backed

Celtic will “come together and support” manager Martin O’Neill after a “painful” week for the club, chief executive Michael Nicholson has said.

O’Neill had indicated that he would use the international break to consider his future following two defeats to Rangers, either side of a home loss to Ferencvaros in the Europa League.

In the wake of Sunday’s 1-0 derby defeat at Celtic Park, 74-year-old O’Neill had said “it might be time to wrap it up”.

However, Nicholson suggested the club will rally round the manager who has delivered nine trophies over two spells.

His remarks came with the latest financial figures revealing a drop of nearly £33m in revenue.

A loss of £4.8m is largely down to the failure to reach last year’s Champions League and Celtic have missed out again, squandering a 4-0 aggregate lead in their play-off with LASK last month.

“Having started well in the Premiership this season, we experienced disappointment in the Champions League play-off,” said Nicholson in a written statement accompanying the financial results.

“Reaching the league phase of the Champions League is an objective for us all, and we are sorry not to have achieved it.

“On top of that, the losses in the last week have been painful for us all. We will now come together and support Martin and the players, as we focus our efforts on achieving success domestically and in the Europa League.”

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The U.S. Supreme Court again rejected a push to use Missouri congressional maps backed by President Donald Trump on Thursday, a loss for Republicans trying to maintain control of the House in the fast-approaching midterm elections.

The decision appears to clear the way for use of the old maps.

It comes after a pitched court battle shortly before ballots begin going out for the pivotal November elections. The maps were drawn to help Republicans gain an additional U.S. House seat.

It’s the second time the high court has refused to intervene to keep the Trump-backed maps in place.

Lieb writes for the Associated Press.

SPICE GIRLS, Girls Aloud and Little Mix are just some of the huge girl groups who have ruled the charts over the years.

Now the next generation is ready to get in on the action.

Step forward Manifest — Turkey’s picture-perfect group, who are taking the world by storm.

Despite being yet to release a single English-language track, the girls already have 7.3million monthly listeners on Spotify alone.

The group is made up of six amazing women: Sueda Uluca, Hilal Yelekci, Lidya Pinar, Mina Solak, Esin Bahat and Zeynep Sude Oktay.

And they have the backing of Dua Lipa, who personally invited them to perform as part of her Sunny Hill music festival in Kosovo earlier this summer, and has tipped them for greatness.

They said: “Dua was amazing. We really love her, and meeting with her was like a dream come true. We saw meeting Dua and playing her festival as a step to becoming global stars.

“She gave us some great advice and was keen for us to just remember to enjoy the show.

“She encouraged us to enjoy our time on stage and not worry too much. If we have fun, the fans have fun.”

Each member has their own distinct personality and style, and since being put together on a TV talent contest in Turkey last year, their popularity has skyrocketed.

Keen to take on the world, the girls invited Bizarre’s Jack to Izmir, on Turkey’s Aegean coast, to see them in action at their three-day festival, Manifestival.

He was blown away — not only by the vocals and the sharp choreography but by just how lovely the girls were backstage.

In their first UK interview, the group explained: “We have been manifesting ourselves to be a successful band for years. We have always believed we can do it and make it global.

“We believe people can manifest anything, so when it came to picking a name for us, as soon as someone mentioned Manifest, it stuck.

“We loved it. We didn’t want a name that was too cheesy.”

The group are putting in some serious hours to make themselves stars.

They explained: “We don’t have days off, we have hours. We are so busy, but that’s good. We are constantly in rehearsals.

“It only takes us one day to learn a dance but then we practise it over and over again.

“We want the show to be perfect. Sometimes we will practise a single routine for five days until it’s ready.”

Next month, Manifest will jet to the UK for their first ever headline show on British soil and, boy, are they starting big.

Leapfrogging smaller venues due to demand, they will headline London’s Wembley Arena on October 16.

As well as the gig, the girls are set to take part in a number of promo activities across the capital to show there’s a new band in town.

Admitting they still battle with nerves even though they have “made it” in their home country, the group said: “When we first started to perform, we were really nervous — it almost felt like you were having a heart attack from the nerves.

“But now it’s just excitement. Every time we perform, it’s still so exciting for us. It’s what we love to do.

“We have rituals to calm us down, and we pray to God before we take to the stage.”

In another sign Manifest are attracting all the right attention, they have also landed themselves a Netflix series which will show them on the road and take each member back to their home town.

Setting their sights as high as possible, the girls now hope they can emulate their Girl Power idols.

They added: “We would love to be as big as the Spice Girls; they are our inspiration.

“We have just recorded our first English song, which should be out soon, and we are coming to London.”

Take it from us, there are big things to come from Manifest.

Sam’s on £400m sales

SAM SMITH looked pleased as punch receiving this plaque celebrating the sale of 400million singles worldwide.

The Lay Me Down singer, whose latest album Hazel Eyes came out last month, beamed backstage at the London Coliseum.

Sam played the first show of an eight-night To Be Free residency there on Tuesday, and I’m sure this boost was most welcome before taking to the stage.

An ABBA Fab tribute

IN what I can only describe as the maddest musical mash-up I’ve heard of in a long time, Una Healy, Samantha Mumba, Duncan James and Antony Costa are teaming up for an ABBA extravaganza.

All Stars: The Music Of Abba is a new stage show ­celebrating the Swedish group’s biggest hits.

Across a 21-date tour, The Saturdays star Una, Samantha and the Blue bandmates will form a pop supergroup paying homage to the works of the chart legends, backed by a live band.

Further dates are expected down the line, but they will kick off in Croydon on February 26, before ­taking in shows in cities nationwide including Aberdeen and Edinburgh, Cardiff, Birmingham, Southend, Nottingham and Hull.

Tickets go on pre-sale from 10am today online at allstarsonstage.com.

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SHAKIRA’S World Cup anthem Dai Dai with Burna Boy has surpassed one billion views on YouTube and made her the most-viewed female artist on the platform.

The achievement comes ahead of the launch next week of her sold-out 12-night residency at a purpose-built stadium in Madrid.

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THE WEEKND has wrapped his 42-date After Hours Til Dawn 2026 tour, grossing £255million after performing in front of more than two million fans.

The gigs gave a massive boost to local economies and raised more than £1.6million in charitable donations for both the United Nations World Food Programme and the Global Citizen project.

Strike a pose Julia

JULIA GARNER is the spitting image of a young Madonna as she vows that the superstar’s biopic will be made.

The Ozark actress sported cropped blonde hair and a feathery gown in the October issue of Elle magazine after being cast in the film, which was canned amid budget rows.

Julia insisted: “I think the movie has to get made. But we’ll see . . .”

She and Vogue singer Madge filmed for Apple TV show The Studio together earlier this year. Their spoof storyline is inspired by the Queen of Pop’s axed film.

Julia said: “She’s one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. Like actually. And people don’t know that.”

A Biggie break for Swayvo

ANOTHER nepo baby has bagged a major role in Hollywood.

The son of neo-soul pioneers D’Angelo and Angie Stone has been cast as Biggie in the upcoming Snoop Dogg biopic.

Swayvo Twain, whose real name is Michael D’Angelo Archer II, will star in the Universal Pictures movie called Snoop, which is being produced by the rapper himself.

Biggie, also known as Notorious B.I.G., was one of the biggest names in hip-hop in the Nineties and had a mutual appreciation with Snoop, despite the fact they were on either side of the East Coast-West Coast rap rivalry.

Jonathan Daviss will play the main man himself in the flick, which is due to hit cinemas next August.

Nirvana go for a gong

NIRVANA will be honoured with the prestigious Video Vanguard Award at the MTV VMAs on September 27.

The gong is akin to a lifetime achievement award and has been won by Mariah Carey and Rihanna in recent years, with Nirvana being the first band to do so since Duran Duran in 2003.

They only released three albums before frontman Kurt Cobain died, but surviving members Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear are being tipped to attend, 34 years after winning the Best New Artist and Best Alternative Video prizes for Smells Like Teen Spirit.

The 2026 ceremony will take place at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, with Madonna leading the nominations with 11.

In reach for Adela

WITH just one day of sales left, the battle for No1 is almost over but breakout star Adela is fighting for the top spot.

And it’s not just chart success she is hoping for but world domination, following the release of her brilliant debut album Prima on Friday.

More than a million videos have been made on TikTok using the audio for her single Ain’t In LA.

Now that single is set to enter the Top 20 tomorrow, plus A-lister Nicole Kidman has praised Adela after the Slovak singer named her next track after the actress.

Meanwhile, Adela has revealed her drive to become a pop star in the first place.

Speaking about her favourite Disney Channel show as a youngster, she told Bizarre’s Howell: “Hannah Montana’s where I first saw like, ‘Oh, you can sing and dance for a living and you can be a pop star. This is what that is like’.

“That’s literally where this all first began. For me, it was seeing that show and becoming obsessed with it.”

Of the show’s star Miley Cyrus, she added: “She’s like a mythical creature to me. I don’t think I can actually meet her.”

If Prima manages to clinch the No1 spot from competitors Kasabian, who she is just 332 copies behind, she will be the first solo female to go straight to No1 with her debut album since Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour in 2021.

And judging by Adela’s drive, talent and creativeness on this record, the world is her oyster.

Sept. 8, 2026 3:02 PM PT

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday rebuffed an appeal from Missouri officials who wanted to use new congressional districts backed by President Trump in the November election, a defeat for Republicans who had hoped the new map could help them hold onto their slim House majority.

The justices let stand a decision by Missouri’s top court, which said the new districts were automatically suspended by a citizen petition demanding a statewide vote.

The ruling marks a rare setback for Republicans in a nationwide redistricting battle that Trump urged Republicans to launch last year.

Missouri’s new districts were used in the August primaries. But the Missouri Supreme Court ruled in September that the state must revert to districts adopted after the last census.

Republican state Atty. Gen. Catherine Hanaway, who appealed, had argued it would violate federal rights to switch districts for voters between the primary and general elections. She also said it would cause confusion.

Missouri currently is represented in the U.S. House by six Republicans and two Democrats who were elected under districts that Republican state officials approved in 2022.

But at Trump’s urging, Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe called the Legislature into a special session last year to redraw congressional boundaries to their advantage ahead of the midterms.

The revised map targeted the 5th Congressional District, held by longtime Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Kansas City. It reassigned portions of Kansas City to two neighboring districts represented by Republicans and stretched the remainder of Cleaver’s district far eastward into rural Republican areas.

Cleaver was unopposed in the Democratic primary. State Sen. Rick Brattin won the Republican primary in the reshaped district.

On the same day as the primary, Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins rejected a petition with thousands of signatures seeking to force a November referendum on the map. Hoskins asserted that Missouri’s Constitution doesn’t allow a referendum on congressional redistricting. A lower court agreed, but the state Supreme Court reversed Hoskins’ decision.

The state’s top court said the new districts were retroactively frozen in December, when the petition signatures were submitted, and thus never became law. Hoskins on Tuesday assigned the redistricting referendum as Proposition A on the November ballot, in compliance with the state court order.

The Missouri Constitution does not specifically say that a referendum can be used for congressional redistricting. But the state Supreme Court said a constitutional provision allowing a referendum on “any act” of the Legislature encompasses congressional redistricting legislation.

Missouri was the second Republican-led state, after Texas, to respond to Trump’s call last year to redraw congressional districts. Several other states followed. All told, Republicans had hoped to win as many as 16 additional seats from new House maps enacted in eight states — Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Florida, Tennessee, Louisiana and Alabama. Democrats, whose counterattack faced several setbacks, think they could win up to six additional seats from new districts in California and Utah.

It remains to be seen whether the redistricting works as intended for Republicans. The president’s party historically has lost congressional seats in the midterms, and Trump’s poor approval ratings could provide an extra hurdle for Republican candidates.

Whitehurst and Lieb write for the Associated Press.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., on Thursday declined to detail possible punishments for two House Democrats who voted with Republicans this week on a procedural vote on GOP-backed bills. File Photo by Daniel Heuer/UPI | License Photo

Sept. 3 (UPI) — House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., on Thursday declined to detail any punishment for two Democratic lawmakers who voted earlier this week with Republicans on a procedural vote to advance GOP-led bills.

Democratic Reps. Jared Golden of Maine and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington on Tuesday voted to advance debate on Republican-led bills, including a resolution condemning socialism that GOP leaders want to use against Democrats during the fall election season.

Without their votes, the procedural vote would have failed. Jeffries and other Democratic leaders sharply criticized the votes by Golden and Gluesenkamp Perez as a “breach of trust” and said there would be a “serious response.”

Jeffries told a news conference Thursday that he spoke with Gluesenkamp Perez, calling the discussion “productive” and “forward-looking.

Some House Democrats suggested Gluesenkamp Perez should be removed from the Appropriations Committee over vote.

“Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, of course, is an important member of the House Democratic Caucus fighting hard for the people that she represents in Washington and a leader of the Blue Dogs,” Jeffries said.

“And we value every single member in our caucus – progressives, the New Dems and Blue Dogs – and we’re going to move forward together, in unity, in order to solve problems for the American people.”

Jeffries said there was a continuing “family discussion about how we all move forward together.”

He tasked an internal panel in charge of caucus rules to discuss sanctions in new rules to prevent House Democrats from voting with Republicans on important procedural votes. The panel, which met Wednesday, did not take immediate action.

Jeffries said Democrats will discuss possible changes to internal caucus rules because of the defections. However, he suggested there be punishments for Gluesenkamp Perez or Golden.

Gluesenkamp Perez is seeking re-election in a district that leans Republican, while Golden is retiring. She represents a district that U.S. President Donald Trump won in 2024, and she is a top target for Republicans in November’s election.

OMAHA, Neb. — “Do they still like Trump in Nebraska? I think so,” the president said during a recent event in Washington.

Given that the state easily backed Republican Donald Trump three times and hasn’t supported a Democrat for the White House since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, the answer may seem obvious.

But in Nebraska’s largest city, it’s an open question and could decide one of the country’s most-watched congressional races. Retiring Rep. Don Bacon ’s open seat pits fellow Republican and Omaha City Councilmember Brinker Harding against Democratic activist Denise Powell.

The district encompasses an increasingly Democratic-leaning Omaha metro area of 1 million-plus and its more conservative suburbs — famous for steaks and the Reuben sandwich’s birthplace, though New York disputes that.

It’s one of just eight districts nationwide that elected Republicans in House races while supporting Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris over Trump two years ago.

Harding and Powell have been making the rounds at parades and festivals where meat raffles offer oversized sausages as prizes. However, those on-the-ground appeals could be drowned out by Trump who, like most things in politics, has moved to shape November’s midterm elections in his own image.

The president is organizing a Republican midterm convention in Dallas next month that will serve as much a two-day rally for him as a boon to party candidates nationwide. Trump is also frequently visiting tightly contested districts, despite his low approval ratings and the unpopular war in Iran.

While Trump centers himself, Democrats are happy to oblige.

When Powell knocks on doors to talk to voters, she asks, “What’s keeping you up at night?” On a sweaty Saturday afternoon, John Rosseter responded without hesitation. “Well, Trump.”

“I want to see the history books written years from now,” said Rosseter, 67, who owns a carpentry business. “They won’t be pretty.”

The ‘Blue Dot’ hasn’t helped Democratic House candidates

Nebraska splits its presidential electoral votes, and the 2nd Congressional District’s delegate has gone to Democrats three out of five times since 2008, making it a “ blue dot ” in an otherwise Republican red state. But a Democrat has won the House seat just once since 1994.

Harding plays up Trump’s primary endorsement, and House Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise campaigned for him. Harding said he has “the full confidence of, not only the White House, but leadership in the Congress.”

He has also tried to appeal to swing voters and says he knows the district better than does Powell, co-founder of Women Who Run Nebraska, which supports female candidates.

Two possible Democratic 2028 presidential candidates — ex-Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Rahm Emanuel, an ex-Chicago mayor who was President Barack Obama’s first White House chief of staff — have campaigned with Powell.

She talks about how Medicare cuts have increased anxiety about affordability. Powell also points to Trump and his family’s business dealings as an example of “the choices that they have made while people on the ground are struggling” and she says that resonates with Republicans.

“Even the ones who aren’t necessarily anti-Trump,” Powell said, “understand the need for checks and balances.”

Some Democrats want a ‘Blue Dot Wave’

Jason Brown and his wife, Ruth Huebner-Brown, caused a sensation in 2024 by spray painting about 50 reused lawn signs with blue dots and distributing them around Omaha’s Dundee neighborhood. The couple has since expanded to professionally produce signs promoting a “Blue Dot Wave.”

Brown said the Republican-controlled Congress has capitulated on “every Trump nominee, every Trump policy, all the way down to putting gilding gold on statues.”

Supporters of Harding have countered with red “Brinker Dot” signs.

“We need to make sure that we keep this country on the track to being even better,” Harding said.

Jack Hosking, the 90-year-old retired former head of a title insurance company, organizes a weekly coffee to discuss political and community issues. He estimated that about 70% of attendees are Trump voters and “maybe even more so lately, because of the crap that the New York mayor started,” referring to Zohran Mamdani’s efforts at pushing the Democratic Party to the left.

Both Powell and Harding have addressed Hosking’s group, though, and he predicted that as much as half will support the Democrat.

“She spoke well enough that, my sense is, a lot of them will cross over,” Hosking said, noting that when it came to campaigning, “Brinker’s not doing much.”

The president seen as a base motivator

The Republican National Committee views Trump as a national asset, betting he can prevent complacency in a year without a presidential race, when enthusiasm for the party in power typically wanes.

The committee rebranded its “Young Guns” program for key candidates to “MAGA Majority” in deference to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement, and many congressional candidates will be at the Dallas convention with Trump.

Others aren’t waiting that long.

Republican Reps. Mike Lawler of New York and Tom Barrett of Michigan, whom Democrats are aiming to unseat, both appeared with Trump during his rallies in their districts. When the president visited Macungie, Pennsylvania, in June, he joined Republican Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, saying, “I’m here for him.”

Trump also traveled to the Wisconsin district of Republican Rep. Derreck Van Orden, as have Cabinet members.

Rep. Juan Ciscomani, facing a reelection fight, appeared with Trump during an April event in Arizona. Two Iowa Republicans in what could be toss-up reelection contests, Reps Zach Nunn and Mariannette Miller-Meeks, both were by Trump’s side when he kicked off his midterm campaign outside Des Moines.

Bacon sometimes defied the White House in his final term. He criticized Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and tried to curb Trump’s ability to impose tariffs and was the only House Republican who opposed renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.

Mary Jane Truemper, who heads the Nebraska Republican Party, said Powell and the state’s Democrats have moved too far to the left. She called Harding “a steady force” and said the nominee is not as fond of picking high-profile fights the way Bacon sometimes was.

“I think he speaks to the moderate Democrats as well as the Republicans,” said Truemper, who managed Bacon’s reelection campaign in 2018 and also worked for an unsuccessful primary challenger to him.

Even Powell said, “Don Bacon was a good representative of this district, and I think that there are a lot of people drawn to a pragmatic style of leadership in a state like ours.” But that may not be enough this year.

“People are worse off than they were before,” Powell said.

A local race may expose a wider party divide among neighbors

In the Elmwood Park neighborhood, Andy Maxwell, a 58-year-old pediatrician, said he likes to find the middle ground in politics and his community. But he recalled that, after putting up a Biden sign in his yard in 2020, his neighbors erected a Trump one.

“We don’t like all the turmoil part of it,” Maxwell said of politics nationally.

Nearby, 80-year-old Jerard Pearson called Democrats “feckless,” but said of Trump’s base supporters, “I’ve always been curious about this one-third level of crazy out there, a third of the population.” He is also no fan of a neighbor’s large “Harding for Congress” sign.

Truemper said Harding appreciates Trump’s endorsement but Nebraskans like to be wooed “person-to-person, rather than a national entity coming in.”

“Is that going to be the deciding factor?” she asked of Trump. “I don’t know.”

Weissert writes for the Associated Press.