eye

DUA LIPA has topped heat magazine’s annual Rich List – with a fortune of £129million.

And the pop star looks like she’s going to be keeping her crown as she’s miles ahead of second place Tom Holland whose £35.7m pot looks pretty measly by comparison.

Lewis Capaldi, Millie Bobby Brown and Molly-Mae Hague, and love rat Tommy Fury, make up the rest of the top five.

The magazine Rich List, which is made up of the 30 richest under 30s in the UK and Ireland, has also compiled the biggest international stars – with Kylie Jenner coming in at No1 with a fortune of £540m, beating Hailey Bieber, Billie Eilish, Blackpink and Kylie’s sister Kendall.

And they’ve also listed their top five most generous celebs, with Sir Elton John giving away £27m last year.

While Harry Styles raised a massive £5.2m for charity last year, with Ed Sheeran also giving away £2m to good causes.

FULL FRONTAL

Katy Perry & Justin hold hands at strip bar during 1st public appearance

BUSTED!

Anne Hathaway ‘arrested’ by Sabrina Carpenter with fuzzy pink handcuffs in NYC

Last month Dua and her fiance Callum Turner were on the look out for a place in the sun.

I’m told the couple, who got engaged last Christmas, have called on a property expert to tap up a series of very posh holiday homes in Andalusia in southern Spain.

A source said: “Dua and Callum are looking for a sunny bolthole to enjoy with their families.

“Their preference has been pretty clear: nice weather and properties that have space.

“They have a man scouting for homes in Portugal and Andalusia, which have amazing weather all-year round.

“The house has to be able to comfortably fit Dua and Callum, as well as their family and friends.”

Tom Aspinall’s first defence of his undisputed heavyweight title ended in bitter disappointment after an accidental eye poke from Ciryl Gane left the Briton unable to continue at UFC 321 in Abu Dhabi.

At the end of a competitive first round, France’s Gane poked Aspinall in both eyes while attempting a punch, with the referee stopping the contest.

Aspinall, 32, could be seen telling the doctor “I can’t see” as he held a cloth to his eye, and with the Briton unable to fight on the referee deemed the bout a no-contest.

The result meant Aspinall retained his title – but not in the way he wanted to and he showed his frustration in his post-fight interview as the crowd booed the outcome.

“Guys, I just got poked knuckle deep in the eyeball. Why are you booing? I can’t see,” said a crestfallen Aspinall.

“The fight was just getting going. I can hardly open my eye. Look! It was a double eye poke.”

Aspinall was taken to hospital after the fight and did not appear for the post-fight news conference.

Calling the fight a no-contest means the referee deemed the foul accidental rather than intentional, which would have resulted in a disqualification.

A disqualification would have gone down as a win for Aspinall.

Gane was equally annoyed at the outcome and could be seen pacing around the edge of the octagon, shaking his head, as the result was announced.

“I feel sorry. I’m sorry for the crowd, for the fans, I’m sorry for Tom Aspinall and sorry for myself,” said Gane.

“We put a lot of energy in this fight so I’m disappointed, but this is the sport, this is life.

“I don’t know what is going to happen for the future, but we will see.”

Tom Aspinall retains heavyweight title after Ciryl Ganes accidently pokes him in both eyes at UFC 321 in Abu Dhabi.

Champion Tom Aspinall and top-ranked Ciryl Gane could not make it through the opening round of their heavyweight main event at UFC 321 inside Etihad Arena before the match was ruled a no-contest.

Aspinall (15-3-0) and Gane (13-2-0) both came out with a lot of energy until an accidental double eye poke prompted an official timeout at the 4:35 mark of the first round.

Aspinall (15-3-0) could not see out of his right eye during the allotted five-minute break, and at 4:09 into the stoppage, the match was ruled a no-contest.

It was Aspinall’s first defence as the undisputed heavyweight champion.

“What am I supposed to do about it? I can’t see,” said a disappointed Aspinall, speaking in the ring in response to the chorus of boos throughout the arena. “This is [expletive]. The fight was just getting going.”

Gane dropped to his knees, also disappointed, as the ring announcer made the official announcement.

“I’m feeling sorry,” Gane said. “I’m very sorry about that.”

Aspinall was off to a fast start, as the champion wasted no time in throwing heavy shots at Gane.

Known for his elusive footwork, Gane showed no intimidation and stood toe-to-toe while taking command in the centre of the cage.

Gane used a sharp jab to bloody the champ. And when Aspinall took his shot for a takedown, Gane successfully defended it midway through the round. When Aspinall tried to cut off the cage, Gane did a good job of circling out of it while landing jabs and low kicks.

Inside the final minute of the round, Gane continued to out-strike Aspinall until his poke to the eye.

Dern downs Jandiroba

In an intense co-main event in which both women left the cage with battered right eyes, fifth-ranked contender Mackenzie Dern (16-5-0) won the vacant strawweight belt over top-ranked Virna Jandiroba (22-4-0) with a unanimous decision.

Though both fighters had impressive moments within some tightly contested rounds, Dern’s left hand was much more effective and damaging.

Upon hearing the ring announcer announce her name as the new champ and having the belt wrapped around her waist, the 32-year-old Brazilian fell to her knees in tears.

“It feels amazing,” Dern said. “I need to see Moa. This is for Moa.”

Dern was then joined in the cage by her six-year-old daughter, Moa, who draped the UFC belt over her shoulder.

In earlier bouts, No 2 Umar Nurmagomedov (19-1-0) earned a unanimous decision over No 8 Mario Bautista (16-3-0) in a battle of top-ranked bantamweights.

Second-ranked heavyweight contender Alexander Volkov (39-11-0) won by split decision over No 5 Jailton Almeida (22-4-0)

In the light heavyweight division, 10th-ranked Azamat Murzakanov (16-0-0) made quick work of No 7 Aleksandar Rakic (14-6-0).

Murzakanov’s first-round stoppage extended the second-longest active UFC win streak in the division to six consecutive wins.

SACRAMENTO — Thousands of rebels gathered outside the state Capitol on Saturday, mindlessly trampling the lawn in their Hokas, even as the autumnal sun in Sacramento forced them to strip off their protective puffer vests.

With chants of “No Kings,” many of these chaotic protesters spilled off sidewalks into the street, as if curbs held no power of containment, no meaning in their anarchist hearts.

Clearly, the social order has broken. Where would it end, this reporter wondered. Would they next be demanding passersby honk? Could they dare offer fiery speeches?

The answer came all too soon, when within minutes, I spotted clear evidence of the organized anti-fascist underground that U.S. Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi has been warning us about.

The “Raging Grannies of Sacramento” had set up a stage, and were testing microphones in advance of bombarding the crowd with song. These women wore coordinating aprons! They had printed signs — signs with QR codes. If grandmothers who know how to use a QR code aren’t dangerous, I don’t know who it is.

Ellen Schwartz, 82, told me this Canadian-founded group operates without recognized leaders — an “international free-form group of gaggles of grannies,” is how she put it, and I wrote it all down for Kash Patel.

Within moments, they had robbed Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews of their most famous duet: “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” mutilating it into “super callous fragile racist narcissistic POTUS.”

Ellen Schwartz, 82, is a member of the “Raging Grannies,” a group that protested at the “No Kings” rally in Sacramento on Saturday.

(Anita Chabria / Los Angeles Times)

Not to be outdone by the Silent Generation, 2-year-old Rhea also showed up, first clinging to her mom, then toddling around on her own as if she owned the place. This is a kid to keep an eye on.

Since Rhea cannot yet speak about her political beliefs, her parents gave me some insight into why she was there.

“I’m not sure if we’ll still have a civilization that allows protest very long, so I want her to at least have a memory of it,” said her dad, Neonn, who asked that their last names not be used. Like many Americans, he’s a bit hesitant to draw the eye of authority.

Kara, Rhea’s mom, had a more hopeful outlook.

“America is the people, so for me I want to keep bringing her here so that she knows she is part of something bigger: peace and justice,” she said, before walking off to see the dinosaurs.

Kara holds her 2-year-old daughter, Rhea, at the rally in Sacramento.

(Anita Chabria / Los Angeles Times)

Dinosaurs, that’s right. And tigers. And roosters. And unicorns. Even a cow hugging a chipmunk, which I believe is now illegal in most of the South.

Yes, folks, the Portland frog has started something. The place was full of un-human participants acting like animals — dancing with abandon, stomping around, saying really mean things about President Trump.

Meanwhile, the smell of roasting meat was undeniable. People, they were eating the hot dogs! They were eating the grilled onions! There were immigrants everywhere selling the stuff (and it was delicious).

I spoke to a Tyrannosaurus Rex and asked him why he went Late Cretaceous.

“If you don’t do something soon, you will have democracy be extinct,” Jim Short told me from inside the suit.

Jim Short, left, and his wife, Patty Short, donned dinosaur costumes at the “No Kings” rally in Sacramento.

(Anita Chabria / Los Angeles Times)

His wife, Patty, was ensconced in a coordinating suit, hers brown, his green. Didn’t they worry about being labeled anti-American for being here, as House Speaker Mike Johnson and others have claimed?

“I’m not afraid,” Patty said. “I’m antifa or a hardened criminal or what’s the other one?”

“Hamas?” Jim queried. “Or an illegal immigrant?”

“I think people need more history,” Patty said.

I agree.

And the day millions of very average Americans turned out to peacefully protect democracy — again — may be part of it.

Standing under four palm trees in the quad area of Calabasas High, Los Alamitos football players have their eyes trained on coach Ray Fenton’s face for more than five uninterrupted minutes.

Looking to see if anyone loses focus when a mother walks by and starts yelling at her daughter, the answer is incredibly no. The players keep listening and keep their eyes directed on Fenton.

It’s tough enough to make teenagers listen for 30 seconds to adults these days, but to see an entire football team not letting anyone or anything disturb their focus while their coach is speaking provides a hint why Los Alamitos is 7-0 and the surprise high school football team in Southern California this season.

“Everyone has their eye on coach,” offensive lineman Braiden McKenna said. “It’s all the little things that keep you disciplined. Wearing your mouthpiece, keeping your eyes on him.”

It’s not true that Los Alamitos doesn’t have any stars. They might not have been mentioned much in preseason hype lists, but players have performed at a high level so far.

Tight end Beckham Hofland, 6 foot 5 and 230 pounds, is a load to cover and also serves as a kicker. Running backs Kamden Tillis and Lenny Ibarra are versatile and reliable. Quarterback Colin Creason, who sat out last season while transferring from Long Beach Poly, keeps improving. The offensive line, led by the veteran McKenna, who plays center, is very good. Ibarra leads the defense with 66 tackles.

Coach Ray Fenton and his 7-0 Los Alamitos football team.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

“It’s so much easier to want to win with someone you care about and they care about you,” McKenna said of the team chemistry.

Los Alamitos has had more talented teams in recent years aided by transfer students. This one is mostly home grown, and Fenton couldn’t be happier.

“They’re friends,” Fenton said. “They’ve grown up together. You play harder with guys you’re friends with. You don’t want to let them down. They’re Los Al kids. They take pride in the community.”

They won in Hawaii 34-31 on tying and game-winning field goals by Ibarra, who practiced kicking the ball between two palm trees at a park. They knocked off Gardena Serra 42-21. They beat a good Granite Hills team 49-42. Seven straight wins came over seven weeks, so now they are on a two-week break to prepare for the daunting task of facing three good Alpha League opponents — Edison at SoFi Stadium on Oct. 16, at San Clemente on Oct. 24 and a finale against Mission Viejo on Oct. 30 at Artesia.

They are serious contenders for a Southern Section Division 1 playoff berth even though some people still can’t figure out how they keep winning.

The answer is simple: they’re hungry. Never underestimate a team where one teammate after another supports each other no matter the challenges, no matter the obstacles, no matter the skepticism of others.

“This is throwback,” Fenton said. “It’s old school. Play for your local school, play for your community, play for your friends. The kids you played Pop Warner with are the kids you’re playing high school football with. It’s the way it was supposed to be.”

In 1997, the comedy “In & Out” did its shiny, star-studded best to mainstream the story of a closeted gay man in a rock-ribbed American community embracing his truth. The fine new indie drama “Plainclothes,” which takes place in 1997 in Syracuse, N.Y., and centers on a young police officer in the throes of desire, wants to remind us that the reality of such reckonings was a bit more fraught.

In first-time screenwriter-director Carmen Emmi’s tense, sensitively threaded scenario, fresh-faced cop Lucas (Tom Blyth) isn’t just holding a secret — he’s involved in the enforced criminalization of it. His assigned undercover detail is the mall, using a seductive look (not entirely acting) to lure gay men to the restroom, silently clocking the moment they meet the minimum requirement for breaking indecent exposure laws, then having them arrested.

Something shifts inside Lucas during one of these stings, however, when he locks eyes with a target named Andrew (Russell Tovey), whose soulful return gaze promises a deeper connection than instant gratification. He spares Andrew the planned indignity waiting outside, but secures a phone number away from the watchful eye of his sergeant (Christian Cooke). Weeks later, the pair arrange to meet in the upstairs balcony of an old movie palace. (Though we never see the screen, sharp-eared film buffs will recognize allusions to Francis Ford Coppola’s 1974 surveillance classic “The Conversation.”) After a couple of warm, intimate exchanges in secluded spaces, Lucas allows himself to imagine a future free from hiding, even if Andrew cautions that what they have can only ever be temporary.

Early in “Plainclothes,” thanks to changes in aspect ratio and Lucas’ facial hair, we realize that this timeline amounts to an extended memory, triggered in the present scenes by tense New Year’s Eve preparations at Lucas’ childhood home and a misplaced letter that he hopes neither his adoring, recently widowed mother (a wonderful Maria Dizzia) nor his obnoxious, hot-headed uncle (Gabe Fazio) find.

The backward-forward structure creates entwined tracks of suspense between the outcome of the Andrew relationship and the expected ramifications of what’s assumed to be a revealing letter. That framework gives “Plainclothes” the feeling of an emotional chase film where pursuer and pursued are the same, stuck in a loop of possibility, torn about what being caught really means.

Emmi’s well-conceived screenplay does justice to the ways a compartmentalized life can crack. When Lucas is with Andrew — and even in scenes with a nice ex-girlfriend (Amy Forsyth) — acceptance is palpable, understanding real. Among family, the pressure to conform activates his guardedness. And when his department, steeped in macho culture and eager for more mall arrests, starts deploying a video camera behind a one-way mirror, an increasingly anxious Lucas is made to feel nothing but risk about his identity.

There may be little that’s psychologically fresh about “Plainclothes,” but the fact that its low-key, close-framed style suggests a taut, moody gay indie you might have seen in the ’90s works in its favor. It’s also well cast, with the appealing Blyth always in control of the undercurrents, especially alongside the excellent Tovey, playing a sadder, wiser closetedness. I wish Emmi hadn’t overegged the visual motif that Lucas’ POV in moments of stress is akin to the fuzzy texture of Hi8 video: A little of it goes a long way and too often pulls us out of the tone in a room. But it’s the kind of choice that’s easier to forgive in a movie so well-attuned to shifts in perception, one that dimensionalizes the problem of achieving clarity when leading a double life.

THE British Open returns to Cheltenham THIS WEEK with some of snooker’s top stars in action.

Last year, Mark Selby claimed the Clive Everton Trophy for the first time after beating fellow four-time world champion John Higgins in the final.

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FOLLOW THE BRITISH OPEN 2025 LIVE

The Jester from Leicester secured a 10-5 victory over the Scotsman as he went one better than the 2023 British Open, where he lost in the final to Mark Williams.

In 2024, World No1 Judd Trump became only the third player in history to reach 1,000 century breaks.

But in the very same match, he was eliminated by Mark Allen following a 5-3 defeat in the quarter-finals.

Trump has never won the British Open and will be looking to add the Clive Everton Trophy to his ever-expanding collection of titles.

Kyren Wilson also features in Cheltenham as he looks to put his poor display at the English Open last week behind him.

There will be no Ronnie O’Sullivan this week after the Rocket withdrew from the competition on medical grounds last Tuesday.

When is the British Open 2025?

• The British Open 2025 will begin on Monday, September 22.
• The tournament will run up until Sunday, September 28.
• The Centaur in Cheltenham will host.

What TV channel is the British Open 2025 on and can it be live streamed?

• The British Open 2025 will be broadcast live on ITV4.
• You can live stream all the action for FREE via the ITVX app/website.
• Alternatively, you can keep up to date with all the action by following SunSport’s live blog.

British Open 2025 schedule

Monday, September 22
Round 1

1pm BST

• Pang Junxu 0-4 Wu Yize
• John Higgins 4-3 Mark Davis
• David Grace 1-4 Mark Selby
• Barry Hawkins 4-0 Daniel Wells

followed by:

• Alfie Davies v Neil Robertson
• Patrick Whelan 2-4 Ali Carter
• Zhang Anda 4-3 Duane Jones
• Ashley Hugill v Zhao Xintong

7pm BST

• Jiang Jun v Mark Allen
• Mark Williams v Si Jiahui
• Sanderson Lam v Daniel Womersley
• Ross Muir v Shaun Murphy

followed by:

• Judd Trump v Aaron Hill
• Gary Wilson v Hossein Vafaei
• Xiao Guodong v Haydon Pinhey
• Kyren Wilson v Chris Wakelin

Tuesday, September 23 – Round 2

Wednesday, September 24 – Round 2 (10am-7pm), Round 3 (from 7pm)

Thursday, September 25 – Round 3 (1pm-7pm), Round 4 (from 7pm)

Friday, September 26 – Quarter-finals

Saturday, September 27 – Semi-finals

Sunday, September 28 – Final

BRITS will have a brilliant view of Saturn tonight – and it’ll be looking pretty unusual to boot.

This week marks Saturn’s opposition, which is a premium stargazing (or rather, planet-gazing) event.

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During the opposition, Saturn is at its closest point to Earth.

And Saturn will be visible opposite the Sun in the sky so it’s fully illuminated.

That means it’ll be at its brightest point of the year.

So if you want to spy it, you’ll have your best chance tonight – assuming that it’s not cloudy.

It should rise after sunset and be visible all night.

This event will make Saturn easily visible to the naked eye,” said the Royal Observatory Greenwich.

“Appearing as pale yellow and rising in the east, located in the constellation of Pisces.”

Interestingly, this is a particularly special event because Saturn’s rings will be difficult to see.

They’re tilted at a severe angle to us, as we passed through their “plane” back in March.

We do that roughly every 13 to 15 years.

During a few weeks either side of that crossing, you can’t see the rings unless you have a very good telescope.

And even though we’re well on from March, the rings are still very severely tilted.

In fact, they’re just two degrees off dead straight to us.

“Saturn’s beautiful rings won’t be fully visible due to Saturn’s rotation turning edge-on to us,” Royal Observatory Greenwich said.

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“So unfortunately the rings will appear very narrow.”

If you miss Saturn (or you really enjoy it) then there’s another opposition opportunity just a couple of days later.

Neptune can be seen at opposition on September 23 – that’s the Tuesday.

“The planet will be visible with a telescope, rising in the east and setting in the west at sunrise,” Royal Observatory Greenwich explained.

“Neptune, the farthest planet in our Solar System at 4.3 billion kilometres away, will be at its closest point to Earth, shining blue and brighter than any other time of the year.”

But it won’t be easy to see.

Neptune is extremely far away – much further than Saturn.

So you’ll need a very good telescope to spy it.

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“Even with an optical aid, Neptune appears faint and you’ll need a high magnification to get a clear view,” the observatory added.

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THE US Open will come to a close today at Flushing Meadows as the two biggest stars in tennis face off yet again!

Rivals Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz will go head-to-head in their third Grand Slam final of the year with US president Donald Trump attending the showpiece match.

Sinner beat Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final earlier this summer to take the SW19 crown for the first time.

Sinner is looking to defend his US Open title and win the 2025 trilogy between the two titans of men’s singles.

Follow our live blog below…

During a dark moment in Bing Liu’s “Preparation for the Next Life,” our protagonist, Aishe (Sebiye Behtiyar), seeks guidance in a place she did not think she’d return to: a mosque. An undocumented Uyghur immigrant from China, Aishe has left behind the religion in which she was raised. But feeling alone and stuck in New York City, she turns toward this place of cultural familiarity, where the imam counsels her that she’ll be rewarded for her obedience in her next life. But what about this life, the one she’s living now?

Aishe has been preparing for her next life since she arrived in New York, getting stronger, smarter, faster, so that she can make the leap to an existence that’s more comfortable, safer, more abundant. Like most young girls with big dreams, there’s only one thing that can slow her forward momentum and that is, of course, a boy.

“Preparation for the Next Life” is the narrative feature debut of Academy Award-nominated documentary filmmaker Liu. His much-lauded film “Minding the Gap” is a searing and searching project about his childhood friends, a group of skateboarders he followed over the course of a heady transition period, often turning the camera on himself and his own family.

In “Preparation for the Next Life,” Liu once again trains his lens on the delicate coming-of-age that is the early 20s. As the title of this adaptation of Atticus Lish’s 2014 PEN/Faulkner Award-winning debut novel suggests, it captures a liminal time in which Aishe, in reflecting on her past while getting ready for her future, is surprised by the arrival of a new person who enters her life and asks her to stay in the moment, at least for a little while.

Aishe locks eyes with Brad Skinner (Fred Hechinger) on the street in Queens and they share an immediate intrigue. He’s recently been discharged from the Army, arriving in New York with some cash and a desire to do anything but go home. The young couple fall into lust, then love, over beers in a Latin American cowboy bar, Uyghur street food and then in a shabby basement apartment. Skinner is a reprieve from Aishe’s life working in brutal restaurant kitchens for under-the-table wages; Aishe is a grounding force for Skinner, grieving the loss of his best friend and managing his PTSD symptoms with a cocktail of meds and plenty of booze. They are both utterly alone in the world until they have each other.

Liu transports us into this small but affecting love story with stunning, saturated, fluid cinematography by Ante Cheng and a swooning score by Emile Mosseri. The filmmaker deploys this lush aesthetic to make us fall in love with Aishe and Skinner’s impossible, head-over-heels romance.

He weaves in Aishe’s childhood memories of her father, with her Uyghur language narration addressed to him, as she asks imploring questions of a man who will never be able to answer. Skinner’s military background inspires her own physical training, jogging miles and lifting weights. She’s always seeking her father, not just in Skinner the soldier but in herself too, the remnants of his presence thrumming through her memory.

Ambitious, driven and desperate to change her station in life, Aishe contemplates marriage, hoping for a path to legal status, though the only free advice she can get from an immigration lawyer is to be careful about whom she marries. She heeds this warning, starting to realize that this boyfriend might not bring her freedom but deadweight, as much as she tries to help him help himself. The scenario is high stakes given both Aishe’s status (she’s at one point arrested and detained) and Skinner’s mental health struggles, but this is a classic tale of a first love that curdles from sweet to sour.

The compelling performances and Liu’s artful direction elevate the script. Behtiyar, in her debut feature, is spectacular, eyes fiery, her expression often inscrutable, body in constant motion as Cheng’s camera follows close behind. Her connection with Hechinger is palpable, heady and heated, despite their characters’ differences, and it’s nice to see Hechinger in a more adult, romantic role, even as Skinner falls prey to his own demons.

Liu does indulge in the prolonging of heartache and indecision, and the story stalls while heading into the third act, the film stretched beyond what the material can sustain. Nevertheless, “Preparation for the Next Life” is a powerful assertion of dreams, humanity and hard work, arguing that every person has a past, a future and a story to tell. Some loves are for a lifetime, others just a moment, but nothing’s stopping Aishe from what she wants in this life — or her next.

Katie Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.

Running back Najee Harris addressed reporters for the first time since being involved in a Fourth of July fireworks accident — his eyes hidden by Chargers-colored sunglasses.

“It’s a humbling experience,” Harris said about the accident that left him with an eye injury. “It still hasn’t really shaken. I’m still going through it in a way. Just the whole situation [can] show you how things could change at just a snap of a finger.”

Harris declined to describe the accident in detail, but said he feels blessed the incident wasn’t worse. He said his vision wasn’t affected, reiterating that the injury was superficial.

“I’m just happy that everybody’s safe and we’re alive,” Harris said.

Cleared for contact Monday after wearing a non-contact jersey last week, Harris took another step toward suiting up for the season opener in São Paulo, Brazil, against the Kansas City Chiefs on Friday.

Harris has been wearing a tinted visor — a new look compared with his days with the Steelers — and keeping sunglasses on off the field since the accident, which has fueled online speculation about the severity of his injury. However, he brushed off the chatter.

“It’s not my job to care what other people think,” Harris said. “It’s my job to do what I got to do, so they can write what they want to, say what they want to.”

Harris has never missed an NFL game, starting in 68 straight contests over four seasons in Pittsburgh, but that streak could be in jeopardy. He said he expects to play as his workload ramps up.

“We’ll see where it takes us. … I’m just recovering, getting in shape,” Harris said. “Just trying to stay on top of the playbook. I was on [the non-football injury list], so [that] makes things a little more difficult.”

Coach Jim Harbaugh, typically tight-lipped on injuries, said there is “a possibility” Harris will play against the Chiefs. Since being cleared to practice, Harris has looked “really, really good,” Harbaugh said.

Whether Harris is ready before the team boards its 12-hour flight or becomes a game-time decision remains uncertain.

In Harris’ absence, rookie Omarion Hampton has handled most of the carries in camp but welcomed his teammate’s return. The pair is expected to share duties in offensive coordinator Greg Roman’s system.

“It’s been amazing, he’s my guy,” Hampton said. “We talk all the time. He helps me out on reads. I help him out seeing what we see, how we see it.”

MARC Guehi struck a blow for the good guys as he left Eagles’ boss Oliver Glasner with something to remember him by.

The Palace captain may be moving to pastures new inside the next 24 hours if his proposed move to Liverpool gets the green light.

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But his farewell present was a curling shot that underlined the star quality the Reds are paying for as Unai Emery’s chaotic summer imploded at Villa Park.

Guehi struck Palace’s second goal, building on Jean-Philippe Mateta’s first-half penalty on a night to forget for Villa’s boss.

And Ismaila Sarr rubbed salt into very open wounds by adding a third 12 minutes from time, nodding home after the hosts’ defence had followed the example of keeper Emi Martinez – and gone AWOL.

The Argentinian was left out because his mind was “elsewhere”.

The two-time winner of the world’s best keeper award was nowhere to be seen – apparently his mind was unable to cope with the prospect of a potential move away from Villa Park with Manchester United mulling over an offer.

He was declared unfit to play. And that went too for Emery’s side who spent a large chunk of this going around in circles.

Not so Guehi who may have a money-spinning switch to the champs in the offing.

His name was sung loud and proud by the visiting supporters who were appreciative of his professionalism.

And he had the benefit of celebrating in front of them as Villa’s proud unbeaten record was shattered.

Before tonight, Emery’s side were unbeaten on their own patch in the Premier League over the past 12 months.

But Palace are Villa’s bogey side – and they had a field day.

Glasner’s men have held the upper hand against Villa recently, winning four and drawing one of their last five encounters, including in the FA Cup semi-final four months ago.

As if to hammer home the point, the visiting contingent reminded the hosts of that 3-0 defeat, taunting them with “Did you cry at Wembley?” within seconds of the game getting underway.

By that stage, Villa’s stadium announcer had put a red line through his usual pre-match script which involved introducing the “world’s best” keeper Martinez to the home crowd.

Emery also mumbled his way through a pre-match television interview in which, when quizzed about the Argentinian’s absence, merely repeated the name of the Argentinian’s replacement, saying: “Marco Bizot, Marco Bizot.”

It was a bizarre reply to a fair question. Villa’s boss confirmed last Friday that he “didn’t expect” any of his main stars to leave the club.

It was almost as if any late interest had completely thrown the Spaniard – knocked him out of his stride. Palace then did the same to his team out on the green stuff.

Despite the excitement of a trip to Norway to face Fredrikstad in the Conference League on Thursday evening, Palace came with a game plan that stifled Villa at every turn.

The Eagles looked polished and took a 21st-minute lead when Mateta pulled away from Villa’s two centre-backs to receive a ball from Tyrick Mitchell on the left flank.

The Frenchman spotted Daichi Kamada making a run and threaded a pass into him.

The Japan international pushed the ball past Bizot whose outstretched leg clipped him. Stuart Attwell pointed to the spot.

The Dutch keeper couldn’t stop himself moving as Mateta dithered during his run-up and the Frenchman rolled the ball into the net.

Emery chose to blood Evann Guessand, a £26million signing from Nice, from the start. He showed some nice touches but it was the evergreen Ollie Watkins who posed the greatest threat.

The England international made something out of nothing when John McGinn simply booted the ball down the middle of the pitch, Dean Henderson standing up well to the striker’s shot.

Emery chose to shake it up at the interval. By that stage, Villa were yet to find the net and it was to another Argentinian – a forgotten one – that he turned.

Emi Buendia sparked a response – but it was all huff, puff and no end product.

Guehi then showed them how to do it as Villa failed to clear a Mitchell cross.

Palace moved forward on the left and Guehi took aim with a stunning effort that left Bizot grasping at thin air.

Sarr then sealed the points with a close-range header following a long throw allowing the visiting skipper to leave on a high.

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Antonia Lambert intially noticed something was wrong with her daughter Delilah in March, before it was discovered in June that she had a rare and serious condition

When Antonia Lambert took her 17-month-old daughter Delilah-Rose Lambert to the opticians earlier this year, she had no idea what was about to transpire.

Antonia, 20, had noticed her daughter’s left eye shine white and wanted to find out why. After the opticians referred her to the Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital in Grimsby, they attended an appointment, after which they were sent home when nothing was found.

When Delilah started rubbing her left eye constantly and developed a fear of the dark just weeks later, Antonia, from South Killingholme in North Lincolnshire, was referred to Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

It was there that doctors made a tragic discovery. In June, three months after symptoms had first been noticed, Delilah was diagnosed with Retinoblastoma. According to the NHS, this is a rare type of eye cancer that can affect young children.

Following the diagnosis, which Delilah’s family believed caused her fear of the dark because she could see less, Antonia’s daughter had to have her entire left eye removed.

Although Delilah has now been given a temporary prosthetic, it will be a few more weeks before she receives a longer-lasting one. While the situation cannot be changed, hairdresser Antonia believes that, had they not been initially dismissed, her daughter might still have her left eye.

Speaking about the beginnings of their horrific ordeal, Antonia spoke about how she first came to notice something was wrong with her daughter.

She said: “We had a lamp on in our room and one of her pupils looked white. We didn’t think much of it but she started to get wobbly so we took her to get her eyes tested.

“[Before her diagnosis], she refused to settle in her room and would cry for hours until I put a light on or took her out of that room.”

Antonia also spoke about how hard it was to hear that her daughter had such a difficult diagnosis. She said: “There were so many emotions at the time and I didn’t know how to feel. I sat and cried for days.

“I think most of the frustration was with our local hospital because they decided her eye wasn’t important enough to examine at the start and it made me think that it could have been different. The tumour might have been smaller if she was seen earlier and they could have potentially saved her eye.”

Despite the heartbreak, Antonia is determined to raise awareness of retinoblastoma so that other parents know what symptoms to look for and can act quickly.

She urged: “You need to trust your gut and push as much as possible. We didn’t push enough at the start, but we kept going and going – and she ended up getting her eye removed.

“It’s not massively common. We were told 30 to 40 kids a year in the UK get diagnosed with this. You don’t think it’s going to be you – until it is.

“Opticians don’t usually test children’s eyes under four unless there are concerns, but if you spot anything unusual, you definitely need to get their sight checked.”

In a statement, a spokesperson for the NHS Humber Health Partnership said: “We are sorry to hear about the difficulties Miss Lambert and her daughter encountered at Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital earlier this year.

“We would be keen for her to contact our Patient Advice and Liaison Service team so we can discuss the issues with her in more detail and allow us to investigate fully.”

MINNEAPOLIS — The Democratic National Committee is seriously considering scrambling the party’s 2028 presidential primary calendar. And South Carolina — the state that hosted the Democrats’ first-in-the-nation contest in 2024 — is far from a lock to go first.

That’s according to several members of the DNC’s new leadership team, including Chair Ken Martin.

“The idea that we’re just going to sort of rubber-stamp the same old calendar, that is not likely what’s going to happen,” Martin told the Associated Press.

Followed closely by political insiders, the order of each party’s state-by-state presidential nomination process has major implications for the economies of the states involved, the candidates and ultimately the nation.

The changes may come even as the next presidential primary has already begun — informally, at least. Half a dozen presidential prospects have already begun to make early pilgrimages to the states that topped the calendar last time — South Carolina, New Hampshire and Iowa chief among them.

The would-be candidates may need to amend their travel schedules.

Why the ‘early states’ may change

Although Democrats and Republicans have the power to change their calendar every four years, the same batch of states — Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada — have dominated the process for decades.

Democrats, led by then-President Biden, gave South Carolina the opening position in 2024 instead of Iowa and New Hampshire in a nod to the party’s loyal base of Black voters, while adding Georgia and Michigan to the so-called early window.

But now a new group of party officials is governing the calendar process. Martin earlier in the year replaced former Chair Jaime Harrison, a South Carolina native. And 32 of the 49 members of the powerful Rules and Bylaws Committee, which will vote on any new calendar before it moves to the party’s full body, are new to the committee.

“We’re not as tied to the way we’ve always done things,” said DNC Vice Chair Shasti Conrad, who is a newcomer to Rules and Bylaws and also chairs the Washington state Democratic Party.

“A priority for me is that there are large communities of color in those states,” Conrad said.

Which states could replace South Carolina?

As Democratic officials gathered in Martin’s home state of Minnesota for their summer meeting this week, there were several private conversations about whether South Carolina, which is a reliably Republican state, should be replaced by another Southern state that is considered a swing state in the general election. North Carolina and Georgia are considered the early favorites if a change is made.

Martin himself said South Carolina could lose its top spot. But he expressed confidence that a state with a large Black population, if not South Carolina, would be featured prominently in the Democrats’ next nomination process.

“Clearly, the most reliable constituency of the Democratic Party are Black voters, and they will have a prominent role in the selection of our nominee,” Martin said. “And whether it’s South Carolina or some other states, rest assured that making sure that there’s a state in the mix that actually will battle test your nominee with African American voters is really critical to making sure we can win in November.”

States are lobbying for spots

Leaders from several states hoping to claim an opening slot began making their cases in private conversations with influential DNC members this week. Others have begun to speak out publicly. Officials from Nevada and Iowa have advocated for themselves more publicly in recent days.

Nevada Democrats released a memo on Wednesday arguing that Nevada should win the top spot in 2028 if the party “is serious about winning back working-class voters.”

“Given the challenges we are facing to rebuild our party brand, we cannot afford to have overwhelmingly college-educated, white, or less competitive states kick off the process of selecting our party’s nominee,” wrote Hilary Barrett, executive director of the Nevada Democratic Party.

Harrison said he would “fight like hell” to ensure South Carolina stays first in 2028.

“If you take a look at every presidential primary we’ve had over the last 20 years, South Carolina has been a better predictor than Nevada, Iowa or New Hampshire in terms of picking” the eventual nominee, Harrison said. “And that is because our people are not ideological. … No, a majority of Black voters are not conservative or progressive. They’re pragmatic.”

Harrison noted that while South Carolina went first in 2024, there was no real competition for Biden.

“I think it’s a big slap in the face if you say that you don’t even give South Carolina an opportunity to be first in the nation at least one time in an open primary process, right?” he said.

What’s next in the process

The debate won’t be decided this year.

The Rules and Bylaws Committee will host a meeting in September to formalize how the calendar selection process will play out. Martin said a series of meetings would follow throughout the fall, winter and into next spring.

New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley, one of the few veterans who retained their seat on Rules and Bylaws, noted that New Hampshire is bound by state law to host the nation’s opening presidential primary election regardless of the DNC’s wishes.

New Hampshire, of course, bucked the DNC’s 2024 calendar. Iowa in recent days has threatened to go rogue as well in 2028 if it’s skipped over again.

“Everyone has the opportunity to make their case,” Buckley said. “New states, interesting states, will make their case. And I have faith that the process will be fair.”

Peoples writes for the Associated Press.

“Berta, Berta,” a two-character play by Angelica Chéri, was inspired by a prison work song from Parchman Farm, the notorious Mississippi State Penitentiary whose harsh conditions and history of forced labor extended the nightmare of antebellum slave plantations into the 20th century.

The play, which is receiving its West Coast premiere in an Echo Theater Company production at Atwater Village Theatre directed by Andi Chapman, is set in Mississippi in 1923. The action takes place in the home of Berta (Kacie Rogers), a young widow who’s awakened in the middle of the night by a visitor from her past.

Not just any visitor, mind you, but the love of her life. Leroy (DeJuan Christopher) arrives at the threshold of her small, well-cared for home in a clamorous uproar. He’s filthy, his white shirt is covered in blood, and Berta can’t tell if he’s possessed by the devil or out of his mind.

It turns out that he’s killed a man who claimed, falsely, to have slept with her. Berta is horrified that Leroy has done something so rash and violent. He holds it as proof of the depth of his love for her. But why, Berta wants to know, did he not get in touch with her after he was released from Parchman? The crime he’s committed will only send him back to where, in Leroy’s own pained words, “they take the colored man to kill him from the inside out.”

Berta and Leroy exchange grievances over the futility of their love. He can’t understand how she could have married; she’s bewildered that he could have expected her to wait indefinitely for a ghost. Their passion, however, won’t be denied, no matter how angry they make each other.

The play is pitched for maximum intensity, and Chapman’s direction encourages a mythic scope — a wholly appropriate approach for a drama that leaps over the safety of realism. Amanda Knehans’ beautifully designed set, as snug as it is appealing, grounds the action in a clean and cozy domesticity. But this is just an illusion, as the production makes clear through the expressionistic wildness of the lighting (Andrew Schmedake) and sound design (Jeff Gardner).

The couple has been granted a brief reprieve from their separation. Leroy, observing an old superstition, made an oath to the awakening cicadas that he will turn himself in if he’s given the chance to make peace with Berta. She has made her own pact with the insects, asking them to restore the life of her stillborn baby, whose corpse she has held onto in the hope that the cicadas will answer her prayer.

The pressurized, supernatural stakes in such tight quarters sometimes encourage Christopher to push a little too vociferously. Berta’s home is too small to contain Leroy — and Christopher’s performance never lets us forget it. But the turbulent charge of Leroy’s voice and body language serves another purpose: keeping the character’s history as an oppressed Black man cruelly cut off from his soulmate ever in sight.

Rogers’ Berta, comfortably situated in her domestic nest, scales her performance accordingly. She is our anchor into the world of the play, reacting to Leroy’s tumultuous intrusion with suspicion and alarm. But as the intimacy grows between the characters, the performers become more relaxed and playful with each other. The Wagnerian nature of Berta and Leroy’s love settles down without losing its miraculous mystery.

The Sunday matinee I attended was a Black Out performance — an opportunity for a Black audience to experience the play in community. Playwright Jeremy O. Harris championed this concept during the initial Broadway run of his groundbreaking drama “Slave Play.” There was backlash to the idea in London, where some critics found the practice racially exclusionary. But anything that promotes the communal embrace of art, particularly among historically underrepresented groups, ought to be celebrated.

I wasn’t the only white person in the audience at “Berta, Berta” on Sunday, but I was one of just a few. When I had initially learned from the show’s publicist that the performance was specially designated, I offered to come at another time, not wanting to take a seat from a community member. But I was assured that there was room and that I was most welcome.

Listening to the play in this special environment, I was more alert to the through line of history. Although set in the Deep South during the Jim Crow era, there appeared to be little distance between the characters and the audience. Berta and Leroy’s tempestuous love games were met with amused recognition. And the threats facing the couple, to judge by the audible response to the work, were received with knowing empathy.

At a different performance, I might have been more impatient with some of the strained dramatic turns. But the production’s living bond with the audience opened my eyes to the realism inherent in this folktale romance, laden with history and floating on a song.

Manchester United make contact with Brighton over Carlos Baleba, Everton open talks with Manchester City for Jack Grealish, and Alexander Isak trains alone amid Liverpool pursuit.

Manchester United have contacted Brighton through intermediaries to explore a potential move for Cameroon midfielder Carlos Baleba, 21. (The Athletic – subscription required), external

Everton have opened talks over a deal to bring in England attacking midfielder Jack Grealish, 29, from Manchester City. (Sky Sports), external

Sweden striker Alexander Isak has been told to train alone at Newcastle United amid interest in him from Liverpool, while the 25-year-old also missed a family day for the players which was put on by the club. (Mirror), external

Newcastle have bid about €30m (£26.2m) for Germany defender Malick Thiaw but AC Milan have not accepted the offer as they want to keep the 23-year-old. (Gazzetta dello Sport – in Italian), external

Nottingham Forest are closing in on a deal to sign 27-year-old Brazil midfielder Douglas Luiz from Juventus, who could make a move for Forest and Ivory Coast midfielder Ibrahim Sangare, 27. (Gazzetta dello Sport – in Italian), external

Everton are also interested in Douglas Luiz and, like Forest, could look at a loan with an option or obligation to buy. (Mail), external

RB Leipzig are discussing contract terms with Liverpool and England Under-21 midfielder Harvey Elliott, 22, before they make a formal transfer offer. (Fabrizio Romano), external

Inter Milan could consider a move for Manchester United and England winger Jadon Sancho, 25, if they fail to sign Nigeria forward Ademola Lookman, 27, from Atalanta. (Gazzetta dello Sport – in Italian), external

Manchester City’s Mateo Kovacic, 31, has been approached by Saudi Pro League clubs this summer, but the Croatia midfielder wants to stay at City. (Fabrizio Romano), external

Commissioner’s recommendations for tech companies include measures that have been criticised on privacy grounds.

Australia’s internet watchdog has accused tech giants including Google and Apple of failing to take action against child sex abuse on their platforms.

In a report released on Wednesday, eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said tech platforms were failing to implement various measures to protect children, including scanning cloud services for known abuse material and using language analysis tools to detect attempted sexual extortion in messaging services.

Grant said that Apple and YouTube, which is owned by Google, also failed to track reports of child sex abuse and could not say how long it took them to respond to the reports they received.

“It shows that when left to their own devices, these companies aren’t prioritising the protection of children and are seemingly turning a blind eye to crimes occurring on their services,” Grant said in a statement.

“We need to keep the pressure on the tech industry as a whole to live up to their responsibility to protect society’s most vulnerable members from the most egregious forms of harm and that’s what these periodic notices are designed to encourage.”

Grant added that the companies had taken few steps to improve their efforts since being asked three years ago, “despite the promise of AI to tackle these harms and overwhelming evidence that online child sexual exploitation is on the rise”.

“No other consumer-facing industry would be given the licence to operate by enabling such heinous crimes against children on their premises, or services,” she said.

Google disputed the report’s findings, saying they were rooted in “reporting metrics, not online safety performance” and that more than 99 percent of abuse material on YouTube is automatically removed before being flagged.

“Child safety is critical to us,” a Google spokesperson said.

“We’ve led the industry fight against child sexual abuse material since day one, investing heavily in advanced technology to proactively find and remove this harmful content.”

Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Snap, and Discord, which were also included in the report, did not respond to requests for comment.

Tom Sulston, head of policy at Digital Rights Watch, said that while it was important for authorities to take action against online child abuse, some of the tools supported by the internet watchdog would raise serious civil liberties and privacy concerns.

Sulston said that scanning live calls and private messages would require platforms to abandon end-to-end encryption, which prevents communications from being viewed by anyone apart from the sender and receiver.

“That’s a gross invasion of privacy for all of the people making perfectly innocent and reasonable use of the service,” Sulston told Al Jazeera.

“It also has dangerous knock-on effects where the users of that service would be subject to surveillance from hostile actors – foreign governments, criminals, hackers. That’s a huge risk for civic society, activists, journalists and anyone who communicates on the internet.

Breaking encryption would be “disproportionate and dangerous,” Sulston added.

“We don’t expect the post office to open all letters and read them for illegal content – in fact, most countries have laws specifically against this,” he said.

A Palestinian teenager, shot in the eye by Israeli forces while desperately seeking food for his family near a United States and Israeli-backed GHF site in Gaza, is unlikely to regain sight in his left eye, doctors treating him have said, as the population of the besieged and bombarded enclave suffers from forced starvation.

Fifteen-year-old Abdul Rahman Abu Jazar told Al Jazeera that Israeli soldiers kept shooting at him even after he was struck by a bullet, making him think “this was the end” and “death was near”.

Relaying the harrowing chain of events from a hospital bed with a white bandage covering one eye, Abu Jazar said he went to the site around 2am (23:00 GMT).

“It was my first time going to the distribution point,” he said. “I went there because my siblings and I had no food. We couldn’t find anything to eat.”

He says he moved forward with the crowd until he reached al-Muntazah Park in the Gaza City environs about five hours later.

“We were running when they began shooting at us. I was with three others; three of them were hit. As soon as we started running, they opened fire. Then I felt something like electricity shoot through my body. I collapsed to the ground. I felt as though I had been electrocuted … I didn’t know where I was, I just blacked out. When I woke up, I asked people ‘Where am I?’”

Others near Abu Jazar told him he had been shot in the head. “They were still firing. I got scared and started reciting prayers.”

A doctor at the hospital held a phone light near the boy’s wounded eye and asked him if he could see any light. He could not. The doctor diagnosed a perforating eye injury caused by a gunshot wound.

Abu Jazar underwent surgery and said, “I hope my eyesight will return, God willing.”

Hospitals receive bodies of more aid seekers

Gaza’s Health Ministry reported on Sunday that 119 bodies, including 15 recovered from under the rubble of destroyed buildings or other places, and 866 wounded Palestinians have arrived at the enclave’s hospitals over the past 24-hour reporting period.

At least 65 Palestinians were killed while seeking aid, and 511 more were wounded.

Israeli forces have routinely fired on Palestinians trying to get food at GHF-run distribution sites in Gaza, and the United Nations reported this week that more than 1,300 aid seekers have been killed since the group began operating in May.

Gaza’s famine and malnutrition crisis has been worsening by the day, with at least 175 people, including 93 children, now confirmed dead from the man-made starvation of Israel’s punishing blockade, according to the territory’s Health Ministry.

More than 6,000 Palestinian children are being treated for malnutrition resulting from the blockade, according to the Global Nutrition Cluster, which includes the UN health and food agencies.

Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, reporting from Deir el-Balah, says, “There’s a very, very small amount of trucks coming into Gaza – about maybe 80 to 100 trucks every single day – despite the fact that this “humanitarian pause” was for more aid to enter the Gaza Strip.

“Palestinians are struggling to get a bag of wheat flour. They’re struggling to find a food parcel. And this shows the fact that this pause and all the Israeli claims are not true because on the ground, Palestinians are starving, ” she added.

Khoudary noted that the entire population had been relyiant on UN agencies and other partners to distribute food.

“More Palestinians die every single day due to the forced starvation and malnutrition … Since the blockade started, those distribution points have not been operating, and now nothing’s back to normal. Palestinians are still struggling, and not only that, they’re being killed now for the fact that they’re approaching trucks, the GHF, because they want to eat,” she said.