In the final innings of her international career, Tammy Beaumont is bowled first ball by India’s Kranti Gaud at Lord’s on day three of the one-off Test, with England needing 457 to win.
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The Ducks have matched the Philadelphia Flyers’ offer sheet for center Leo Carlsson, keeping their rising young star at an extraordinary cost.
The Ducks announced their decision Thursday on the 21-year-old Carlsson, who is now the NHL’s highest-paid player under the five-year, $90-million deal extended by the Flyers one week ago.
Carlsson signed the Flyers’ offer sheet as a restricted free agent after a year of fruitless negotiations with Anaheim general manager Pat Verbeek, whose typical hardline approach in contract talks with his restricted free agents backfired tremendously this time.
Carlsson’s new contract is worth much more than the league expected he would get as a restricted free agent, and the $18 million average annual value is significantly more than he had already indicated he would accept. The deal surpasses the salary of Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov, who would have been the NHL’s highest-paid player at $17 million.
The Flyers failed to land their long-sought No. 1 center in unusual fashion by swiping Carlsson, but the attempt showed general manager Danny Briere’s determination to improve his roster at all costs. The Ducks would have received four first-round draft picks from Philadelphia if they hadn’t matched the offer sheet.
Future negotiations will reveal whether Briere significantly skewed the NHL’s valuations of young talent by offering more than nearly all observers thought Carlsson could get. The structure of Philadelphia’s offer sheet also front-loaded Carlsson’s contract with costly signing bonuses in another departure from many NHL contracts.
Although the Ducks retained their most important young player, Verbeek’s inability to get a deal done before he was forced into it by Philadelphia will compromise Anaheim’s roster-building efforts this season and for years to come. The embattled general manager has had a rough summer immediately after the Ducks ended their seven-season playoff drought with a second-round run that had stamped them as a future contender in the Western Conference.
After keeping the Ducks’ payroll well under the salary cap during his tenure, Verbeek will be spending owner Henry Samueli’s money at the limit of the cap next season after making anachronistic decisions and signaling vulnerability to the league while he managed his crop of young talent.
The league’s salary cap is currently at $104 million and is expected to rise in the coming years.
Verbeek still hasn’t signed 41-goal scorer Cutter Gauthier, a restricted free agent who is not eligible to receive an offer sheet. He signed defenseman Pavel Mintyukov to a five-year, $36 million deal last week, again going well over the expected market rate for a restricted free agent who isn’t on Carlsson’s level of talent, but was widely rumored to be on the verge of signing an offer sheet.
Verbeek also parted ways with four key defensemen from last season’s team — Jacob Trouba, captain Radko Gudas, Olen Zellweger and late-season rental John Carlson — and hasn’t replaced them with any significant signings beyond journeyman Nick Jensen. The Ducks also traded Mason McTavish, a key component of their team for several seasons, to St. Louis for draft picks after the center regressed last season.
With this pricey deal for Carlsson, the Ducks’ history of antagonistic negotiations with their free agents has become the defining feature of Verbeek’s front office.
Trevor Zegras, Jamie Drysdale and McTavish all held out of training camp in recent years when they couldn’t get a deal done with Verbeek, who eventually signed all three — and later traded them all away. Verbeek did two of those deals with the Flyers, gaining praise for sending Drysdale in a package for Gauthier, but getting criticism from Ducks fans for giving up on the high-scoring Zegras last summer.
Carlsson was the No. 2 choice in the 2023 draft behind Connor Bedard, and he has emerged as one of the NHL’s top young playmakers.
Although he didn’t produce points at a rate commensurate with his new salary during his first three seasons, almost everyone believes Carlsson can become one of the best centers in hockey, so his deal might eventually look downright affordable.
He scored 67 points in 70 games last season despite being limited for a lengthy stretch by a leg injury, and he added 11 points in 12 games during his first postseason experience.
Carlsson is expected to be an unrestricted free agent when this contract ends in 2031, putting him in line for another massive payday at just 26 years old.
Beacham writes for the Associated Press.
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The European Commission launched an investigation on Thursday into Chinese Peking duck after several EU producers complained of unfairly low prices harming their industry.
Without disclosing their names, the Commission said that five EU producers had complained that China is unfairly subsidising domestic production via its five-year plan for agricultural modernisation.
The probe comes at a time of heightened tensions between Beijing and Brussels, as the EU seeks to shield its market from cheap Chinese imports, triggering Beijing’s ire as it aims to preserve access to the lucrative European market.
After China repeatedly threatened retaliation over several EU legislative proposals restricting access to EU public procurement and setting strict conditions on foreign investment, the two sides started negotiations last week to ease tensions.
However, the EU’s latest move targeting duck imports could disrupt the talks by hitting China’s agricultural sector for the first time.
It also said that the volume and prices of imports had a “negative impact on the quantities sold, the level of prices charged and market share held by the Union industry,” and that this had resulted in “substantial adverse effects on the overall performance” of the sector.
The Commission’s investigation could result in anti-dumping duties being imposed on Chinese producers to protect the EU market.
Anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties are among the EU’s main trade defence instruments against China’s aggressive push into its market. However, EU leaders gave the Commission a mandate in June to step up efforts to reduce the EU’s €1 billion-a-day trade deficit with China. They want the EU executive, which has competence over trade policy, to review its trade defence tools and pursue a dialogue with Beijing that delivers tangible results.
EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič met his Chinese counterpart, Wang Wentao, in Brussels last Monday to kick-start negotiations aimed at restoring a level playing field and addressing trade imbalances, which Brussels said had become “unsustainable”.
The EU already imposed tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles in 2024, triggering China’s investigations and sanctions targeting EU brandy, pork and dairy products.
The EU hopes to achieve a breakthrough in negotiations with Beijing by October, when Šefčovič is due to travel to China.
It would be fitting if Ireland’s first win in the T20 World Cup came against the Scots given they denied the Irish a place in the tournament two years ago as they pulled off a shock victory to reach the tournament for the first time.
Lewis said there was “major heartbreak” in the Ireland camp after that sore defeat that forced the squad to have to watch the World Cup from home.
Ireland are in a better place now and come into the tournament off the back of a productive Tri-Nations series in Clontarf where they beat both Pakistan and the West Indies.
“The series was a great success, we’ve got the results behind us. Confidence is high and that’s exactly what you want going into a World Cup,” Lewis added.
Lloyd Tennant’s side are ranked ninth in the world but are in a tough Group B which also has hosts England, holders New Zealand, Sri Lanka and West Indies alongside the Scots.
They will face all five sides with the top two in the group moving through to the semi-finals where they will face the top two from Group A.
Scotland won by 39 runs the last time the two sides met in Nepal in January and Lewis believes getting off to a good start in their first game is “massive” for Ireland in terms of momentum.
“There’s a big rivalry between us and them. They’ve probably got one up on us at the moment after beating us in Nepal. I think we’re looking good and we’re really excited for it.
“They’ve got a new addition in Kirsty Gordon [a former England spinner] which is a boost for them.
“If we get the win, then you never know against England.”
Animator Jorge R. Gutierrez is facing online backlash following news that his latest series, “Punky Duck,” will use artificial intelligence for its production.
Amazon MGM Studios and Amazon Web Services announced on Wednesday the launch of the GenAI Creators’ Fund, a joint initiative that gives creators access to professional-grade AI tools and funding to produce cinematic entertainment.
Three animation projects have already been greenlighted, including Gutierrez’s “Punky Duck,” which follows a punk duck and his best friend, Smiley Cat, through a wildly exaggerated Los Angeles filled with alien invasions, giant monsters, robot criminal conspiracies, telenovela-style family drama and supernatural mayhem.
BuzzFeed Studios’ “Cupcake & Friends” and Albie Hecht’s “Love, Diana Music Hunters” are also part of the initiative.
Speaking at the AI on the Lot event at Culver Studios, Gutierrez spoke positively of using the controversial new technology, comparing it to “having sex and then they hand you the baby.”
Fans took to social media to critique the “Book of Life” creator, sharing their disappointment. Many pointed out how the tool is actively reshaping traditional Hollywood jobs, from storyboarding to production design, raising concerns over creative control.
As a response to the backlash, Gutierrez uploaded a screenshot to Instagram that same day featuring news articles by Variety and the Hollywood Reporter with a caption addressing the collaboration: “I understand a lot of you are happy for me and a lot of you are really angry at me for experimenting with AI at Amazon. I’m going to leave the comments open so you can get it all out and hopefully feel better.”
Gutierrez also warned that any death threats will be reported, as well as threats to his family. The post has since been deleted.
In a subsequent Instagram post, he shared a screenshot of a post on X, which showed edits to Gutierrez’s Wikipedia page, where he is described as a “sellout.” Gutierrez captioned his Instagram: “Whoever did this I thought it was really funny!”
The Mexican creator is behind Nickelodeon’s “El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera” and Netflix’s “Maya and the Three.” He is also currently developing the long-awaited Speedy Gonzales film with Warner Bros. Pictures Animation.
It took over a decade for Gutierrez to get approval for his 2014 film “The Book of Life,” a beloved storybook animation about the Day of the Dead. After multiple rejections from top animation studios, it was eventually produced by Mexican director Guillermo del Toro — a staunch critic of AI, who described its use as “sharting” at a party to The Times late last year.
By comparison, “Punky Duck,” was greenlighted in two months, according to Cartoon Brew.
In a statement to The Times, Gutierrez said he is “cautiously optimistic” about his collaboration with Amazon MGM Studios: “Artists driving tech, and not the other way around, is my goal.”
“It’s a big experiment for me, and like all experiments it might not work, and I will be as cautious and ethical as possible with AI,” he said.
Gutierrez has been critical of AI in the past, expressing distaste for the tool through a series of cheeky memes shared in 2023, 2024 and 2025. Last year, he referred to the nascent technology as a “mutant AI cockroach.”
Anaheim Ducks forward Troy Terry needs hip surgery that could endanger his availability at the start of next season.
Terry has a chronic hip impingement, the Ducks revealed Thursday in their postseason injury report. Anaheim’s first postseason since 2018 ended last week in the second round with a six-game loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.
The Ducks haven’t finalized a date for Terry’s hip surgery or a definite time frame for his recovery.
Terry has been Anaheim’s most consistent offensive player for the past half-decade, scoring at least 19 goals and 50 points each year. He scored 57 points last season before adding three goals and eight assists in 12 playoff games — the first postseason contests of his career.
The team also confirmed that goal-scoring forward Cutter Gauthier played with two fractured vertebrae in his back during the postseason. Gauthier was hurt in late March, but only missed five games before returning and eventually scoring 12 points in the postseason.
Captain Radko Gudas sprained his ankle in the Ducks’ playoff opener and didn’t return to the lineup, but he would have been available if Anaheim had advanced to another round. So would forward Ryan Poehling, who has been cleared after incurring a concussion from an illegal hit by Vegas defenseman Brayden McNabb, who was suspended for a game.
Defenseman Pavel Mintyukov sprained a ligament in his knee, but he will be ready for training camp.
Lainey Wilson and Devlin “Duck” Hodges made a splash last weekend, getting married Sunday at a picturesque waterfall in Tennessee.
And unlike at Wilson’s recent headlining gig at the Stagecoach Festival in Indio, nobody had to evacuate because of dangerously high wind.
“You could hear the water trickling down and birds singing, and we had a nice spring breeze,” the country singer and “Yellowstone” actor told Vogue, which had an exclusive on the event. “I arrived in a white horse-drawn carriage and walked down the aisle with my Deddy to join Duck at the altar.”
Yup, she said “Deddy.” She also said at Stagecoach — once the wind had slowed down and she was performing as promised — that she hoped her fans “sat in your cars and drank some tequila” when they were hastily and temporarily evacuated.
On Sunday, a friend took the couple through their vows as they were standing on a cobblestone ledge at the foot of a waterfall on the 121-year-old Ruskin property about an hour out of Nashville.
The groom wore a bespoke mallard green suit and ornate bolo tie for the ceremony, per Vogue, while the bride rocked some 5-inch Louboutin heels under her Oscar de la Renta gown. She also kept some blinged-out, custom-made high-heeled cowboy boots nearby just in case. Perhaps for the reception?
There was a 12-piece jazz band, Wilson told the fashion publication, and a Cajun meal that reflected her Louisiana roots. The caterer? It was her very own Nashville bar, Bell Bottoms Up, which turns 2 years old at the end of this month.
Wilson and Hodges, an NFL quarterback-turned-entrepreneur, met on a blind date in 2021 that started with a dinner on the water in Hendersonville, Tenn., and ended up at a honky-tonk. “We’ve been pretty inseparable since,” the Grammy winner said.
They got engaged a couple of days before Valentine’s Day in 2025. The retired athlete, who played for the Los Angeles Rams in 2021, is now a Memphis-based real estate agent who specializes in land and recreational properties.