Blast

Lancashire’s quarter-final hopes were boosted by a seven-wicket win, their second victory in six games, at Chester-le-Street, while Durham’s fourth defeat in six means they are joined on eight points by a Red Rose team who remain bottom of the North Group.

Livingstone’s second successive Blast half-century – 85 not out off 31 balls with eight sixes – included four successive sixes off Kasey Aldridge’s seam bowling in a sensational innings.

Durham’s openers Graham Clark (49 not out) and Alex Lees (42) also impressed as the home side batted first and reached 128-2 from their 10 overs. England limited-overs quick Luke Wood returned 1-16 from two overs for Lightning, while Livingstone also struck.

After a near two-hour delay through to 20:25 BST, Lees pulled and muscled the contest’s first two balls from the spin of Tom Hartley for four and took four boundaries in all off the opening over.

When Livingstone bowled an attacking Lees, Durham had 94 in the eighth over. But Clark brilliantly scooped Tom Aspinwall for a boundary as the hosts ended well, despite the opener just falling short of 50.

In reply, skipper Keaton Jennings (1) and Ben McDermott (0) fell cheaply either side of a productive second over in which Livingstone pulled Matthew Potts for six. Michael Jones scored 27 from 15 balls before Livingstone was joined by Joe Moores (six not out) as Lancashire reached 130-3 to win with five balls remaining.

On the back of scores of 44 and 81 in his past two matches – both defeats against Yorkshire and Glamorgan – Livingstone went on to break the record for most sixes by a Lancashire batter in T20 history (163), previously held by his coach Steven Croft.

Ollie Pope struck his first half-century of this year’s T20 Blast as Surrey coasted past Middlesex in a one-sided South Group derby at The Oval.

Pope, who finished unbeaten on 51 from 33 balls, shared a second-wicket stand of 74 from 44 with Jason Roy (46) as they made short work of their chase to get Surrey’s T20 campaign back on track following successive defeats.

Earlier, Surrey’s seamers always looked on top and restricted their city rivals to a modest 130-7, with Reece Topley (1-21) and Sean Abbott (2-16) the pick of the bunch.

Middlesex all-rounder Luke Hollman, with an unbeaten 31 from 29 balls, top-scored in a losing cause for the second successive game as Surrey triumphed for the 12th time in 14 Blast meetings between the sides.

Although the forecast rain never actually materialised, Sam Curran put the visitors in after winning the toss and was rewarded as his bowlers gave little away, reducing Middlesex to 54-5.

Max Holden was bowled by Jordan Clark as four wickets fell in 25 balls, although Adam Rossington (20) managed to clear the fence twice in the powerplay before miscuing Topley to mid-on.

Former Surrey batter Ben Geddes – having made a duck on his return to the ground in last year’s Blast – was run out for one this time, while Josh de Caires was unlucky to drag a pull off Abbott on to his stumps.

With Leus du Plooy skying Clark (2-31) to mid-on, Middlesex’s prospects of posting a competitive score looked forlorn, despite a valiant partnership of 47 from 39 by Hollman and Ryan Higgins (27).

Riding his luck at times, Hollman landed some valuable blows and, although Sebastian Morgan thumped Tom Curran’s final ball over cover for four, the visitors’ total never looked remotely adequate.

Will Jacks, having survived a low caught and bowled chance to Noah Cornwell in the first over, provided a solid base with 24 from 17 before Tom Helm (1-25) nipped one back to hit the top of the stumps.

But Roy dabbed Eathan Bosch to the third man boundary to take Surrey past 50 at the end of the powerplay and, with an absence of scoreboard pressure, he and Pope were able to be selective with their shots.

Roy missed out on a first fifty of the tournament, spearing Cornwell to mid-on, but Pope stepped up a gear as he dispatched Morgan for two leg-side sixes before slamming a four to reach his half-century and clinch the win.

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — As Augie Lopez trotted around the bases late Monday night, the small contingent of USC fans could finally be heard at Blue Bell Park. With one towering blast to right field, the Trojans’ designated hitter silenced Texas A&M’s rowdy 12th Man.

Lopez’s three-run home run helped push the Trojans over Texas A&M 7-1 to reach the NCAA super regional for the first time in 21 years.

Lopez silenced most of the sellout crowd of 7,042, making it easy to hear USC fans serenading him during the College Station Regional Final.

“Augie! Augie! Augie!” USC fans chanted after Lopez returned to the dugout. After the win, he was named the regional’s most outstanding player.

It took a while, but the offense showed up to propel USC (47-16) to the Chapel Hill Super Regional against North Carolina.

Until Lopez’s blast, Texas A&M right-hander Clayton Freshcorn had slowed down a USC offense that had scored 48 runs combined while winning three consecutive games out of the losers’ bracket, including 14 on Sunday night against Texas A&M (41-16), to force the winner-take-all final.

USC right-hander Grant Govel, who had thrown 89 pitches over 5⅔ innings on Friday, retired the first seven Aggies before Bear Harrison hit a solo home run to left-center field in the third.

The Aggies ran out a threat in the fourth. Chris Hacopian drew a leadoff walk. Ben Royo kept the inning alive with a two-out single to left. Jorian Wilson followed with a single to shallow right-center field. Second baseman Abbrie Covarrubias was positioned perfectly to field the ball in the outfield, but his throw to first wasn’t in time.

Fortunately for the Trojans, Adrian Lopez alertly threw home to easily nail Hacopian by several feet to end the inning.

Covarrubias tied the score 1-1 with an RBI single to left-center in the fifth. One out later, Covarrubias stole second. Augie Lopez broke the tie with a single to right-center.

Two innings later, Lopez crushed his three-run blast.

May 31 (UPI) — Fifty-five people were killed, including six children, in an accidental detonation of mining explosives in a rebel-held area of Myanmar, the armed group said Sunday.

The Palaung Self Liberation Front/Ta’ang National Liberation Army, also known as the PSLF/TNLA, said in a statement that many others were also hurt in the blast, which happened Sunday afternoon local time in northern Shan State.

Rescuers told the Shwe Phee Myay News Agency the entire village of Kaung Tat in Namkham Township had been virtually destroyed and that “dozens” had been injured in the disaster.

Local officials have sent out an urgent call for blood donations as emergency workers tried to free victims trapped in rubble.

The PSLF/TNLA confirmed that many homes in the village were damaged when soft gunpowder stored for mining operations accidentally exploded at around 12:30 p.m.

The fatalities included 25 females and 30 males, they said, adding that the cause of the explosion will be investigated in detail.

Authorities, they said, “will take action in accordance with the law.”

The Ta’ang National Liberation Army is one of the main ethnic rebel groups in Myanmar fighting for independence from the central government, which along with its ally the Palaung Self Liberation Front comprise a front of resistance to the country’s military government.

May 30 (UPI) — A meteor exploded just off the coast of Massachusetts, causing a loud boom, Saturday afternoon.

Locals reported on social media that they heard a loud blast at about 2 p.m. EDT, and meteorologists have said it was likely a meteor.

Officials at the National Weather Service told WBUR that it was up to NASA to confirm that it was a meteor, but it may require finding pieces of debris to confirm it, 1 Degree Outside meteorologist Danielle Noyes told the station.

The U.S. Geological Survey did not detect an earthquake, Noyes added.

Meteorologist Nick Stewart posted on X, showing images from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: “The flash density product really shows this anomalous ‘flash,’ which is pretty distinctive of a bolide/meteor reentry. East of Boston. This is the likely source of the loud boom/explosion.”

A NOAA data map shows the flash over the bay.

WBZTV in Boston posted on its Instagram account that meteors cause a sonic boom because, “They enter Earth’s atmosphere at anywhere from 25,000 to 160,000 miles per hour, and larger space rocks can travel deep enough to create pressure waves.”

The station’s meteorologist Eric Fisher posted about the blast on his Instagram account. “CONFIRMED: Meteor exploding on entry caused that big boom across the Boston area Saturday afternoon!”

Local residents told Boston 25 News what the blast was like.

“Yes, I did, thought it may have been an explosion from the power plant next door. It vibrated my apartment. Though it lasted about 3 to 4 seconds … longer than most explosions. Did not sound like thunder,” one viewer said.

Another said there were two explosions.

“I was outside in Framingham with my dog. Heard and felt two huge blasts. Felt the shockwave. Definitely not thunder. Was from the east/southeast from where I was standing. Scared the crap out of us,” another viewer told the TV station.

US President Donald Trump said he is “not happy” with the latest peace proposal from Iran and warned that the alternative to talks is to “blast the hell out of” the country.

Ant McPartlin and Dec Donnelly have had their say on the I’m A Celebrity live final, which descended into chaos when Adam Thomas was crowned champion

Ant McPartlin and Dec Donnelly have waded in on the I’m A Celebrity pay row after Jimmy Bullard raged about losing his fee for wanting to quit the show.

Ex footballer Jimmy had said he wanted full pay and that was why he decided to call out ‘I’m a celebrity get me out of here’ during a trial rather than in camp sparking a huge row with Adam Thomas. Jimmy said for his own reasons – thought to be his father’s health – he wanted to go home, but because of his contract, he would have to lose a trial rather than ask to leave early.

During an extraordinary moment in the final, Jimmy said: “Listen, Adam and all of you can be upset with me and I absolutely threw him under the bus, I get it and I’ll wear that.

“But what I don’t stand on, is someone being abusive, aggressive and intimidating, I don’t stand on that.” He then called on Ant and Dec to have their say on what happened.

Speaking for the first time in their podcast about the live fallout, Ant and Dec appeared to side with Adam as they suggested he was used as ‘collateral damage’ in Jimmy’s plan.

“Jimmy used Adam as collateral damage,” said Ant. “We tried to be professional and keep it on track. It was a real shame – we were supposed to hear from every person.

“The whole thing was weird to me,” he added. “Which is why I said quite firmly on the night said I disagree.”

Asked on the night why he quit, Jimmy said: “There were a lot of heavy reasons, which I don’t want to go into now. Also, [I told Ollie], can you talk me through my contract? Because my contract’s pro-rata. Let me give you an example, if I go home and call Adam back with me, I get full pay. That money’s big for me and my family.

“If I go home, stay in, and go back and pull the plug, I get a small percentage of that. I made my mind up in that lightbulb moment – I have to go home. Then all hell breaks loose. You can all be upset. I threw him under the bus. I absolutely get it. I’ll wear that. But what I don’t stand on is someone being abusive, aggressive or intimidating. I don’t stand on it. You didn’t show none of that. None of the C-words. You didn’t.”

The pair also clarified what happened between them and David and Jimmy in the car park, which was snapped by paparazzi.

Speaking on their podcast ‘Hanging Out with Ant & Dec’, Dec explained: “I went up to David Haye and he went ‘How brilliant was that? Wasn’t that great?’ I went well…

“It was certainly talk about TV, I wouldn’t call it great but anyway we had a laugh and we were cool and then I’ve walked off and seen Jimmy Bullard and I just shook his hand and I was like ‘look after yourself’ and he was like ‘yeah, yeah cheers, cheers, cheers’. So there was no confrontation. I wasn’t flanked by two security guards as it said in the paper.”

Setting the record straight Ant insisted there was no argument in the car park, with Dec adding: “I saw David Haye and he said ‘what about that then, hope you get some good ratings for that one.'”

Ant also added: “I just felt it was a shame the crowning moment of I’m A Celebrity South Africa couldn’t have been more celebratory. If anything, remember it for Craig Charles having a bath in the washing up bowl – that’s how I would remember it.”

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Chile’s military police force has cracked down on student protesters after hundreds demonstrated against the government’s proposals to limit access to free higher education. The proposal includes cutting a government scholarship programme and increasing student loans, as part of wider austerity measures.

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro has blamed a ‘narco-terrorist group’ led by a former FARC fighter for the attack.

The death toll from a deadly highway bombing in southwestern Colombia has risen to at least 20, the governor of the Cauca region has said.

Governor Octavio Guzman said on Monday that the death toll included 15 women and five men.

There were also 36 people injured, including three who remained in intensive care as of Monday and “five minors who are out of danger”, Guzman said in an update shared on social media.

Some media reports put the death toll from the lethal explosion, near a tunnel on the Pan-American Highway, at 21 as of late on Monday.

A dozen of the victims were from a village near the town of Cajibio, where hundreds of mourners held a vigil on Monday.

The mourners were dressed in white and waved white sheets or balloons as a sign of peace.

“Please, no more death, no more violence,” Joao Valencia, 42, a relative of a woman killed in the attack, told the AFP news agency, holding up her picture.

“These kinds of women should die of old age, not have their lives taken from them in such a tragic way,” he added.

The bombing was one of the deadliest attacks in Colombia since the now-defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) blew up a Bogota nightclub in 2003, killing 36 people.

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro said a “narco-terrorist group” was responsible for the attack, specifically naming a group led by Nestor Vera, commonly known as Ivan Mordisco, one of Colombia’s most wanted men.

Mordisco is a dissident former member of FARC, which signed a landmark peace agreement with the government in 2016.

The attack comes just more than a month before national elections, in which voters will pick a successor to President Gustavo Petro.

Security is one of the central issues of the May 31 presidential election, with a suspect recently arrested in the assassination of young conservative presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe Turbay last June.