear.”

The late Pope Francis meets with U.S. Vice President JD Vance and delegation during an audience at Casa Santa Marta on April 20 in Vatican City. A day later, Francis died at age 88.

(Vatican Pool / Getty Images)

That’s the sad irony of seeing Catholicism have such a prominent role in Trump’s second term. The main defamers of Catholics in the United States have been Protestants since the days of the founding fathers. They cast successive waves of immigrants — Irish, Italians, Poles, Mexicans, Vietnamese — as evil, stupid immigrants beholden to Rome. They wrongly predicted each group would ruin the American way of life.

Now that Catholics are at the top, they’re the ones pushing policies that persecute the new generation of immigrants, Catholic and not. They mock the exhortations of church leaders to follow the Bible’s many commands to protect the stranger, the meek, the least and the poor by arguing that deporting the undocumented is somehow righteous.

That’s why, as we end a terrible year and Trump vows to escalate his cruel anti-immigrant campaign in the next one, Catholics and non-Catholics alike need to remember who Our Lady of Guadalupe is like never before. She’s more than just an iconic image; this dark-skinned María stands against everything Trump and his brand of Catholicism preaches.

The faithful believe that Guadalupe appeared in 1531 near modern day Mexico City — not before the conquering Spanish priests who were destroying the old ways of the Aztecs and other Indigenous groups, but to the conquered who looked like her. The manuscript that shared her story with the world quoted her as promising to “hear all their cries … and remedy all their miseries, sorrows, and pains.”

Siding with the underdogs against the elites is why Mexicans carried Guadalupe’s banner in the War of Independence and during the Mexican Revolution. Why Cesar Chavez carried her during United Farm Workers marches and why generations of Chicano artists have reimagined la virgencita as everything from a bikini-clad model to a jogger — the more quotidian, the better.

It’s why there are 19 parishes, sanctuaries and missions named after her in the dioceses of Orange, Los Angeles and San Bernardino — by far the most of any saint, sacrament or Marian apparition in the Southland. It’s why the late Pope Francis regularly celebrated mass in honor of Guadalupe’s feast day at the Vatican and admonished those who wished to “gain ideological advantage over the mystery of Guadalupe” last year during a homily at St. Peter’s Basilica. Presiding over the service was Cardinal Robert Prevost, who is now Pope Leo XIV and whose devotion to Guadalupe is such that he was consecrated as a bishop 11 years ago this Dec. 12.

It’s why Guadalupe has emerged as a symbol against Trump’s deportation Leviathan.

Her message of hope for the poor over the privileged stands in contrast to the limousine Catholics who dominate Trumpland. They’re the ones that have successfully spent millions of dollars to move the church in the United States to the right (55% of Catholics chose Trump last year), repeatedly tried to torpedo the reforms of Pope Francis and are already souring on Pope Leo for describing Trump’s raids as “extremely disrespectful” to the dignity of migrants. They’re the ones who have expressed more outrage over the assassination of conservative firebrand Charlie Kirk this fall than the suffering that millions of their fellow Catholics have endured all year under Trump.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, grant us the strength to fight back against the Herod of our time.