A Coronation Street star was due to appear at London Film and Comic-Con this weekend, but pulled out due to a family emergency
Coronation Street star concerns fans as they pull out of event after family emergency(Image: UKTV)
Coronation Street star Craig Charles concerned fans after he pulled out of his scheduled appearance at London Film and Comic-Con this weekend. The 60-year-old actor is best known for playing Lloyd Mullaney for a decade on the long-running soap, but was due to appear at the event for his Red Dwarf character, Dave Lister.
The star was due to appear alongside Red Dwarf co-stars Danny John-Jules, Robert Llewellyn and Hattie Hayridge. Taking to their Facebook page, London Film and Comic-Con wrote: “We contacted Craig at 9am to be told that due to a family emergency, he would not be in until 11am. At 11.30am we spent 20 minutes knocking on his hotel room door where there was no answer.
The organiser’s confirmed Craig Charles wouldn’t be at the event(Image: ITV)
“His Red Dwarf colleagues were able to contact him at 12.30, where he confirmed he was ill and unable to attend. These are the facts.
“The Group shot will go ahead with Danny, Robert and Hattie, and ticket holders will receive an automatic £60 refund to allow for the change of lineup. If anybody does not want the group shot, any unused tickets will automatically be refunded after the show.”
Not long after the post was shared, Craig took to his X/Twitter to apologise to fans, writing: “I’d just like to say sorry to showmasters and the fans at comicon. I made it to the hotel but woke up at 3 this morning with stomach pains.
He played Dave Lister on sci-fi comedy, Red Dwarf(Image: BBC/Grant Naylor Productions)
“I then proceeded to be violently ill for hours. Not a pretty sight. I tried to see if it would wear off but at 10 am I called it off and came back to Manchester.
“I’m feeling slightly better now, and I’m drinking lots of water and electrolytes. Again sorry for the cancellation and I look forward to next time.”
Fans rushed to the comment section to share their support, with one fan posting: “Hope you feel better.
“You don’t have anything to apologise for trust me someone that just got food poisoning two days ago I know exactly what you mean by coming down with something very quickly.”
Another concerned fans posted: “Take care of yourself. I’ve been watching you as Dave Lister since I was a child, Red Dwarf was and is still my favorite show.
“Lister inspired my love for curry and good tunes. It may be sad, but you were the closest thing I had to a father figure. Love from America, my guy.”
One commented: “As long as you’re on the mend that’s the main thing.” Red Dwarf is a sci-fi comedy that aired between 1988 and 1999, which follows technician Dave Lister, who awakens after being suspended animation for three million years to find that he is the last living human and that he’s alone on the mining spacecraft.
EUGENE, Ore. — Kenyans Faith Kipyegon and Beatrice Chebet set world records and American Melissa Jefferson-Wooden won a star-studded women’s 100 meters Saturday as the Prefontaine Classic celebrated its 50th anniversary.
Kipyegon finished the 1,500 in 3 minutes, 48.68 seconds, besting her record of 3:49.04 in the event set last year.
Chebet became the first women to run under 14 minutes in the 5,000, finishing in 13:58.06 to surpass Ethiopian Gudaf Tsegay’s 2023 mark of 14:00.21 set at the Prefontaine Classic.
“When I was coming here to Eugene, I was coming to prepare to run a world record, and I said I have to try. I said, ‘If Faith is trying, why not me?’” Chebet said about her good friend. “And today, I’m so happy because I’ve achieved being the first woman to run under 14. I’m so happy for myself.”
The day’s most anticipated race was the 100, which featured the top three finishers from the Paris Olympics.
Jefferson-Wooden, who took the bronze medal last summer, finished in 10.75 seconds. Gold medalist Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia was second in 10.77,and Marie Josée Ta Lou-Smith of Ivory Coast was third in 10.90.
Sha’Carri Richardson, the silver medalist in Paris, finished last in the nine-runner field. It was just the second outdoor 100 of the year for Richardson, who said she struggled with an unspecified injury in February.
“The only motivation that I had today was having a healthy race and the fact that I executed a healthy race knowing that now I have the time, because I do have that by being the reigning world champion, and all I have to do is just keep pushing and focusing in our practice, so I’m super excited to just finish,” said Richardson, who has her attention on September’s world championships in Tokyo.
Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson won the men’s 100 in 9.86 seconds, ahead of British runner-up Zharnel Hughes. Thompson, who finished second to Noah Lyles at last summer’s Olympics, went into the Pre with the world’s best time this year at 9.75.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, who set the world record in the 400 hurdles in Paris, easily won the flat 400 in 49.43.
“It’s a long year, so I’m really just taking it day by day, taking it slow, building and seeing which direction you want to go in by the end of it,” McLaughlin-Levrone said.
Ethiopian Tsige Duguma, the silver medalist at last year’s Olympics, won the 800 in 1:57.10.
Rudy Winkler set an American record in the hammer throw with a hurl of 272 feet, 10 inches. Canadian Camryn Rogers won on the women’s side.
“My training this week was very bad, so I kind of came into this like zero expectations of like ‘Whatever I throw, I throw,’ so I was super surprised by that today,” said Winkler.
In the other field events, American Chase Jackson won the women’s shot put at 68-8 1/2. Lithuanian Mikolas Alekna took the discus at 232-10.
Tara Davis-Woodhall won the long jump with leap of 23-2 1/2 inches. Pole vaulter Armand Duplantis, who set a world record in Stockholm last month, cleared 19-8 1/4 at the Pre.
Biniam Mehary of Ethiopia ran the 10,000 in 26:43.82, a world best this year. Jamaican Ackera Nugent won the 100 hurdles in 12:32.
Alison dos Santos of Jamaica, the bronze medalist in both the Tokyo and Paris Games, won the men’s 400 hurdles in 46.65. Olympic gold medalist Letsile Tebogo of Botswana won the 200 in 19.76. British sprinter Matthew Hudson-Smith held on to win the flat 400 in 44.10.
Niels Laros of the Netherlands won the Bowerman Mile, an event unique to the Prefontaine, in 3:45.93.
The Prefontaine Classic is named for Steve Prefontaine, the Oregon track star who died in a car accident in 1975. The event is the lone U.S. stop on the Diamond League series.
Netflix has added a new true crime series to its collection that has been described as ‘essential viewing’ and ‘a shocking documentary that everyone’s got to see’
Netflix fans have been impressed by a new true crime documentary branded as ‘essential viewing’ (stock photo)(Image: gorodenkoff via Getty Images)
Netflix has released a gripping new true crime documentary, hailed as ‘essential viewing’ and available for a limited time only. The platform, renowned for its compelling documentaries, is kicking off the month with fresh additions to its library, including a series that’s bound to have viewers glued to their screens.
The four-part series, Attack on London: Hunting the 7/7 Bombers, revisits the harrowing terror attacks on London’s transport system two decades ago, featuring first-hand accounts and previously unseen footage. It delves into the tragic events of July 7, 2005, when four suicide bombers launched an attack on the capital’s transport network, resulting in the deaths of 52 people and injuries to more than 770 others.
The British Transport Police (BTP) revealed at the time that three explosions occurred on the London Underground around 8.50am near Aldgate, Edgware Road, and Russell Square stations.
A fourth bomb detonated at 9.47am aboard a bus rerouted through Tavistock Square, close to the BTP’s headquarters at the time.
Luke Eccleston, a movie and TV content creator, took to TikTok to recommend Attack on London: Hunting the 7/7 Bombers to his followers.
He urged: “Stop whatever you’re doing because Netflix have just dropped a brand new four-part limited series, and trust me when I say that this is an essential viewing. It’s a shocking documentary that everyone’s got to see.”
Luke shared insights into the intense Netflix documentary, detailing the harrowing terror attacks and subsequent investigation, featuring interviews with survivors and the prime minister at the time, Tony Blair.
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The TV fan praised the streaming giant’s work, saying: “Now, Netflix have done such a good job with this documentary, as it’s such a great and serious documentary where it [doesn’t just] delve into the actual original attacks, but [an incident] two weeks later [when] an innocent man was shot.
“It’s genuinely heartbreaking to see what happened and how it genuinely shocked London so please make sure you get this on your watch list.”
The tragic case of Jean Charles de Menezes – the 27-year-old misidentified as a terrorist involved in a failed attack later that month and fatally shot by police at Stockwell Underground station – is also covered in the documentary.
The perpetrators of the 7/7 bombings were eventually identified as Mohammad Sidique Khan, Shehzad Tanweer, Hasib Hussain, and Germaine Lindsay.
Luke’s TikTok followers echoed his recommendation, with comments pouring in about the documentary.
One viewer commented: “Great doc, binged it all already.” Another recommended it as a “must watch Netflix series.”
A third shared: “Watched the first two parts and great watch so far. Awful seeing what happened.”
Dick Van Dyke was reportedly under the weather Saturday and couldn’t host his recurring Vandy Camp fan event with his wife at the couple’s namesake theater at Malibu High School.
Introducing herself as “not the Van Dyke you were expecting,” Arlene Silver explained, via People, that “when you’re 99½ years old, you have good days and bad days … and unfortunately, today is not a good day for him.”
Van Dyke and makeup artist Silver, who married in 2012 when he was 86 and she was 40, usually helm the celebrations together, along with their musical group the Vantastix.
Silver told the audience that she had to wear her “big girl pants and hold the reins without Dick here as the safety net.”
Fans were disappointed but undaunted as the show — described by Silver as a “whimsical, vintage circus” — did go on.
“All of the people at the event were so kind and amazing. Many had flown in from around the world and country. I did fly in from the Bay Area,” one fan, Christy Vaca, wrote on Saturday night on Facebook. “It turned into everyone sending amazing messages to Dick Van [Dyke] who was watching at home. He means so much to us all.
“It was really Heartbreaking.”
Last time we checked in with the “Mary Poppins” star, he was being rescued by neighbors during the Franklin fire, which started in Malibu in early December 2024 and burned for nine days.
“I’m out there laying on the ground trying to undo this fire hose, and the fire’s coming over the hill,” Van Dyke said a few days after the fire started. “What I did was exhaust myself. I forgot how old I am, and I realized I was crawling to get out.”
Neighbors managed to get the beloved entertainer, wife Silver and a number of their pets into a vehicle and out of danger, he said. Cat Bobo was missing, but he turned up when they returned home the next day. Thousands of people had to evacuate.
The neighbors “carried me out,” he said, “and came back and put out a little fire in the guesthouse and saved me.” Van Dyke’s home was spared. Twenty structures were destroyed and 28 were damaged in the fire, according to Cal Fire.
The Van Dykes did not evacuate a month later during the tremendously destructive Palisades fire, Silver said on social media in January.
“Keeping Dick warm and entertained has been the two things that have been my top priority, so, you know, we don’t have power […] or regular electricity, so we don’t have Wi-Fi,” she said, via Page Six. At the time of her Instagram live, they were cooking and charging their devices courtesy of her small camper-trailer.
“I don’t know of any other person of, you know, senior citizen age that would put up with this,” she added, calling her husband a “trouper.”
Be glad you’re not Jeff Bezos or Lauren Sánchez. Sure, being that rich would be awesome, but being rich comes with rich-people problems. With their Italian wedding imminent, they have a host of things to worry about that would never cross the imaginations of other, more average couples who don’t have 12 digits representing their net worth.
Most details of the Venice fête are being kept close to the vest. A couple of local companies have confirmed they are contributing handcrafted glassware and local pastries to the wedding-favor goodie bags. Some guests’ names leaked when the invites went out in March (we name-drop below, never fear).
But a few details that might be quite vexing to the bride and groom are playing out in public. Let’s take a look.
Your destination wedding’s destination might hate you
All of Venice may not truly be ticked off, but photos, activists and media coverage make it seem that way.
Venice teacher and activist Marta Sottoriva called the wedding “the symbol of all that is wrong with Venice.”
“There’s a lot of anger in the air because once again the council has enslaved itself to the logic of profit — our city has been sold to the highest bidder,” she told the Guardian. “Every time an event of this kind happens, the city comes to a standstill, certain areas become inaccessible and even more tourists arrive.” (Venice has been really annoyed lately by its number of tourists, kind of like the Louvre is really annoyed.)
“No Space for Bezos” activists speak at a public meeting of residents on June 13 in Venice, Italy.
(Andrea Merola / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
But tourism councilor Simone Venturini was shocked that anyone might be upset that such a high-profile event was happening in the city.
“We should all be proud that the Bezos wedding, an event of international importance, is being held in the waters of our lagoon,” he told the Guardian. “Instead, the usual protest professionals have wasted no time. We want to reiterate that Venice is open to everyone.”
Venturini was more colorful in speaking to the Wall Street Journal, saying, “If Bezos’ wedding goes ahead as planned, without these pain-in-the-ass protests, Venetian citizens won’t even notice.”
The couple’s London-based wedding planners, Lanza & Baucina, told CNN in a statement, “Rumors of ‘taking over’ the city are entirely false and diametrically opposed to our goals and to reality.” They and the client, the planners said, wanted to minimize any disruption to the city.
That said, it’s impossible to get a reservation this week at the Aman Venice, the nearly 500-year-old hotel on the Grand Canal where the happy couple are rumored to be staying, at least for part of their wedding week, along with a host of wedding guests. The place is fully booked through Sunday, per TMZ, at a reported $2,000 to $10,000 a night per room.
Protests could really screw things up
Forget throwing soup on the “Mona Lisa” — the Bezos wedding protesters might do something truly offensive: They are threatening to screw up traffic on the big day.
“Bezos will never get to the Misericordia [event space],” activist Federica Toninello told an appreciative crowd last week, according to CNN. “We will block the canals, line the streets with our bodies, block the canals with inflatables, dinghies, boats.”
Having just learned what the Misericordia is, we have no idea what role the location might play in the nuptials, but it looks like a nice enough spot for a reception. Fondazione Giorgio Cini, a cultural center built in 1951, has also been floated as a wedding venue. But let’s get back to the blockades and such.
Another speaker at that same rally said she didn’t want Venice remembered as a beautiful wedding venue but “as the city that did not bend to oligarchs.”
“We can’t miss a chance to disrupt a $10-million wedding,” Na Haby Stella Faye said — because, really, how often does that chance come around? Although her goal stated at the rally was “to stop this wedding,” in her Instagram stories Monday, she was promoting a planned Saturday protest of Bezos, President Trump and, well, war.
A massive banner targeting Jeff Bezos, the world’s second-richest man, is laid out in the Piazza San Marco in Venice, Italy, ahead of his wedding to Lauren Sánchez.
(Greenpeace / Associated Press)
Less aggressive protests include a host of banners and “No Space for Bezos” posters that have been hung around the city. A colossal message from Greenpeace to Bezos was laid out Monday in the Piazza San Marco. The square banner, which read “IF YOU CAN RENT VENICE FOR YOUR WEDDING YOU CAN PAY MORE TAX,” was quickly folded up and carried away by local cops, the Associated Press reported.
“It’s absurd to treat this city like it’s Disneyland,” said Grazia Satta, a retired teacher and social worker, per the Wall Street Journal. “The message this wedding sends is that rich people can do whatever they want. We shouldn’t kneel before wealth like this.”
By Monday, Bezos’ security team was making last-minute changes to try to outsmart the activists, according to TMZ. Even the water-taxi companies are being “kept in the dark,” the site said, and if the water taxis don’t know what’s going on, who really does?
Perhaps Bezos could tap that $212-billion bank account and enlist a Prime Delivery person to drop off himself and his bride discreetly at their reception? Though the human-size Amazon box could be a dead giveaway.
Whose yacht is biggest — and where will they park?
Yes, we know yachts don’t “park,” they drop anchor. But no matter what you call it, the biggest yachts can’t drop anchor in all parts of Venice.
One wedding theory has held that Bezos and Sánchez will exchange their vows on his 417-foot yacht, the Koru, where he proposed to her two years ago after five years of dating. But reported plans to dock the yacht in a lagoon might have changed. Apparently the close-to-shore concept is starting to look like a safety hazard due to those threatened protests of the second-richest man in the world.
The Koru is far from the only big boat floating around town, mind you. Venice has nine “yacht ports,” all of which have been booked for the wedding week. Apparently, TMZ reported, noncelebrity billionaire yacht owners are altering their Venice vacation plans to avoid the crush. That has to sting.
Fortunately, although the yacht situation is fluid and the airspace over Venice is closed, CNN reported that private helicopters are being given a pass, in case a head of state decides to chopper in. As one does.
One type of watercraft not involved in the festivities? Gondolas, or at least those piloted by people the WSJ talked to. “We are too slow,” one gondolier lamented.
International events might affect the guest list
President Trump reportedly scored an invitation to the wedding. Unclear if a plus-one for Melania was included. However, the commander in chief is a wee bit busy handling world events these days — hard to tell if he will be able to get away, even for a gala event like this one. Aren’t destination weddings the worst? So inconvenient.
That said, Ivanka Trump and hubby Jared Kushner reportedly got invited too, along with Jared’s brother Joshua Kushner and model wife Karlie Kloss. So the first family might be represented after all. And who knows, POTUS could swing by. Does Marine One count as a “private” helicopter?
Others on the guest list, per TMZ, include Leonardo DiCaprio, Oprah Winfrey, Gayle King, Bill Gates, singer Jewel, Kim Kardashian, Kris Jenner, Corey Gamble, Barbra Streisand, Eva Longoria, Katy Perry, Orlando Bloom, Brian Grazer, Barry Diller, Diane von Furstenberg, models Brooks Nader and Camila Morrone, and Queen Rania of Jordan. Perry won’t attend, though, because she’s on tour.
With Latinos and immigrants representing the majority of the food and agricultural work forces, these raids have had an immediate impact on local restaurants and food businesses. Restaurant owners and managers are scrambling to keep their staff safe, even offering transportation and grocery deliveries to those who fear navigating public spaces.
But L.A.’s restaurant industry is coming up with innovative ways for patrons to support workers, including the launch of limited menu items, the collection of shelf-stable foods for distribution and fundraising events that span an Independence Day block party, all with at least a portion of proceeds going to local organizations aimed at protecting immigrant rights. Keep reading for ideas on how to get involved:
WASHINGTON — President Trump honored Juneteenth in each of his first four years as president, even before it became a federal holiday. He even claimed once to have made it “famous.”
But on this year’s Juneteenth holiday on Thursday, the usually talkative president kept silent about a day important to Black Americans for marking the end of slavery in the country he leads again.
No words about it from his lips, on paper or through his social media site.
Asked whether Trump would commemorate Juneteenth in any way, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters: “I’m not tracking his signature on a proclamation today. I know this is a federal holiday. I want to thank all of you for showing up to work. We are certainly here. We’re working 24/7 right now.”
Asked in a follow-up question whether Trump might recognize the occasion another way or on another day, Leavitt said, “I just answered that question for you.”
Trump’s silence was a sharp contrast from his prior acknowledgment of the holiday. Juneteenth celebrates the end of slavery in the United States by commemorating June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers brought the news of freedom to enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas. Their freedom came more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln liberated slaves in the Confederacy by signing the Emancipation Proclamation during the Civil War.
Trump’s quiet on the issue also deviated from White House guidance that Trump planned to sign a Juneteenth proclamation. Leavitt didn’t explain the change. Trump held no public events Thursday, but he shared statements about Iran, the TikTok app and Fed chairman Jerome Powell on his social media site.
He had more to say about Juneteenth in yearly statements in his first term.
In 2017, Trump invoked the “soulful festivities and emotional rejoicing” that swept through the Galveston crowd when a major general delivered the news that all enslaved people were free.
He told the Galveston story in each of the next three years. “Together, we honor the unbreakable spirit and countless contributions of generations of African Americans to the story of American greatness,” he added in his 2018 statement.
In 2019: “Across our country, the contributions of African Americans continue to enrich every facet of American life.”
In 2020: “June reminds us of both the unimaginable injustice of slavery and the incomparable joy that must have attended emancipation. It is both a remembrance of a blight on our history and a celebration of our Nation’s unsurpassed ability to triumph over darkness.”
In 2020, after suspending his campaign rallies because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Trump chose Tulsa, Okla., as the place to resume his public gatherings, and scheduled a rally for June 19. But the decision met with such fierce criticism that Trump postponed the event by a day.
Black leaders had said it was offensive for Trump to choose June 19 and Tulsa for a campaign event, given the significance of Juneteenth and Tulsa being the place where, in 1921, a white mob looted and burned that city’s Greenwood district, an economically thriving area referred to as Black Wall Street. As many as 300 Black Tulsans were killed, and thousands were temporarily held in internment camps overseen by the National Guard.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal days before the rally, Trump tried to put a positive spin on the situation by claiming that he had made Juneteenth “famous.” He said he changed the rally date out of respect for two African American friends and supporters.
“I did something good. I made it famous. I made Juneteenth very famous,” Trump said. “It’s actually an important event, it’s an important time. But nobody had heard of it. Very few people have heard of it.”
Generations of Black Americans celebrated Juneteenth long before it became a federal holiday in 2021 with the stroke of former President Joe Biden’s pen.
Later in 2020, Trump sought to woo Black voters with a series of campaign promises, including establishing Juneteenth as a federal holiday.
He lost the election, and that made it possible for Biden to sign the legislation establishing Juneteenth as the newest federal holiday.
Last year, Biden spoke briefly at a holiday concert on the South Lawn that featured performances by Gladys Knight and Patti LaBelle. Former Vice President Kamala Harris danced onstage with gospel singer Kirk Franklin.
Biden was spending this year’s holiday in Galveston, Texas, where he was set to speak at a historic African Methodist Episcopal church.
Superville writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Calvin Woodward contributed to this report.
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Hundreds of people, some clutching candles or carrying flowers to lay in front of a memorial, gathered outside Minnesota’s Capitol on Wednesday evening for a vigil to remember a prominent state lawmaker and her husband who were gunned down at their home.
As a brass quintet from the Minnesota Orchestra played, Gov. Tim Walz wiped away tears and comforted attendees at the gathering for former House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, who were killed early Saturday in the northern Minneapolis suburbs.
Colin Hortman, the Hortmans’ son, embraced Walz and lay a photo of his parents on the memorial.
The memorial, which sprang up outside the Capitol after the killings, features flowers, American flags, photos and sticky notes with such messages as, “Thank you for always believing in me and in Minnesota” and “We got this from here. Thank you for everything.”
Wednesday’s vigil also included a Native American drum circle, a string quartet and the crowd singing “Amazing Grace.”
Around the gathering, there was a heavy police presence, with law enforcement blocking off streets leading up to the Capitol and state troopers standing guard.
The event didn’t include a speaking program and attendees were instructed not to bring signs of any kind.
The man charged in federal and state court with killing the Hortmans, Vance Boelter, is also accused of shooting another Democratic lawmaker, Sen. John Hoffman, and his wife, Yvette, at their home a few miles away in Champlin. They survived and are recovering. Federal prosecutors have declined to speculate about a motive.
Boelter’s attorneys have declined to comment on the charges.
Hortman had served as the top House Democratic leader since 2017, and six years as speaker, starting in 2019. Under a power-sharing deal after the 2024 election left the House tied, her title became speaker emerita and Republican Rep. Lisa Demuth became speaker.
Walz has described Hortman as his closest political ally and “the most consequential Speaker in state history.”
The Hortmans were alumni of the University of Minnesota, which held a midday memorial gathering on the Minneapolis campus.
Rebecca Cunningham, the university’s president, spoke during the event about the grief and outrage people are grappling with along with questions about how things got to this point.
“I don’t have the answers to these questions but I know that finding answers starts with the coming together in community as we are today,” she said.
Funeral information for the Hortmans has not been announced.
Vancleave and Golden write for the Associated Press. Golden reported from Seattle. AP writer Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis contributed to this report.
U.S. sprinter Noah Lyles thinks he’s the fastest man in the world.
Tyreek Hill, the Miami Dolphins receiver with the nickname “Cheetah,” thinks he could beat Lyles in a race.
The two men announced earlier this year that they would settle this most pressing of matters on the track, without offering many other details.
Now, however, it seems the world may never know which of them is truly its fastest runner.
Speaking to reporters Monday at the Stagwell Global Sport Beach event in Cannes, France, the 27-year-old Lyles revealed that his race against Hill, 31, actually had been slated to take place “this weekend” in Times Square but had been called off at some point because of unspecified “complications” and “personal reasons.”
“We were very deep into creating the event. In fact, it was supposed to happen this weekend,” Lyles said. “Unfortunately, there were some things — complications, personal reasons — [and] it just didn’t come to pass.
“But, I mean, we were all in. We were going to have a big event. We were going to shut down New York Times Square and everything. We were gonna have all the billboards for the event. It was going to be a lot of fun.”
Lyles was the world champion in the 200 meters in 2019, 2022 and 2023 and in the 100 in 2023. At last year’s Paris Olympics, he won gold in the 100 and bronze in the 200, later saying he had COVID-19 during those Games.
Following his 2023 world title, Lyles drew attention by telling reporters that teams that win the championship of a league based primarily or entirely in the United Statesare not technically world champions, despite what those athletes might claim.
“World champion of what?” Lyles asked. “The United States?”
During 2024 training camp, podcast host Kay Adams mentioned Lyles’ comments to Hill and asked the speedy receiver if he’d like to race Lyles.
“I would beat Noah Lyles,” replied Hill, a former high school track star who won the 100 and 200 at the 2012 Georgia 5A state meet and ran the 40-yard dash in 4.29 at his 2015 pro day. “I’m not going to beat him by a lot, but I would beat Noah Lyles.”
Lyles’ personal bests are 9.79 seconds in the 100 and 19.31 seconds in the 200. He told Bleacher Report in May that he thought his time in the 40 would be “somewhere between a 4.1 and a 4.2.”
In February, immediately after winning the 60 at the Indoor Grand Prix, Lyles held a scrap of paper in front of his face that read, “Tyreek Could Never.” Last week, after running a personal-best time of 10.15 in a 100-meter preliminary at a Last Chance Sprint Series event at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, Hill held up a sign that read “Noah Could Never.”
While the two men apparently had been slated to settle their feud on the track, now it looks like that’s not going to happen. Hill took to X on Tuesday to post a version of a popular meme featuring Homer Simpson fading into the bushes, with Lyles’ face super-imposed over that of the cartoon character.
“@LylesNoah after seeing me run the 100m last weekend,” Hill wrote.
The entry list was announced by the USTA on Tuesday.
Lew Sherr, the USTA’s chief executive, said the tournament was always “confident” of getting the world’s leading players involved.
“Seeing the teams that have already put their names on the entry list makes us all incredibly excited,” he said.
“It shows that the players are behind what we are trying to do, and we know that the fans will love it.”
The plan received strong criticism from some doubles players when it was announced in February.
Italian pair Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori, who won last year’s US Open mixed doubles title, are on the entry list, having initially described the decision as a “profound injustice”.
France’s Kristina Mladenovic, winner of multiple Slam doubles titles, said the decision was “terribly shocking”.
AUSTIN, Texas — Juneteenth celebrations have been scaled back this year due to funding shortfalls as companies and municipalities across the country reconsider their support for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
Canceled federal grants and businesses moving away from so-called brand activism have hit the bottom line of parades and other events heading into Thursday’s federal holiday, which celebrates the end of slavery in the United States. The shrinking financial support coincides with many companies severing ties with LGBTQ+ celebrations for Pride this year and President Trump’s efforts to squash DEI programs throughout the federal government.
In Denver, for example, more than a dozen companies backed out of supporting the Juneteenth Music Festival, which is one of the city’s biggest celebrations of the holiday, according to Norman Harris, executive director of JMF Corporation, which puts on the event.
“There were quite a few sponsors who pulled back their investments or let us know they couldn’t or wouldn’t be in a position to support this year,” said Harris, who has overseen the event for more than a decade.
The festival, which takes place in the historically Black Five Points neighborhood, has been scaled back to one day instead of two because of the budget shortfall. It has only been able to stay afloat thanks to donations from individuals and foundations.
“Thankfully, there was a wide range of support that came when we made the announcement that the celebration is in jeopardy,” Harris said.
Juneteenth celebrates the day the last enslaved people in Texas were told they were free on June 19, 1865, two years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. The day has been celebrated by Black Americans for generations, including in Harris’ family, but became more widely celebrated after becoming a federal holiday in 2021.
After the 2020 murder of George Floyd, many companies pursued efforts to make their branding more inclusive, but it has slowed down over the last few years after some received blowback from conservatives and because many companies didn’t see it as an important part of their revenue stream, said Dionne Nickerson, a marketing professor at Emory University.
Some companies can no longer afford to support Juneteenth celebrations because they just don’t have the money given the economic uncertainty, according to Sonya Grier, a marketing professor at American University.
“It’s a whole confluence of issues,” Grier said.
Rollback of local support
Many state and local governments hold or help fund celebrations, but some decided not to this year.
The governor’s office in West Virginia stated that the state won’t be hosting any Juneteenth events this year for the first time since 2017 due to a budget deficit. Republican Gov. Patrick Morrisey last month signed a bill to end all diversity programs.
“Due to the continued fiscal challenges facing West Virginia, state government will not be sponsoring any formal activities,” Deputy Press Secretary Drew Galang said in an email.
City Council members in Scottsdale, Ariz., dissolved their DEI office in February, leading to the cancellation of the city’s annual Juneteenth festival.
Event organizers in Colorado Springs, Colo., had to move locations due to fewer sponsors and cuts in city funding, said Jennifer Smith, a planner for the Southern Colorado Juneteenth Festival.
Around five companies sponsored the event this year, compared to dozens in years prior, Smith said.
“They have said their budgets have been cut because of DEI,” and that they can no longer afford it, she said.
Some groups have also mentioned safety concerns. Planners in Bend, Ore., cited “an increasingly volatile political climate” in a statement about why they canceled this year’s celebration.
Slashes in federal funding
Many local organizations have also had their budgets slashed after the National Endowment for the Arts pulled funding for numerous grants in May.
The Cooper Family Foundation throws one of the largest Juneteenth celebrations in San Diego each year. It was one of dozens of groups told by the NEA in May that its $25,000 grant was being rescinded.
The email said the event no longer aligned with the agency’s priorities, said Maliya Jones, who works for the foundation.
The grant money went toward paying for arts and dance performers. The event will still take place this year, but members of the Cooper family will have to divide up covering the costs, said Marla Cooper, who leads the foundation.
“That’s $25,000 we have to figure out how we’re going to pay for,” Cooper said.
“We will always have Juneteenth,” she said. “And we will work it out.”
A demonstrator was shot and killed at Salt Lake City’s “No Kings” protest when a man believed to be part of the event’s peacekeeping team fired at another man allegedly aiming a rifle at protesters, authorities said Sunday.
Police took the alleged rifleman, Arturo Gamboa, 24, into custody Saturday evening on a murder charge, Salt Lake City Police Chief Brian Redd said at a Sunday news conference. The demonstrator, Arthur Folasa Ah Loo, 39, died at the hospital.
Detectives don’t yet know why Gamboa pulled out a rifle or ran from the peacekeepers, but they accused him of creating the dangerous situation that led to Ah Loo’s death. The Associated Press did not immediately find an attorney listed for Gamboa or contact information for his family in public records.
Redd said a man dressed in a brightly colored vest fired three shots from a handgun at Gamboa, inflicting a relatively minor injury but fatally shooting Ah Loo.
The gunshots sent hundreds of protesters running, some hiding behind barriers and fleeing into parking garages and nearby businesses, police said in a statement. “That’s a gun. Come on, come on, get out,” someone can be heard saying in a video posted to social media that appears to show the events.
“No Kings” protests swept across the country Saturday, as millions rallied in cities nationwide against what demonstrators view as President Trump’s monarch-like, authoritarian excesses. Confrontations were largely isolated.
The Utah chapter of the 50501 Movement, which helped organize the protests, said in a statement on Instagram that they condemned the violence.
The Utah chapter did not immediately respond to AP questions about the peacekeeping team. It was unclear who hired the peacekeepers, whether they were volunteers or what their training was prior to the event. Redd said that the peacekeepers’ actions are also part of the investigation.
The shooter and another person in a vest allegedly saw Gamboa separate from the crowd of marchers in downtown Salt Lake City, move behind a wall and withdraw a rifle around 8 p.m., Redd said.
When the two men in vests confronted Gamboa with their handguns drawn, witnesses said Gamboa raised his rifle into a firing position and ran toward the crowd, said Redd.
That’s when one of the men dressed in the bright vests shot three rounds, hitting Gamboa and Ah Loo, said Redd. Gamboa, who police said didn’t have a criminal history, was wounded and treated before being booked into jail.
Police said they recovered an AR-15 style rifle, a gas mask and a backpack at the scene.
In his first words directed specifically to Americans, Pope Leo XIV told young people on Saturday how to find hope and meaning in their lives through God and in service to others.
“So many people who suffer from different experiences of depression or sadness — they can discover that the love of God is truly healing, that it brings hope,” the first American pope said in a video broadcast on the giant screen at Rate Field, the White Sox baseball stadium on Chicago’s South Side.
The event — set in Leo’s hometown and at the home stadium of his favorite major league team — was organized by the Archdiocese of Chicago in honor of his recent election as pope. Leo seized the opportunity to speak directly to young people, tying his message to the Roman Catholic Church’s ongoing Jubilee year of hope that was declared by Pope Francis.
In Saturday’s message, Leo urged those listening in the stadium and online to be beacons of hope capable of inspiring others.
“To share that message of hope with one another — in outreach, in service, in looking for ways to make our world a better place — gives true life to all of us, and is a sign of hope for the whole world,” he said.
The afternoon program, emceed by Chicago Bulls announcer Chuck Swirsky, highlighted Leo’s roots, including music by the city’s Leo Catholic High School Choir and a musician from Peru, where Leo lived and worked for years. There was also a discussion featuring a former teacher of the future pope as well as a high school classmate and fellow Augustinian.
The event also celebrated the mixing of Catholicism and baseball, including a special invitation from the team for Leo to throw out a ceremonial first pitch at a future White Sox game.
Leo, formerly Robert Prevost, was elected May 8, becoming the first American pope in the 2,000-year history of the church.
Leo, 69, spent his career serving as an Augustinian missionary and ministering in Peru before taking over the Vatican’s powerful office of bishops. He succeeded Pope Francis, who died April 21.
“When I see each and every one of you, when I see how people gather together to celebrate their faith, I discover myself how much hope there is in the world,” Leo said in the video message.
The program was followed by a Mass celebrated by Cardinal Blase Cupich, the archbishop of Chicago who was part of the conclave that elected Leo.
The competition featured a host of well-known athletes, including British Olympic sprinters Daryll Neita and Matthew Hudson-Smith, and 1500m world champion Josh Kerr.
Male and female competitors are subdivided into six categories – each containing eight athletes – such as Short Sprints, with the eight featuring in that group competing in the 100m and 200m each weekend.
It offered significant financial incentives, with up to $100,000 (£73,600) on offer for the winners of race categories, as well as salaries for contracted athletes.
GST has suffered controversies in its maiden year. American three-time Olympic champion Gabby Thomas was allegedly abused during the meet in Philadelphia, where the programme was cut from three days to two.
And Johnson himself admitted he would “love to see more spectators” after the opening event in Kingston was poorly attended in April.
British middle-distance runner Elliot Giles took part in the Philadelphia leg of the competition and told BBC Sport it was a “phenomenal” event.
“The actual experience, the set-up, the hype, the marketing, was brilliant,” Giles said.
“I’d love to see it again. Competition is what we need in our sport.
“It’s the same as what’s happening in boxing now. You get other people involved, new promoters, new people, venture capitalists putting into it, and the sport explodes and then performances come and everything else follows.”
American sprinters Kenny Bednarek and Melissa Jefferson-Wooden have been named the GST Racers of the Year having won their respective Slam Championship at all three events.
Grand Slam Track canceled the final meet of its first season, in Los Angeles, leaving the host of the 2028 Olympics and the country’s second-largest city without a major track meet this summer.
The news Thursday about the abrupt scrubbing of the meet, scheduled for the last weekend in June at Drake Stadium, combines with USA Track and Field’s recent decision to take an event set at the same stadium for earlier in June — the L.A. Grand Prix — off the calendar.
USATF CEO Max Siegel told the Associated Press that the federation pulled its event because it was not viable to hold two major track meets at the same venue in L.A. in the span of three weeks.
Grand Slam Track founder Michael Johnson said “the decision to conclude the inaugural Grand Slam Track season is not taken lightly, but one rooted in a belief that we have successfully achieved the objectives we set out to in this pilot season.”
He cited a shift in the global economic landscape as the reason for canceling the LA event, which will be part of the league’s 2026 calendar.
Siegel said leaders at USATF “understand the significance of the (LA) market,” and that there are plans for leaders to meet later this summer to coordinate the future of track there and throughout the United States, starting in 2026.
“It highlights the complicated way the (sport) works, and how difficult it is to financially sustain track meets,” Siegel said. “The only way to do it in a sustainable way is collaboration and partnerships.”
In the short term, USATF is looking to find meets for a handful of athletes who still need to reach standards or collect points to qualify for world championships later this year and were planning on competing in Los Angeles.
The news was far from what Olympic and track leaders were hoping as they lead in to the first Summer Games in the United States since 1996 in a city that, 12 years before that, put Carl Lewis, Edwin Moses, Evelyn Ashford and others in the sports spotlight.
Johnson raised around $30 million to launch Grand Slam Track this spring, promising a new way of doing track — involving a group of runners under contract racing twice over a weekend and focusing more on where they finished than actual times.
Among the top athletes he signed were Olympic champions Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Gabby Thomas, though two other American track stars, Sha’Carri Richardson and Noah Lyles, did not race in the league.
The league said Kenny Bednarek and Melissa Jefferson-Wooden are the league’s “Racers of the Year,” having won three straight slam championships each.
The first three events, in Kingston, Jamaica, Miami and Philadelphia, doled out about $9.45 million, with another $3 million expected to be paid in L.A. Bonuses were expected to go to season-long winners of the categories.
On Monday night, Summer McIntosh won the 200-meter individual medley at the 2025 Canadian swimming trials to set her second world record in just three days.
She had already achieved one world record at the trials in Victoria.
McIntosh won the 200-meter individual medley in 2 minutes, 5.7 seconds. The previous world record of 2:06.12, set by Hungary’s Katinka Hosszú, had stood for 10 years.
After shaving a second off her previous best time on the backstroke leg, McIntosh was still a tenth of a second off Hosszú’s previous record pace at the final turn. But McIntosh crushed the freestyle leg in 29.65 seconds, another personal best, to finish in world-record time.
“It’s been one of those records that’s always been in the back of my mind since trials two years ago,” the 18-year-old Toronto native said afterward. “I’ve been knocking on the door on this one. I’ve just tried to chip away, chip away at it. To finally do it, it’s kind of like ‘Wow, I’ve finally got that done.’”
Two days earlier, McIntosh had reclaimed the world record in the 400 freestyle. She first set the mark with 3:56.18 in 2023, but was bested the same year by Australian swimmer Ariarne Titmus’ 3:55.38. But on Saturday, McIntosh was back on top of the world after swimming a 3:54.18.
“That last 100, I’m usually really, really hurting. But I flipped at the 200, and I was just cruising,” McIntosh said. “I knew I was having a strong swim and I could tell by the crowd and the way they were cheering that I was probably close to the world record, so I really tried to push that last part for them.”
In between those two historic swims, McIntosh also improved on her Canadian record in the 800 freestyle, with a time of 8:05.07. U.S. swimming star Katie Ledecky holds the world record in that event after finishing in 8:04.12 at the TYR Pro Swim Series in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., last month.
McIntosh won four medals at the Paris Olympics last year — three golds (200 butterfly, 200 and 400 IM) and one silver (400 freestyle). She holds the world record in the 400 IM; she swam it in 4:24.38 at last year’s Canadian swimming finals.
With three more days of competition, is there a chance she’ll grab a fourth world record before the event is over? Maybe. The 400 IM is scheduled for Wednesday.
Think of the World Cup as a big dinner party. Only instead of asking over family, neighbors and some folks from the office, the whole planet has been invited.
Many of those people will be coming to Southern California, and with Wednesday marking the one-year countdown to the tournament’s kickoff, Larry Freedman, co-chair of the Los Angeles World Cup host committee, acknowledges there’s still a lot of tidying up that has to be done before the guests arrive.
“As with any event of this magnitude, there are a tremendous number of moving pieces,” he said. “Nobody is ready, 100%, a year out. When we signed up for this, we knew we would be working to the end to get ready.”
The 2026 World Cup will be the largest and most complex sporting event in history, with 48 national teams playing 104 games in 16 cities spread across the U.S., Mexico and Canada over 39 days. Eight games will be played at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.
With more than 6 million fans expected to attend matches and another 6 billion engaging globally, FIFA, the World Cup’s organizer, says the economic impact to the three countries could top $40 billion. But the number of obstacles host cities will have to negotiate are almost as large and complex as the tournament itself.
“Transportation, communications, ticketing, security, the fan fest,” Freedman said. “You name it.”
Hovering over it all like a black cloud are uncertainties over visas, which about half the fans coming to the U.S. for the tournament will need in order to enter the country.
Last week, the Trump administration reneged on a pledge to host an open World Cup by issuing a travel ban on people from 12 countries, including Iran, which has already qualified for the World Cup. Citizens of seven other countries face severe restrictions in obtaining visas.
Before that, the State Department, which is charge of visa issuance, announced plans to close 10 embassies and 17 consulates and reduce its work force by 3,400 at a time when the average wait for a visa application appointment in some countries is more than a year.
And Southern California, which will host the U.S. national team’s first game, has experienced days of civil unrest sparked by widespread immigration raids. After protesters shut down freeways, burned cars and vandalized businesses, the national guard was deployed.
The turmoil could threaten the success of an event that Kathryn Schloessman, president and chief executive of the L.A. Sports & Entertainment Commission, considers both a unique opportunity and a major responsibility.
“The thing that keeps me awake at night is how quickly this has been,” she said. “We started in 2017 on this bid and it just always seemed like it was a long way away. Then, all of sudden, poof, we’re at one year out.”
“I want to make a positive impact on people and their memories,” she continued. “That, to me, is the biggest responsibility here because we’re not going to have this event here again in my lifetime. So this is the one opportunity of the world’s biggest event to really do some good in L.A.”
This is already the second World Cup played in the U.S. in Schloessman’s lifetime. The first, in 1994, was the most successful in history, setting records for average and overall attendance and returning a record $50-million profit to its organizing committee, headed by Alan Rothenberg.
A year out from that tournament, Rothenberg had far different concerns. The U.S. didn’t have a first-division soccer league then and its national team had played in just one World Cup since 1950. As a result, soccer was so foreign to most Americans, many of the nine stadiums selected to host games didn’t have fields wide enough to meet FIFA standards.
“We had a keen sense of confidence and yet, at the same time, total apprehension. Because nobody had ever done it before,” Rothenberg said.
“We were reasonably confident about how ticket sales were going to go. A lot was riding on the success of the [U.S.] team. If the team was an embarrassment it would be a real downcast over the entire operation.”
Instead, the U.S. drew Switzerland, beat Colombia and advanced to the knockout round, where it played eventual champion Brazil even for 70 minutes.
That World Cup also introduced a number of features that have since become common, such as fan fests and group-play victories counting for three points instead of two. It was also the first World Cup in which a temporary grass carpet was laid over an artificial-turf field; next summer eight of the 16 stadiums will do that.
Rothenberg even planned a halftime show for the final at the Rose Bowl, signing Whitney Houston to perform. FIFA nixed the idea then but has revived it for 2026.
“Everything we did was like a first, other than the actual playing of the matches,” Rothenberg said.
“I think it really took ‘94 to let the rest of the soccer world accept the fact that ‘OK, the U.S. can be part of our club.’ We were doing some unusual things. We were using celebrities and doing all kinds of entertainment events to build public interest. We had our legacy tour where we were going to city after city, basically traveling the country to get people interested.”
Fans pack the Rose Bowl during a World Cup match between Brazil and Italy on July 17, 1994.
(Lois Bernstein / Associated Press)
And Rothenberg could do that because, as president of U.S. Soccer and chairman of the World Cup organizing committee, he was in charge of the entire tournament. That has changed. FIFA now runs the show, overseeing each of the 16 World Cup cities, who are acting independently of one another.
The financial agreements between FIFA and the World Cup hosts have also changed, which is why it’s highly unlikely any future tournament will be as profitable for the host country as Rothenberg’s was for the U.S. In 1994, FIFA shared some of its earnings with local organizers, who were also allowed to cut their own sponsorship deals. That led to a $50 million surplus that funded the U.S. Soccer Foundation.
This time around FIFA is taking virtually all tournament-related revenue from ticket sales, sponsorships and broadcasting, even at the local level, while leaving host cities on the hook for public services, security and stadium operations. The relationship is so one-sided that Chicago, where the World Cup opened in 1994, backed out of the 2026 tournament citing the costs to the public.
Los Angeles threatened to pass on the tournament as well until a privately funded host committee made up of nearly a dozen local sports and civic organizations agreed to cover much of the risks to taxpayers.
In return, a report by Micronomics Economic Research and Consulting estimates Southern California will receive $594 million in economic impact from the tournament, including $343 million in direct spending on hotels, meals, transportation and other services from the estimated 180,000 out-of-town World Cup visitors.
But that’s assuming those visitors show up. According to the State Department website, wait times for a non-immigrant B1/B2 visa — the one World Cup visitors who do not qualify for a visa waiver will need to enter the U.S. — topped a year in Colombia, Honduras and several cities in Mexico.
And things may be getting worse.
“Based on our experience, the approval rate for B1/B2 tourist and/or temporary business visas in Colombia has changed,” said Pamela Monroy, a paralegal who helps prospective U.S. visitors through the immigration process. “There has been a considerable increase in the denial rate for this visa category. We believe this is a result of the ongoing policies and changes in immigration matters being implemented by the Donald Trump administration.”
Those kinds of stories worry Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Los Angeles), whose district borders SoFi Stadium. Last month Kamlager-Dove sent a letter, signed by a bipartisan group of more than 50 congressional representatives, to Secretary of State Marco Rubio asking him to “ensure expeditious and secure visa processing” for the World Cup.
In testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, of which Kamlager-Dove is a member, Rubio promised he would. But the congresswoman has yet to see proof.
“Show me what that looks like,” she said Monday. “We’re not going to wait too long. We’re all unified, Republicans and Democrats. We want these games to be successful, want them to get their act together and are willing to work with one another to push the State Department to follow through on their commitment.”
The White House, meanwhile, has sent mixed messages. Last month, President Trump opened the first meeting of a task force on the World Cup by saying that “everyone who wants to come here to enjoy, to have fun and to celebrate the game will be able to do that.”
A month later he signed the travel ban, effectively limiting the definition of “everyone.”
President Trump signs a soccer ball as Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, right, and FIFA President Gianni Infantino look on at Lusail Palace in Doha, Qatar, on May 14.
(Alex Brandon / Associated Press)
At that same White House meeting in May, Vice President JD Vance, the co-chair of the task force, warned World Cup visitors that they would have to leave immediately after the tournament. “Otherwise,” he said “they will have to talk to Secretary Noem,” referring to Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem, whose agency has detained and interrogated people with approved immigration documents at U.S. points of entry.
The last two World Cup hosts — Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022 — allowed visitors to enter their countries with a game ticket essentially doubling as their visa. Both governments also performed background checks on all visitors coming to the tournament.
Trump’s travel ban, which took effect Monday, bars travel to the U.S. for people in 12 countries and severely limits access to people from seven others. In addition to Iran, which has already assured itself a place in the 2026 tournament, those 19 countries include Sudan, Haiti, Cuba and Venezuela, whose teams still have a chance to earn World Cup bids via regional qualifying tournaments.
An exception to the travel ban will allow athletes, coaches and support staff into the U.S. but not fans, directly contradicting FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who told delegates at last month’s FIFA Congress that “the world is welcome in America … but definitely also all the fans.”
Infantino has built a relationship with Trump, attending the president’s inauguration in January. If the administration’s seemingly contradictory actions caught the FIFA leader by surprise, it also might have convinced some foreign soccer fans to not attend games in the U.S.
Marcel Ott, a 30-year-old software consultant from Leipzig, Germany, has long been saving for a trip to the World Cup but reports of German tourists being detained, some for weeks, at U.S. airports has led him to reconsider.
“Now I’m not so sure because of the political developments in the U.S.,” he said in German. “I don’t know if it’s worth the risk of getting stopped and detained at the airport and risk being deporting back to Germany.”
Germany is one of 42 countries whose citizens are eligible for the visa waiver program, which generally allows them to enter the U.S. for visits of up to 90 days without a visa. However, they must obtain Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) approval prior to travel and can be turned away at any point of entry by Customs and Border Protection officers.
Ott, who has attended two World Cups, said he may fly to Canada and try to enter the U.S. from there.
“If I get sent back at the border crossing to Canada, I won’t have to fly back to Germany right away,” he said. “I’m thinking the guards at the border to Canada might be a little more relaxed. And there are World Cup games in Canada, too, so it wouldn’t be so bad if I get sent back at the Canadian border.
“To be honest, I am still not sure what to do next year.”
A 21-member FIFA delegation visits SoFi Stadium in 2021.
(Los Angeles World Cup Host Committee)
Marlene, 33, who declined to give her last name, is also uncertain. A city government employee in Berlin, she attended the last two World Cups in Russia and Qatar and planned to travel to the U.S. next summer “but the general events and U.S. politics put me off. I think it would be better for me not to travel to the USA.”
But Volker Heun, who worked as a bank executive in the U.S. and once golfed with Trump, said those fears are misplaced, citing the nearly two million Germans who visited America without issue last year.
“This whole issue is being totally overblown in the German media,” said Heun, who plans to enter a World Cup lottery for tickets to multiple games. “The atmosphere is going to be great.”
In South Korea, Jo Ho-tae, who helps manage the Red Devils, a supporter group that recently followed the country’s national team to a qualifying match in Jordan, said he will rely on government officials to warn of potential problems.
“I haven’t thought too much about Trump’s immigration policy yet,” he said. “But who even knows if our matches will be held in the U.S. and not in Canada or Mexico?”
The White House could always reverse its immigration policy, as it has done repeatedly with tariffs, and prioritize visa requests for World Cup travelers. That’s the solution Freedman, L.A. organizing committee co-chair, is betting on.
“They are looking at this as a showcase event for the country and the host cities. And they understand, it seems, how important it is to welcome the world,” he said. “I am hopeful that it all gets sorted out in a good way.”
Many close observers of World Cup preparations share Freedman’s optimism.
Whether that cautious optimism is justified may soon be known. Tickets for the tournament are expected to go on sale this summer and the draw to determine matchups and venues for the group-play stage of the tournament will be held this winter. Those two events could go a long way toward determining how the World Cup plays out, said Travis Murphy, a former U.S. diplomat who is founder and chief executive of Jetr Global Sports + Entertainment, a Washington-based firm that works to solve visa and immigrant issues for athletes and sports franchises.
“There’s kind of this stopwatch that begins the moment the draw is complete to figure out [training] camps and logistics and visas and travel arrangements,” he said.
“I do think they’ll make it happen. Is that to say there won’t be any issues? Of course not. There was never going to be a scenario where there’s not significant challenges to get all these people into the country.
“There are times when the rhetoric seems to run contrary to what’s happening on the ground. But it does, at least for the moment, seem like they’re implementing changes that are ultimately going to be helpful.”
Baxter reported from Los Angeles, special correspondent Kirschbaum from Berlin and staff writer Max Kim from Seoul.
After running — or more like barely surviving — my first half-marathon about a decade ago in Las Vegas, I had no desire to participate in a long-distance run ever again.
That was until I learned that Nike was hosting the Nike After Dark tour, a women’s race series designed to celebrate women and encourage them to get into the sport. The L.A. half-marathon — the tour’s only stop in the U.S. — was slated to include a concert with Grammy-winning rapper Doechii at the end of the 13.1 mile race. Given that Nike has built a reputation for curating cool, culture-forward experiences, I figured this would be the perfect way for me to get out of my years-long retirement from running. Plus, several of my friends were participating so it was bound to be a good time.
After training for several weeks at parks and tracks around L.A., I hit the pavement alongside nearly 15,000 participants — 43% of whom were first-time half-marathoners — on Saturday evening at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood. The event sparked a lot of online chatter — not all positive — with some runners calling the race disorganized and a marketing event catered to influencers. As for me, I experienced several highs during the energetic event, but also some moments of frustration and confusion. Here’s how the night went down, from the starting line (and the journey in getting there) to the high-octane concert finale.
Pre-race: Getting to the starting line was a marathon in itself
Knowing that thousands of people were expected to participate in the event, I opted to get to the SoFi Stadium about an hour and a half early to avoid traffic. In hindsight, I should’ve arrived even earlier. Several streets were blocked off due to the race, but once I found the parking lot, it was easy for me to find a spot — much easier than it was at the recent Kendrick Lamar and SZA concert a few weeks prior. (While registration for the race started at $150, parking was thankfully free for those who secured a spot ahead of time.)
After experiencing long lines and a delayed start time, runners gather in their assigned corrals to prepare for the 13.1-mile race.
I followed a herd of people toward the entrance where we went through a security checkpoint, then a bag check line, which took about 30 minutes to get through. Afterward, I rushed outside to find my friends and waited in yet another line — this time for the porta-potties — which took about 40 minutes.
The starting line, at last
By this time, there were only about 10 minutes until race time and I still needed to stretch, so my group ran over to the starting corrals. The race was initially scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m., but an emcee announced that it was being pushed back to 6:45 p.m. This made me nervous because the concert was set for 9:30 p.m., so this meant that I’d have less than three hours to finish if I wanted to catch the show.
In the weeks leading up to the marathon, some participants took to social media to voice their concerns about Nike changing its course time from four hours — as it stated on the registration form — to three hours. In one Threads post, a runner said: “If the whole purpose of this event was to reclaim running by giving women a space to feel safe running at night, then why wouldn’t you be inclusive to runners of all paces?”
In response to the feedback, Nike ultimately set the course time to three hours and 17 minutes, allowing for an average mile of 15 minutes per mile, according to a Nike spokesperson. The brand added a shorter course option, which was nine miles, so participants could still cross the finish line, receive a medal (a silver necklace with a giant Nike swoosh) and enjoy the concert.
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Despite the confusion, people were amped. “I’m at this phase in my life where I really want to prove to myself that I can do hard things,” said Ayanna Fox, 29, of Chino Hills, on why she wanted to participate.
Misty Garcia, 17, a Venice High School student, said: “I felt like this race in particular was so interesting because it was going to be mostly women and it’s about women empowerment, so I love it.”
As Charli xcx’s “360” played over the speakers, Nike trainers along with Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles and Olympic hurdler Anna Cockrell, hyped up the crowd as each corral took off. This was the point when my nerves started to kick in because I was eager to get started. About 7:05 p.m., a burst of smoke popped. I was finally off and running.
Host Elisa Hernandez, from left, Diljeet Taylor, Anna Cockrell and Jordan Chiles at the Nike After Dark Tour in L.A.
Miles 1-7: The excitement of activations, DJs and cheering fans
The first seven miles were the most exhilarating for me. I felt strong and confident about my pace. And for my legs, this stretch was smooth sailing. Hundreds of people were cheering from the sidelines and holding up signs with statements like “You run better than our government,” “Hot girls run half marathons” and “Hurry up so we can drink.” Drivers along the freeway were honking for us. DJs played upbeat house and hip-hop music. USC’s band performed. Between the six- and seven-mile marker, we ran through a tunnel that was filled with flashing red lights and bubble machines. The energy was electric.
Supporters cheer and hold signs as runners embark on the Nike After Dark half marathon in L.A.
Several brands including Flamingo, Honey Stinger (which gave out free energy gels and snacks) and Beats by Dre had activations along the course. There was even a recovery station with couches, restroom trailers and snacks.
Miles 8-10: The pain sets in
Just before Mile 8, my headphones died and that’s when the hills started to get to me. I felt like I was running up and down a sharp roller coaster. Without music, I was forced to talk myself through the final stretch. But it was in these trenches that I noticed several sweet moments of community care: a volunteer passing out Bengay cream, a group of friends holding up a woman as she limped, runners shouting out their home countries and waving their flags in the wake of the ICE raids that were happening in our city at this very moment. It was a beautiful reminder of how much better we are as people when we support one another.
Supporters record and cheer as runners embark on the Nike women’s half-marathon at the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.
Around Mile 10, I spotted Chris Bennett, Nike’s running global head coach, giving out high-fives and encouraging people to push forward. (He even ran with the last bunch of runners and helped them across the finish line.)
The final mile — or was it?
As I neared the end, I felt bamboozled because there were at least two massive archways that looked like the finish line, but actually weren’t. I still had a ways to go. I could’ve cried tears of joy when I finally reached the end. I clocked in at three hours and three minutes, which I was pleased with because my only goals were to finish, have fun and make it to the concert. The winner was Sofia Camacho, a drag artist and Nike run coach based in New York, who clocked in at one hour, 15 minutes and 25 seconds.
Hundreds of supporters line the course as runners embark on the Nike After Dark Tour in Los Angeles.
After grabbing my medal, I walked as fast as my sore limbs would allow back inside the stadium. The trek felt tortuous because we had to climb up multiple sets of stairs, then journey down a walkway that was roughly 10 levels that felt never-ending until we reached the bottom where the stage was. Some people gave up on watching the show simply because they didn’t have the energy to make it down.
The grand finale: Doechii brings the energy
By the time I got there, I was disappointed to see that Doechii was already on her final two songs of her 30-minute set, but the energy was so high that I quickly forgot and just enjoyed the moment while I could. The show ended just before 10:40 p.m. while some folks were still running including one of my friends who missed the show and wasn’t able to get a pair of Barbie pink Nike slides and socks they were passing out.
The night ends and yet the trek continues
After the show, we were instructed to exit the stadium — thankfully there was an escalator — but I still had to muster up the energy to go back to the entrance at the other side of the stadium so I could retrieve my belongings from the bag check area. My legs were finished by the time I got to my car.
Aside from some logistical issues and long wait times, I enjoyed participating in the Nike After Dark Tour. The course was challenging but doable, and running alongside thousands of women and allies of various ages and backgrounds at night felt empowering. Runners received a ton of freebies, particularly at the bib pickup at the Grove, which included a dri-fit T-shirt and makeup from Milk.
As someone who typically avoids cardio in my workout sessions, this race has inspired me to continue hitting the pavement and exploring this beautiful city on foot. And who knows, I just might sign up for another race.
Runners take off for the women’s half-marathon, which started at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.
Can someone explain to me what, exactly, Dr. Phil has to do with immigration policy or constitutional law in these United States?
Many outrageous and unsettling things happened in Los Angeles over the weekend. On Friday, multiple immigration raids, in downtown’s Fashion District and outside a Home Depot in Paramount, sparked a not unusual response that led to police involvement, during which many, including union official David Huerta, were arrested.
Ostensibly dissatisfied with the handling of the situation, President Trump, over objections from both L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, made the highly unusual — and potentially illegal — decision to send in the National Guard. Tensions escalated and by Sunday, portions of L.A. freeways were shut down as some protesters and/or outside agitators vandalized downtown stores, defaced buildings, hurled rocks from downtown overpasses onto law enforcement vehicles and set fire to a few Waymo cars. Trump’s border advisor, Tom Homan, threatened to arrest Newsom if citizens of this sanctuary state continued to interfere with immigration raids, and Newsom publicly dared him to do it, adding that California would be suing the Trump administration for making the situation worse by sending in the National Guard. On Monday, Homan appeared to backtrack on his threat while Trump said he would support it.
It was both a little — no one should have been surprised that ICE raids in L.A. would spark protests and these were, relatively speaking, small and nonviolent — and a lot. Sending in the National Guard was an obvious military flex, designed to to bait Angelenos while perhaps distracting Americans from Trump’s far greater troubles.
But nothing said “this is a made-for-TV event brought to you by the same reality-star-led administration that proposed making legal immigration into a television competition” as the presence of Phil McGraw. Who, after being embedded with ICE officials during raids in Chicago earlier this year, spent some of this weekend kicking it with Homan in L.A.’s Homeland Security headquarters.
As first reported by CNN’s Brian Stelter, Dr. Phil was there to get “a first-hand look” at the targeted operations and an “exclusive” interview with Homan for “Dr. Phil Primetime” on MeritTV, part of Merit Street Media, which McGraw owns.
Dr. Phil is, for the record, neither a journalist nor an immigration or domestic policy expert. He isn’t even a psychologist anymore, having let his license to practice (which he never held in California) lapse years ago.
He is instead a television personality and outspoken Trump supporter who was on hand to … I honestly don’t know what. Provide psychological support to Homan as he threatened to arrest elected officials for allowing citizens to exercise their constitutionally guaranteed right to free speech while using local law enforcement to prevent any violence or destruction of property that might occur? Offer Homan another platform on which he could explain why Trump is breaking his own vow to target only those undocumented immigrants who have committed violent crime?
Or maybe just provide a familiar face to help normalize rounding up people from their workplaces and off the street and sending in the National Guard when this doesn’t appear to be happening smoothly enough.
There is, of course, the chance that McGraw asked Homan some tough questions. In a clip from the interview posted on X, he appears to begin his interview by asking what exactly happened this “busy” weekend in L.A. Homan replies that multiple law enforcement agencies were “looking for at-large criminals” and serving search warrants as part of a larger money laundering investigation, including at one company where “we knew about half of their employees were illegally in the United States” and in “service of those warrants, we arrested 41 illegal aliens.”
Still, after years of claiming to be nonpolitical, McGraw gave the president a full-throated endorsement at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally in 2024 while denouncing diversity initiatives. McGraw said the name of his media company pays homage to Americans who made it “on hard work … not on equal outcomes or DEI.”
McGraw’s presence during immigration raids, and his choice as the person who should interview Homan even as things escalated in L.A., would seem downright weird if it weren’t so politically perilous. Merit Street Media is one of a growing number of new news outlets claiming to offer “fresh perspective” on “American values” while hewing almost exclusively to Trump’s MAGA message and offering “safe spaces” to conservatives. Then-presidential candidate Trump told Dr. Phil in August — in reference to those involved in his felony conviction — “revenge can be justified” and that he would win California if Jesus were counting the ballots.
Using McGraw as a platform to explain Trump and Homan’s divisive immigration policy and incendiary decision in L.A. most certainly underlines the criticism that these raids, and the fallout they will inevitably cause particularly in sanctuary states and cities, are being conducted with maximum spectacle awareness. If McGraw isn’t a direct part of the policy, he appears to be a big part of its publicity.
Which is a bit alarming. Over the years, McGraw has been criticized about his treatment of guests (some of whom sued) and staff. In 2020, he issued an apology for comparing the mounting deaths from COVID-19 to the (far smaller) number of deaths due to drowning in swimming pools.
After his fellow Oprah alum, Dr. Mehmet Oz, ran for the Senate last year, McGraw shrugged off the notion that he would ever follow suit, saying he “doesn’t know enough about it.” “When you start talking to me about geopolitics and all the things that go into that — I’m a neophyte, I don’t think I would be competent to do that.”
Nor is there any indication that he is well-versed in immigration or constitutional law. If Trump and Homan honestly wanted a recognizable TV brand to help walk Americans through the legal complications of what happened in L.A. over the weekend, they should have asked Judge Judy.
June 7 (UPI) — Thousands converged to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Capital Pride Parade Saturday in Washington, D.C., amid an extended WorldPride LGBTQ+ celebration.
The two-day WorldPride Music Fest and parade marked Saturday’s portion of a three-day celebration of Capital Pride that concludes on Sunday.
The event is billed as the “world’s largest LGBTQ+” celebration and includes a music festival that is being held on three stages and features performers like Jennifer Lopez.
“Over the years, your love and your support have been a source of strength for me, and today I am here to celebrate with you,” Lopez said during her performance Friday night at the event’s RFK Campus Festival Grounds.
“I’m so happy to be able to be here to celebrate community, diversity, love and freedom,” Lopez told her audience.
Musical acts scheduled to perform on Saturday include RuPaul, Troye Sivan and Rene Rapp, Sofi Tukker, Purple Disco Machineand others.
Saturday’s Capital Pride Parade began at 2 p.m. EDT and lasted for six hours as it proceeded from the intersection of 14th and T Street N.W. and through Thomas Circle before turning onto Pennsylvania Avenue and concluding near the Navy Memorial.
Spectators and visitors filled restaurants and drinking establishments along the parade route.
Parade participants included cheerleaders, a 300-member choir and volunteers holding a 1,000-foot rainbow flag.
Deacon Maccubbin, who organized the first Capital Pride Parade in 1975, served as the parade’s grand marshal. So did actresses ReneeRapp and Laverne Cox.
Singer and actress Cynthia Erivo was scheduled to headline a parade-ending concert at 3rd Street and Pennsylvania Avenue.
The extended WorldPride event annually rotates among leading world cities and got underway on May 17 in Washington, D.C.
The event concludes on Sunday with a rally and march that begins at the Lincoln Memorial and ends at the U.S. Capitol.
