May 17 (UPI) — Moody’s Ratings downgraded U.S. debt, becoming the last of the three major credit rating agencies to move in that direction.
The New York-based agency downgraded government long-term issuer and senior unsecured ratings to Aa1 from Aaa this week, while also changing its outlook to negative from a previous rating of stable, Moody’s said in a media release.
“This one-notch downgrade on our 21-notch rating scale reflects the increase over more than a decade in government debt and interest payment ratios to levels that are significantly higher than similarly rated sovereigns,” Moody’s said in the company’s statement.
“Successive U.S. administrations and Congress have failed to agree on measures to reverse the trend of large annual fiscal deficits and growing interest costs. We do not believe that material multi-year reductions in mandatory spending and deficits will result from current fiscal proposals under consideration.”
Standard & Poor’s in 2011 became the first of the three nationally recognized statistical rating organizations to lower its U.S. debt rating. It later accused the Justice Department of “retaliation” for filing a $5-billion lawsuit against the credit rating agency.
Moody’s in 2023 signaled it could move in the same direction, putting U.S. banks on a negative watch list and warning of a ‘mild’ recession, and later that year lowering its outlook of U.S. debt.
The agency in November then warned of a potential downgrade.
“Over more than a decade, U.S. federal debt has risen sharply due to continuous fiscal deficits. During that time, federal spending has increased while tax cuts have reduced government revenues. As deficits and debt have grown, and interest rates have risen, interest payments on government debt have increased markedly,” Moody’s said in its statement this week.
“If the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is extended, which is our base case, it will add around $4 trillion to the federal fiscal primary deficit over the next decade. While we recognize the U.S.’ significant economic and financial strengths, we believe these no longer fully counterbalance the decline in fiscal metrics.”
The White House attempted to shift the blame to former President Joe Biden‘s administration.
“The Trump administration and Republicans are focused on fixing Biden’s mess by slashing the waste, fraud, and abuse in government and passing The One, Big, Beautiful Bill to get our house back in order,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai told reporters Friday.
“If Moody’s had any credibility, they would not have stayed silent as the fiscal disaster of the past four years unfolded.”
Moody’s said it does not expect further downgrades in the near future.
“The U.S. economy is unique among the sovereigns we rate. It combines very large scale, high average incomes, strong growth potential and a track-record of innovation that supports productivity and GDP growth. While GDP growth is likely to slow in the short term as the economy adjusts to higher tariffs, we do not expect that the US’ long-term growth will be significantly affected,” the agency said in its statement.
Pep Guardiola will be without Rodri, Nathan Ake, Oscar Bobb and John Stones for this afternoon’s FA Cup final.
Kevin De Bruyne is set to feature in his fourth FA Cup final with the likes of Mateo Kovacic, Ilkay Gundogan, Bernando Silva and Nico Gonzalez battling to join him in midfield.
Guardiola will have a decision to make on the flanks, will he stick with Phil Foden and James McAtee or roll the dice with Jeremey Doku and Omar Marmoush?
Crystal Palace team news
The headline team news from the Palace camp is that Adam Wharton IS fit and available for selection after missing last weekend’s win at Tottenham with a twisted ankle.
Wharton will likely replace one of Will Hughes or Jefferson Lerma in the Eagles’ midfield two.
Eddie Nketiah will be pushing to get the nod ahead of Jean-Philippe Mateta with his impressive record in the FA Cup this season.
The 2020 FA Cup winner has been involved in a goal in each of his past three appearances (2G, 1A) in the competition, all as a substitute.
Good afternoon and welcome to SunSport’s live blog of the FA Cup final!
Crystal Palace take on Manchester City in today’s blockbuster Wembley showpiece.
The two sides are looking to get their hands on the iconic trophy for very different reasons.
Palace can claim the first piece of major silverware in the club’s 120-year history, while City are hoping to save their rare poor season.
The Eagles have fell at the final hurdle in the FA Cup twice, losing on both occasions to Manchester United in 1990 and 2016.
This Palace team is made up of a flurry of internationals and in-demand stars, and many fans believe this year could well be their year.
City are in search of their eighth FA Cup triumph and their second under Pep Guardiola.
The Cityzens have reached the final of the oldest football competition in the world for three straight years.
They will be looking to bounce back from their 2-1 defeat to bitter rivals Manchester United in last year’s final.
Liverpool, England – “I love it when it gets like this,” exclaimed the man beside me as he rubbed his hands with glee.
It was the Halloween of 2009 and in the gloom of an early winter’s afternoon, Goodison Park was at its best.
Everton were playing Aston Villa in a league match, which was becoming increasingly bad-tempered. Two late red cards, an appalling referee and the floodlights taking full effect. It was the perfect recipe for a big bowl of Goodison fury.
The game finished as an unmemorable 1-1 draw, but the sheer delight of the man in the neighbouring seat long stayed with me. His excitement was a reminder to relish those rare occasions when the entire audience at this glorious theatre of football are united in emotion.
And nowhere does emotion quite like Goodison Park.
Fury, relief, joy and despair – and that’s just a two-nil defeat to Norwich in the League Cup fourth round.
Fans sitting in this footballing relic have felt it all throughout the stadium’s long and illustrious history. If they gave out Ballon d’Ors for booing, Everton would need a separate stadium just to house the trophy cabinet.
But on Sunday, there will be new emotions to add to the list – because everything is about to change.
A 133-year chapter in the story of Everton is about to end, as Goodison Park hosts the men’s team for the final time.
“Goodison has just always been there, there’s not an Evertonian alive that has watched Everton anywhere else,” said Matt Jones, host of the Blue Room podcast.
Like thousands of fellow fans, he will spend the weekend grappling with various emotions.
“I feel a bit like a dad watching his daughter get married at a wedding and everything’s starting to make him cry. As you get closer and closer to the day, you get more and more emotional,” Jones told Al Jazeera Sport.
The view as fans make their way through the residential streets that surround Goodison Park [Courtesy: Gary Lambert]
At its most basic level, Sunday’s fixture against Southampton is game number 2,791 for the Everton men’s senior team at Goodison. But for Evertonians, it represents so much more. A small part of our identity is about to be lost.
I’ve grown from a boy to a man in various seats in every stand of that grand old stadium, learning every swear word there is to know along the way.
The highs and lows of the last 30 years have been intertwined with trips there, with the ground somehow able to block out everyday life for 90 precious minutes. Much like the inability to get a phone signal inside, you leave your troubles at the turnstile.
I’ve taken various partners to Goodison (one said that she had “never seen rage quite like it”), with most of those relationships ending in the same sort of heartbreak as an Everton cup run.
But I’ve always felt privileged to sit inside a real-life museum of football. Surrounded by history, tradition and furious middle-aged men abusing anything that moves.
The next page of the Everton story will see the men’s team relocate to a 53,000-capacity stadium at Bramley Moore Dock. The impressive structure sits on the banks of the river Mersey and, for the sake of sponsorship, will be called the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
A drone view shows Everton’s new stadium at Bramley Moore Dock in Liverpool [Jason Cairnduff/Reuters]
Life in such a shiny, modern arena will be a huge adjustment for one of the oldest teams in English football.
“It’s that feeling of leaving your family home. It’s the only way I can describe it,” said Merseyside-based sports reporter Giulia Bould.
“You know you’re going to a house with a load of mod cons and you know your life’s going to be so much easier in this new house, but you’ve got to leave your family home. It’s weird,” she added.
This season has been filled with finals for Everton, although sadly not the ones that are played at Wembley with a trophy on the line.
Instead, each fixture at Goodison has ticked another final occasion off the list. From the final cup game to the final night match, even the final Saturday 3pm kickoff has had a shoutout.
But on Sunday, it really will be the finale – although only for the men’s team.
Just days before what was due to be the final ever Goodison game, Everton announced that the old stadium would be granted a stay of execution. The bulldozers won’t move in – instead the women’s team will.
“I think it’s perfect,” said Bould as she reflects on the decision from Everton’s American owners to pass Goodison over to the women’s team.
“Under the previous owner, the women’s side has long been ignored and run into the ground really, it’s been pretty much treated as second rate. But now it has been put on a level where it should be, setting the precedent for everyone else,” Bould told Al Jazeera Sport.
Terraced housing surrounds Everton Football Club’s Goodison Park ground in this aerial photo taken in 2006 [David Goddard/Getty Images]
Goodison Park is no stranger to setting a precedent. It was the first purpose-built football stadium in England and the first to install dugouts and undersoil heating.
The Toffees’ long run without relegation means it’s hosted more English top-flight football games than anywhere else.
Goodison was also the venue for an FA Cup Final and a World Cup semifinal, with Pele and Eusebio both also scoring there during the 1966 tournament. Even North Korea has graced the Goodison turf.
The storied history of Everton’s home has caught the imagination of some of the greats of the modern game.
Jose Mourinho called the place “the history of English football”, while Arsene Wenger described it as “one of the noisiest” stadium’s he’s managed in.
Sir Alex Ferguson once spared former Evertonian Wayne Rooney from an afternoon at Goodison with Manchester United, purely because of the abuse he would receive.
Visiting Goodison Park today feels vastly removed from the riches of modern English football. To put it bluntly, the stadium is no longer fit for purpose. But that is what makes it magical.
“It is the closest you can get to travelling through time to watch football,” said photographer and Evertonian Gary Lambert. That time travel begins before you even set foot in the stadium.
“Physically, Goodison is an imposing place. It appears out of nowhere between the rows of terraced houses,” said Lambert.
The view of one of the stands from outside the stadium [Courtesy: Gary Lambert]
Once inside, the stadium’s history unravels through the various sights and sounds. Obstructed views are common, with posts and pillars causing many a strained neck.
And the unique Archibald Leitch criss-cross design runs down the middle of the ancient Bullens Road stand.
“Goodison Park is the bluest place on earth. The brickwork on three-quarters of the ground is painted a vivid shade of royal blue.
“It doesn’t matter what tweaked blue hue the latest kit manufacturer might tone the latest home shirt, it’s that blue outside which is Everton’s blue,” Lambert told Al Jazeera Sport.
But there is one particular quirk that stands out above them all and it happens whenever Everton go on the attack.
“There are still so many old-fashioned wooden seats, so the seats bang and click as everyone moves to stand up,” said Bould.
The chorus of wooden clangs is something she will miss when Everton move away from their historical home.
“That clicking noise, you don’t hear that anywhere. That, for me, is Goodison.”
Like all Everton fans, I’ll miss the matchday routines around Goodison. Parking near the snooker hall, a pre-match pint in Crofts Social Club, the endless queues for the loo. I might even miss the lack of legroom.
It’s troubling to comprehend life after Goodison for Everton’s men. The two are so connected and so well-suited. Everton is Goodison and Goodison is Everton. A divorce after 133 years was always going to hurt.
But change is needed for a club still clinging to former glories. Everton’s new ground could be the chance for a new start. The Hill Dickinson Stadium doesn’t suit us, but it represents the new world of football, where money is power.
In many ways, Sunday’s fixture will be a changing of the guard as the grand old team are hurtled into the modern age.
“We’re at the end of such a long journey now at Goodison. And at just the very start and the very first step of a new one.
“And maybe we’re quite privileged to be at this crossover point and experience both of them,” said Jones.
The view inside Goodison Park as the surface is watered before the arrival of the players and fans [Dave Thompson/AP]
Tottenham have had the measure of Manchester United this season, beating them home and away in the Premier League and also in the Carabao Cup.
They will also likely back themselves to score against the Red Devils, having hit 21 more league goals than them, despite sitting fourth from bottom with United a place above.
In fact, no team outside the top six has scored more than Tottenham’s 63 goals.
Keeping them out, however, has been an issue with 61 league goals conceded, while United have fared marginally better with 54.
Encouragement for Postecoglou will also come from a lively first-half display by Son Heung-min against Villa.
The forward is looking to return to peak fitness after being sidelined with a foot injury and went close to scoring before the break.
Son, 32, has lost his last two finals with Spurs and will no doubt be determined to end his trophy drought with the club after a decade.
“He is ready and available,” Postecoglou said of Son. “He feels like he is getting back to some rhythm.”
United, meanwhile, could only muster one shot on target against Chelsea with Rasmus Hojlund again struggling to make an impact in attack.
The forward has scored just three goals in his last 15 appearances in all competitions.
“They have a problem, they have no striker,” former Manchester United captain Roy Keane told Sky Sports.
“Hojlund looked like a young boy from the academy. He is not good enough to be the main man. United are up against it all the time.”
The FA Cup was not Manchester City’s top priority this season, but now that they are in a third straight final, the club will go all out to win the trophy at Wembley, manager Pep Guardiola said.
City have had a “horrific season” in the words of striker Erling Haaland, with Guardiola’s side falling by the wayside in the Premier League title race while they were also eliminated in the Champions League knockout phase playoffs.
City are fourth in the Premier League and yet to secure Champions League qualification for next season – winning the FA Cup when they face Crystal Palace on Saturday may not be enough to salvage their campaign.
“That is the problem, right? The FA Cup now is not the first choice. Of course, we want it. Once we are here, of course, we want the trophy. It is massively important,” Guardiola told reporters on Friday.
“It was a disappointment last season [losing in the final to Manchester United]. But I’m pretty sure we’ll perform well, and we are going to compete against them.
“It’s the final of the FA Cup, it’s an honour and a privilege. Third time in a row being there, and we have to perform well. We travel to London to win the title.”
Guardiola also praised Oliver Glasner’s Palace, who knocked out fellow Premier League sides Fulham and Aston Villa to reach the final.
Palace, who are 12th in the league table, are seeking their first major trophy, having fallen in the final in 1990 and 2016, losing to Manchester United on both occasions.
“It is a fantastic team. They have had a really good second part of the season. They have had more than a year with Oliver working with the same players,” Guardiola said.
“They are a threat because they have quality. [Striker Jean-Philippe] Mateta is strong and the quality in [Eberechi] Eze is obvious and, of course, the pace from [fellow forward Ismaila] Sarr … [Adam] Wharton is a really good holding midfielder.
“They are well structured defensively and their set-pieces are one of the best in the Premier League.”
Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner is in his second season in charge of the club [David Klein/Reuters]
It’s 90 percent about us, says Palace manager
The quiet confidence seeping out of Crystal Palace’s training ground before the final against Manchester City was summed up by manager Oliver Glasner on Friday.
“We’re focused on what we want to do at Wembley. We analysed Man City, but 90 percent, we were talking about us,” Glasner, who will become the first Austrian to lead a team in an FA Cup final, told reporters.
“This is what we can influence. We can influence our performance. We can influence what we want to do in and out of possession. And the focus was on our game. We have a lot of confidence and looking forward to the final.”
Palace may be 12th in the Premier League, but have matched their record points tally with two games still to play.
In the FA Cup, they have clicked impressively, winning 3-0 at Fulham in the quarterfinals and then beating Villa by the same margin at Wembley in the semis.
Now, they have one last obstacle to get over and claim the south London club’s first major trophy in its 120-year history.
Palace drew 2-2 with City at Selhurst Park in the league and led 2-0 in the return fixture, only to lose 5-2. They also lost 4-2 last April, a couple of months after Glasner took charge.
Scoring goals against Pep Guardiola’s team has not been a problem, but Glasner knows they will need to adjust defensively to give themselves the best possible chance at Wembley.
“In every single game [against City] we scored two goals, but we just had one draw, because we conceded four, two and five, so we have to make a few adjustments in our defending,” he said. “Because when you concede five, it’s tough to win, but when you score two, you should be able to win.
“So, we have confidence that we will create our chances, we will create our situations to score goals, but we have to do better in defence, and I don’t mean the back three or the back five. So as a team, maybe we have to adjust a few things, and this is what we want to do tomorrow.”
Palace fans, hoping it will be third time lucky in Cup finals after defeats in 1990 and 2016, produced a wall of sound and colour in the semifinal against Villa and are bound to give their side passionate support again on Saturday.
Goalkeeper Dean Henderson was one of several Palace players to donate to a fundraising campaign for a giant “tifo” against Villa, and another 45,000 pounds has been raised for one to be unfurled before Saturday’s Wembley showdown.
“The one against Villa was top class,” said Henderson. “I don’t know what they are going to do with 40-odd grand – but I’m excited to see it.”
Who: Manchester City vs Crystal Palace What: English FA Cup final Where: Wembley Stadium, London, United Kingdom When: Saturday at 4:30pm (15:30 GMT)
Follow Al Jazeera Sport‘s live text and photo commentary stream.
Manchester City and Crystal Palace go head-to-head for the FA Cup in a final that has captured the imagination the world over since its inception.
English football’s showpiece cup final has been a tale of a team from any level – even non-professional – rising to the top to take down the giants of the game.
The Eagles of South London are no minnows in this story, but their opponents are as big as they come in the global game.
Al Jazeera Sport takes a look at a showdown that carries great weight for both teams in the world’s oldest cup competition.
Why is the FA Cup so important to both finalists?
History beckons for Crystal Palace against a Manchester City side that have one final shot at avoiding a rare trophyless season under Pep Guardiola.
Twice FA Cup runners-up, Palace have never won a major trophy in their 119-year history.
The Eagles sense this may finally be their time up against a City side far from their former glories of Guardiola’s trophy-laden reign.
What is Crystal Palace’s form?
Palace warmed up for the Wembley showpiece by cruising to a 2-0 win at Tottenham last weekend to equal their record of 49 Premier League points with two games of the season to spare.
The south London club finished in the top 10 for the first time in the Premier League era last season after just a few months under Oliver Glasner.
Another top-half finish looks unlikely, but progress has continued under the Austrian thanks to their FA Cup heroics, including a comprehensive 3-0 victory over Champions League quarterfinalists Aston Villa in the last four.
Eberechi Eze is the main man for City to fear with five goals in his last four games.
But he is one of just four England internationals that reached the final of Euro 2024 likely to start for Palace on Saturday alongside Dean Henderson, Marc Guehi and Adam Wharton.
“It means everything,” said Eze on the prospect of delivering the club’s first taste of silverware.
“We know what it means to the fans, to the club. We’re going to give everything that we’ve got to put ourselves in the best position.
“We’re confident. We know that we’ve just got to do what we do and be the best version of ourselves, and we’ve got the chance of beating any team.”
Victory would also secure entry to one of Europe’s major club competitions for the first time in Palace’s history, with a place in the Europa League at stake.
What is Man City’s form?
City’s laboured display in drawing a blank at bottom-of-the-table Southampton last weekend gives Palace even more reason to believe they can lift the cup.
However, Guardiola’s men are unbeaten in 10 games, including a 5-2 demolition of Palace in the Premier League last month despite falling 2-0 behind.
Will this be De Bruyne’s dream send-off?
City’s fightback at the Etihad Stadium in the last encounter between the clubs was prompted by Kevin De Bruyne rolling back the years.
The Belgian has just three games left as a City player after a glorious decade in Manchester and will be aiming to add one more to his 14 major honours with the club.
“He has had an incredible time at Manchester City,” said City’s top scorer Erling Haaland.
“It is ridiculous how many trophies he has won. Hopefully he will get one more trophy.”
After an unprecedented four consecutive English top-flight titles, City find themselves battling just to secure a top-five Premier League finish and a place in next season’s Champions League.
Anything other than victory would cap what Haaland described as a “horrendous” campaign for a squad of serial winners.
City have not ended a season without a trophy since Guardiola’s first at the club in 2016/17.
“It is a good habit to reach Wembley and always important to win trophies. We have the FA Cup final to play for and in a horrific season we still managed to do this,” added the Norwegian.
What was Palace’s finest FA Cup moment?
Palace’s extraordinary and eventually heartbreaking 1990 campaign was their finest hour in the competition.
The semifinals and final(s) that year were arguably the most dramatic in the competition’s long and storied history and remain the emotional high and low point of every Palace fan who watched them.
Palace were struggling in the top flight after promotion and had been humiliated 9-0 by Liverpool early in the season.
In the Cup they were hardly pulling up trees either, beating lower league Portsmouth, Huddersfield Town, Rochdale and Cambridge United to reach the semifinals for the first time since they lost to Southampton as a third division team in 1976.
Facing runaway champions-elect and FA Cup holders Liverpool again in the semis look an insurmountable barrier and an Ian Rush goal had the Reds ahead at halftime at Villa Park.
Things then went crazy as Mark Bright and Gary O’Reilly gave Palace a shock lead. Two goals in two minutes put Liverpool back in front, only for Andy Gray to stun the odds-on favourites in the 88th minute to force extra time.
Amazingly, it was Palace who snatched victory in the 109th minute via Alan Pardew, who would later manage the club.
The cup final itself, against Manchester United, went to a replay after a stunning 3-3 draw in the first encounter.
United won the next match 1-0 with a goal from defender Lee Martin, which handed a young manager by the name of Alex Ferguson his first trophy as boss of the Red Devils.
How many FA Cups have City won?
City are seven-time winners of the cup, with their first victory coming in 1904 against Bolton Wanderers.
Their last win was a 2-1 victory against their fierce rivals Manchester United in 2023.
Head-to-head
This is the 74th meeting between the two teams in a fixture dating back to 1921.
Palace were 2-0 winners in an FA Cup meeting in the third round that year.
City stormed back in the next meeting between the clubs – once again in the FA Cup – beating Palace 11-4 in February 1926.
Overall, City have claimed the spoils on 39 occasions and the Eagles soaring to victory after 17 of the meetings.
Palace haven’t recorded a win in their last seven encounters with City, who have won four in that time.
Man City team news
Haaland is expected to start after making his comeback from six weeks out injured at Southampton last weekend.
Rodri continues his slow return to full fitness, but with an eye on the upcoming FIFA Club World Cup in June, the cup final appears to have come too soon for a start.
Crystal Palace team news
Midfielder Adam Wharton has returned to full fitness following an ankle injury.
It means the Eagles have a fully fit squad to choose from.
Ange Postecoglou has signalled he will rest key players when Tottenham play Aston Villa on Friday as he “can’t afford to lose another” to injury with the Europa League final less than a week away.
Midfielder Dejan Kulusevski has become the latest first-team regular to suffer an injury that will rule him out of Wednesday’s final in Bilbao against Manchester United.
Fellow midfielders Lucas Bergvall and James Maddison are both also set to miss the final, while defender Radu Dragusin is a long-term injury absentee after suffering a serious knee injury in February.
Head coach Postecoglou rested several players against Crystal Palace last weekend.
Plans to field his strongest side against Villa to “sharpen up” for the Bilbao trip may now have to be scrapped.
“The reality of our existence at the moment is we can’t lose another player to an injury,” Postecoglou said. “It’s just too finely balanced for us considering what’s at stake.
“Look, in a normal world you use this to be sharpening up, but we’re not living in a normal world.
“Even with the best planning we’re still getting hit with these setbacks. From my perspective I’ve got to take that into account when considering the [Aston Villa] game.”
He may take the opportunity to try new combinations in midfield.
“We’ve always had to try to find creative ways to cover the absences we’ve had and we’ll find a way to do that again,” Postecoglou said.
“There’s obviously a few players who will play [on Friday] who haven’t played regularly or a lot lately who will get an opportunity.”
Spurs are 17th in the Premier League table – one place above the relegation zone but out of danger, and one behind United in 16th.
Both Europa League final sides have endured dismal domestic league campaigns but the winner next Wednesday will qualify for next season’s Champions League.
Tottenham have not won a trophy since lifting the League Cup in 2008.
Italy’s Jasmine Paolini recovered from a slow start to reach the Italian Open final with a 7-5 6-1 victory against Peyton Stearns.
World number five Paolini struggled in the early stages and faced a set point when trailing 5-3 in the opener, but American Stearns was unable to hold serve.
The home favourite overturned the deficit to take the opening set before growing in confidence in the second.
Paolini’s win makes her the first Italian woman to reach the singles final in Rome since 2014 when her current doubles partner, Sara Errani, was beaten by Serena Williams.
She is attempting to become Italy’s first home women’s singles champion for 40 years.
Her final opponent will be either American world number three Coco Gauff or China’s Zheng Qinwen, who knocked out world number one Aryna Sabalenka in the quarter-finals.
“At the beginning, I was feeling so slow,” Paolini, 29, told Sky Sports.
“I told myself I had to hit the ball harder because she was playing amazing, but I managed to stay in there somehow and I won the match and I’m really happy about it.
“In the first round I was nervous and in the second also, and maybe again today, but the crowd was unbelievable and they helped me a lot. It’s beautiful to play here in Italy and they support us no matter what, so that is the most important thing.”
Asked about the final, Paolini said of her prospective opponents: “They are both very strong players with good forehands and can play with speed on the clay court. For sure, my coach will watch their match and we will prepare our tactics.”
Raffaella Reggi was the last Italian woman to win the title, in 1985.
CANNES, France — Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt arrived in France in 1996’s “Mission: Impossible” clinging to a high speed train through the Chunnel, pursued and nearly skewered by a helicopter. It was, as the French might say, une entrée dramatique. In 2018’s “Mission: Impossible — Fallout,” he leapt from an airplane to plummet four-and-a-half miles down to the glass roof of Paris’ Grand Palais and now, for the big finale of his franchise, “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning,” he’s come to conquer the Cannes Film Festival.
One boisterous fan outside the premiere shoved her Chihuahua at Cruise so he could see it was wearing a pink sweatshirt with his face. Another brandished a DVD of 2000’s “Mission: Impossible 2,” arguably the worst entry in the series. Cruise took a photo with her anyway. “Le selfie!” the red-carpet announcer cried.
The series hasn’t been kind to its French actors: Emmanuelle Béart was shot, Jean Reno blown up by exploding chewing gum, Léa Seydoux kicked out of a window at the Burj Khalifa. (Pom Klementieff, whose character’s name is Paris, has survived to co-star in this eighth entry.) Yet, you didn’t have to parler français to glean the excitement on the ground.
This is only Cruise’s third trip to Cannes and it took him nearly half an hour to walk the 60 yards of red carpet, an exhausting amount of waving, even for someone lauded for his cardio. He took care to acknowledge everyone who’d come to cheer, even trotting back down a few steps to make eye contact and thump on his heart for the fans in the corner flank.
In 2022, as part of the lead-up to “Top Gun: Maverick,” the blockbuster that would defibrillate the pandemic box office, Cruise received an honorary Palme d’Or and a salute from eight zipping French jets. During his first visit, for 1992’s “Far and Away,” times were different and he felt free to be outspoken, telling the press that the then-recent Rodney King verdict “sickened me.” Today, he seems to feel the weight of championing the theatrical experience, just as Ethan Hunt is repeatedly forced to shoulder the burden of saving the world. Neither of them truly has the freedom to “choose to accept it.” More than any of his movie star peers, Cruise seems aware that someone has to symbolize an increasingly bygone era of filmmaking, to be this century’s Charlie Chaplin.
The vibe before the screening of “Final Reckoning” was a bit bar mitzvah. The DJ alternated between dance-floor classics — Kool & the Gang, Joan Jett — and remixes of Lalo Schifrin’s pulsating “Mission: Impossible” theme, one by four beatboxers who mimicked police sirens, another classed-up by a live saxophone and violins. This year’s big Cannes fashion headline is that women are no longer allowed to wear “voluminous” frocks on the steps. Nevertheless, Hayley Atwell, who plays Grace, a pickpocket-turned-secret-agent, wore a gown on the daring end of puffy. Red with large flares at her hips and ankles, she resembled the vintage biplane Cruise dangles from in the film. He could have clung onto her elbow for a teaser.
But when the movie started, the mood turned funereal. This farewell to Ethan Hunt begins with a three-decade-spanning montage of Cruise that could double as the intro to his inevitable honorary Oscar. “I want to thank you for a lifetime of unrelenting and devoted service,” Angela Bassett’s President Erika Sloane tells Ethan in the opening minute. Later, she slips him a code with an important date — May 22, 1996 — which also happens be the day the “Mission: Impossible” franchise launched. The whole film is a panegyric: big speeches and weighty moments with very little sense of play. Tonally, it starts with an ending and keeps on ending for the next 2 hours and 49 minutes.
The eight “Mission” films can be cleaved into two groups. The first four made a point of swapping directors and moods and even Ethan’s core identity: Brian De Palma made him a jaundiced naif; John Woo, a hot-blooded flirt; J.J. Abrams, a devoted husband; Brad Bird, a near-mute human cartoon. The last four are all helmed by Christopher McQuarrie (who’s co-written this script with Erik Jendresen) but neither has added much to his personality. We’re told, over and over, that Ethan is a gambler and a rule-breaker — and paradoxically, that he’s the only human worthy of our trust, an odd thing to say about a spy who wears masks of other people’s faces like party hats.
Of all the “Mission: Impossible” films, this is the only one that needs you to remember what happened in the previous entry, 2023’s “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One,” which introduced an all-knowing AI villain called the Entity and its equally unemotional minion Gabriel (Esai Morales) that made a fun foil for Cruise himself, as a sinister duo that values digital trickery over human sweat. Now, the Entity intends to annihilate humanity in four days unless it can be taken offline by a key that accesses a gizmo in the Arctic Sea that connects to a whatsit that Ving Rhames’s weary Luther is attempting to invent from a makeshift hospital bed somewhere in the subway tunnels of London. A grunting Cruise batters a goon while huffing, “You spend! Too much time! On the internet!”
That last film managed to introduce Atwell’s Grace and collect the key while still enjoying a sense of play, like an axle-cracking Fiat chase through Rome and flirtations manifested via close-up magic. Here, the plot weighs everything down. Not just the threat-of-extinction stuff, which includes Bassett’s POTUS debating which American city to blow up as a preemptive gesture, but by its own irritating God’s-eye omniscience that rarely allows the suspense to spool out in the present. The editing is always cutting to the past or the future. There’s flashbacks to things that happened five minutes earlier and flash-forwards to how a stunt could look instead of just getting on with it.
Just as exhausting is how the entire cast trades lines of exposition to explain Ethan’s daredevil feats before he actually does them. There are almost no conversations, only premonitions and plans delivered in bullet-points like a group research project. No one steps on anyone else’s dramatic pauses. They may as well be reciting how to build an IKEA Billy bookcase. I can’t think of anything more thrill-stifling, even with cinematographer Fraser Taggart lighting everybody’s eyeballs to look so shiny that the actors continually appear on the verge of tears. Still, even within those limitations, Simon Pegg is delightful as Hunt’s longtime tech-whiz teammate Benji, as are new and returning ensemble members Tramell Tillman, Lucy Tulugarjuk and Rolf Saxon, the latter of whom plays a throwback character once threatened with manning a radar tower in Alaska — a punishment that did, in fact, come to pass.
But Cruise is reason audiences will, and should, see “Final Reckoning” on a large and loud screen. His Ethan continues to survive things he shouldn’t. (One too-miraculous rescue attempts to distract us from asking questions by inserting an out-of-place close-up of Atwell’s heaving bosom.) Yet, what I’ve most come to appreciate about Ethan is that he doesn’t try to play the unflappable hero. Clinging to the chassis of an airplane with the wind plastering his hair to his forehead and oscillating his gums like bulldog in a convertible, he is, in fact, exceedingly flapped.
The flight chase is fantastic. It’s what Isaac Newton might have made if he’d demonstrated velocity by placing an apple in a bucket and whipping it in circles. But even its exhilaration gets bested by a centerpiece underwater sequence in which Cruise scuba dives alone in silence suffering stunts that you cannot believe. I couldn’t tell you how long he swam — at some point, my heart stopped — but there are images of vertical sheets of water and the star in shivering, fetal isolation that felt like the franchise wasn’t just trying to top itself, but hoping to best “Titanic” and “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
As the sound design rumbled with queasy creaks over shots of a submarine teetering on the edge of a deep-sea cliff, I found myself thinking most of all of that famous sequence of a frozen shack sliding off a cliff in Charlie Chaplin’s 1925 “The Gold Rush,” which celebrates its centennial anniversary this fall. By coincidence or grand design, a gorgeously restored “The Gold Rush” was also the first movie screened at this year’s Cannes. If there’s a Cannes in 2125, maybe it’ll play a 100-year-old Tom Cruise classic. It won’t be this “Mission: Impossible” over the first, third or fourth. Regardless, I bet the fans will still be cheering.
‘Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning’
Rated: PG-13, for sequences of strong violence and action, bloody images, and brief language
Manchester City striker Erling Haaland says the team want to give departing midfielder Kevin de Bruyne the FA Cup send-off he deserves – and tells Kelly Somers why he and much-travelled ex-manager Neil Warnock share a similar footballing outlook.
The cup final against Palace will be one last Wembley appearance with City for midfielder Kevin de Bruyne, with the 33-year-old Belgium international leaving the club on a free transfer in the summer when his contract expires.
De Bruyne has won six Premier League titles, the Champions League, two FA Cups and the League Cup on five occasions while at City.
He is second in the list of most assists in the Premier League era, with 119 assists, behind only former Manchester United winger Ryan Giggs on 162.
“We would love for Kevin to finish with a trophy,” said Haaland.
“He has had an incredible time at Manchester City, it is ridiculous how many trophies he has won. Hopefully he will get one more trophy.
“He ranks right up there for me. To get the balls from him is a dream. It has been really special playing with him. Such a joy, and I am going to do everything I can to have this joy in the last few games.
“The future will be different with different players. When Kevin leaves we will need someone to replace him, although Kevin is irreplaceable in so many ways.”
Haaland helped City win the 2023 FA Cup final and the Community Shield in August, although they were not his first trips to Wembley.
Back in 2014, when he was only 13, he visited the national stadium to watch City beat Sunderland 3-1 in the League Cup final, with his father Alf Inge, a former City midfielder, sitting next to him.
“It is just as special to go to Wembley,” said the striker. “I have seen City win in the stands, have won as a player, and hopefully we can win there again.”
Scottish referee Hollie Davidson will become the first female to take charge of a European Professional Club Rugby final when she officiates Bath v Lyon in the Challenge Cup final at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff on 23 May.
Davidson has been part of on-pitch officiating teams in the past two Six Nations championships and the 2024 Rugby Championship.
She will also be the first Scot to referee an EPCR final since Jim Fleming in 1998, which Bath won against Brive in Bordeaux.
And in July, Davidson will take charge of South Africa v Italy in Pretoria.
“European rugby is the pinnacle of the professional game, and to be named as the Challenge Cup final referee is something that I never thought was possible when I was starting out,” Davidson told Scottish Rugby.
“It has been a long time since a Scot has done a final, so I am just absolutely over the moon to be named as the referee for such a big game.”
A BELOVED department chain is preparing to shut its final store this month as it launches a “Rachel Reeves closing down sale.”
The famous shop will be shuttering forever after serving customers on the high street for 140 years.
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The iconic department store Beales will be shutting is last storeCredit: Getty
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Beales in Poole’s Dolphin Centre is offering 80 per cent off its stockCredit: BNPS
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The site has named the offer a ‘Rachel Reeves’ closing down sale’Credit: FACEBOOK – BEALES POOLE
Beales in the Dolphin Centre in Poole will close on May 31 and is slashing the price of stock by 80 per cent in the meantime.
The historic chain was founded in Bournemouth in 1881 and offers a range of iconic products, including clothing, home goods, and more.
This particular Poole Beales branch was the last one standing when the company collapsed into administration in January 2020, leading to the closure of its 22 other stores.
Despite the stores resilience, the brutal budget introduced last year saw the hike of National Insurance which has forced countless shops to close.
To mark the occasions, the store’s Facebook page is advertising a “Rachel Reeves‘ Closing Down Sale,” featuring discounts of up to 80% and a caption cheekily thanking the Chancellor for “the help.”
It wrote in the caption: “Our closing sale is almost over (cheers for the help, Chancellor) – and we’ve just dropped hundreds of lines to 80% OFF or more!
“Grab a bargain before we vanish into the budget black hole. #FinalSale #80Off #LastChance #WhenItsGoneItsGone.”
Despite weathering the storm for the past five years, it seems the Chancellor’s latest Budget changes have delivered the final blow to the struggling chain.
Beales chief executive Tony Brown previously told The Telegraph the business had become “unviable” following the Chancellor’s announcement of increases to the minimum wage and national insurance contributions in the October Budget.
Announcing the closure, Mr Brown said: “This, combined with the risks and uncertainty of further tax increases in the coming years, has left us with no alternative.
Beloved pizza chain to close down for good in just weeks after 54 years
“We have been working with the Dolphin Centre, who have been supportive, along with our investors to ensure an orderly exit.
“Our team has been informed, as have our suppliers.
“We will ensure the exit is managed and no one will be left with a financial loss.”
Shoppers were left heartbroken by the news of the store’s impending closure, with one commenting on the latest post: “I’ve loved shopping here over the years.”
Another wrote: “Sadly this is happening to many shops.”
Like many businesses, Beales now faces higher employer national insurance contributions, which have risen from 13.8% to 15%.
Additionally, the threshold at which these contributions must be paid has been lowered from £9,100 to £5,000.
At the same time, the national minimum wage saw a notable increase, rising to £12.21 per hour. For workers aged 18-20, the minimum wage increased by £1.40 to £10 per hour.
Founded in 1881, Beales once boasted a proud portfolio of 41 department stores in market towns across the UK, offering everything from furniture and fashion to toys and cosmetics.
The retailer’s decline has been gradual but unrelenting.
With the closure of the Poole branch, the last remaining link to the Beales name, a once-iconic fixture of the British high street, will vanish forever.
DEATH OF THE HIGH STREET
Retailers have been feeling the squeeze since the pandemic, while shoppers are cutting back on spending due to the soaring cost of living crisis.
High energy costs and a move to shopping online after the pandemic are also taking a toll, and many high street shops have struggled to keep going.
However, additional costs have added further pain to an already struggling sector.
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury’s hike to employer NICs from April will cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
At the same time, the minimum wage will rise to £12.21 an hour from April, and the minimum wage for people aged 18-20 will rise to £10 an hour, an increase of £1.40.
Experts have said small high street shops could face a particularly challenging 2025 because of Budget tax and wage changes.
Professor Bamfield has warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector.
“By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer’s household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020.”
Why are retailers closing shops?
EMPTY shops have become an eyesore on many British high streets and are often symbolic of a town centre’s decline.
The Sun’s business editor Ashley Armstrong explains why so many retailers are shutting their doors.
In many cases, retailers are shutting stores because they are no longer the money-makers they once were because of the rise of online shopping.
Falling store sales and rising staff costs have made it even more expensive for shops to stay open.
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury’s hike to employer NICs from April 2025, will cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
At the same time, the minimum wage will rise to £12.21 an hour from April, and the minimum wage for people aged 18-20 will rise to £10 an hour, an increase of £1.40.
In some cases, retailers are shutting a store and reopening a new shop at the other end of a high street to reflect how a town has changed.
The problem is that when a big shop closes, footfall falls across the local high street, which puts more shops at risk of closing.
Retail parks are increasingly popular with shoppers, who want to be able to get easy, free parking at a time when local councils have hiked parking charges in towns.
Many retailers including Next and Marks & Spencer have been shutting stores on the high street and taking bigger stores in better-performing retail parks instead.
In some cases, stores have been shut when a retailer goes bust, as in the case of Carpetright, Debenhams, Dorothy Perkins, Paperchase, Ted Baker, The Body Shop, Topshop and Wilko to name a few.
What’s increasingly common is when a chain goes bust a rival retailer or private equity firm snaps up the intellectual property rights so they can own the brand and sell it online.
They may go on to open a handful of stores if there is customer demand, but there are rarely ever as many stores or in the same places.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year.
In addition, it has been established if United win, their intention is to celebrate by holding a barbeque at the club’s Carrington training ground.
Tottenham are yet to announce their plans in the event of victory but it is expected they will have a parade to show off the trophy.
Newcastle held a parade in the city in March to mark their Carabao Cup triumph, while Liverpool are due to host one on 26 May following their Premier League title success.
United have not held a trophy parade since 2013, which coincided with Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement. Players were famously irritated in 2008 to discover there was no such celebration to mark their Champions League triumph over Chelsea.
Hosting one this season would have been logistically tricky.
Unlike their last Europa League success, against Ajax in Stockholm in 2017 during Jose Mourinho’s time in charge, United will still have a Premier League game to play after the match in Bilbao – when Aston Villa visit Old Trafford on 25 May.
Immediately after that game, United fly to Asia for two post-season matches against local opposition in Malaysia and Hong Kong.
They return to Manchester on 31 May, after which players have to immediately report for international duty.
Portugal have a Nations League semi-final with Germany on 4 June, which would involve Bruno Fernandes and, if fit, Diogo Dalot.
World Cup qualifiers also take place in South America on 5 June and in Europe from 6 June.
Mark and Anna Newlands have spent £20,000 to get home from a US holiday for the FA Cup final before flying back outCredit: David Hartley
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The pair say the club is in their DNA – so they have to be there for the finalCredit: David Hartley
The couple booked it months ago for a cousin’s birthday before the Eagles got to the final.
So they have bought flights to get back the day before and will return to the US the day after.
Mark said they would miss the big birthday but their relatives understood.
The retired risk manager, 61, from Newbury, Berks, said: “The club is in my DNA.
“We have to be there.
“I’m not bothered if this is sensible or not. It’ll be worth every penny.”
Anna, 62, is just as devoted to the South London club and did not hesitate when Mark suggested the plan.
The pair, pictured at the semi-final win over Aston Villa, hope it will be third time lucky after Palace lost their two previous finals.
The couple’s son James, also a Palace season ticket holder, is attending the final although he is not on the New York trip — while their daughter Alice will stay in the Big Apple.
Crystal Palace fans earn club an FA charge within 30 SECONDS after engulfing Wembley in smoke by sneaking in flares
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How the couple will fly from the US to watch Crystal play in the FA Cup final – then jet back
Coronation Street’s Craig Tinker, played by actor Colson Smith, is soon leaving the ITV soap and now first-look images and a trailer may have confirmed reports he gets killed off
21:00, 12 May 2025Updated 21:08, 12 May 2025
There could be a heartbreaking Coronation Street death on the way next week, as Craig Tinker bows out of the ITV soap after a “vicious attack”.
Actor Colson Smith was confirmed to be leaving the role after more than a decade earlier this year, having learned last autumn he was being written out. Recent reports claimed Craig would be killed off in a tragic storyline, and now new spoilers, images and a trailer have teased this could be the case.
Viewers will no doubt be hoping Craig survives and leaves Weatherfield alive, but it’s now been confirmed the fan favourite will be left seriously injured and fighting for his life. As Kit Green’s storyline with villain Mick Michaelis heats up it seems poor Craig may get caught in the crossfire, and others too.
Spoilers have teased more than one person linked to Craig could be in danger, as Mick sets out to take revenge on Kit over their past. New images show a bloodied Craig left lifeless on the Cobbles, as residents including Maria Connor and Sarah Platt rush to his aid.
There could be a heartbreaking Coronation Street death on the way next week, as Craig Tinker bows out of the ITV soap(Image: ITV)
Paramedic Asha Alahan is treating him at the scene, before she joins him in the hospital. In all of the images a beaten Craig is unconscious, and those around him look very concerned.
With it revealed that this is Craig’s final storyline and his “final fight”, will tragedy see the police officer lose his life? In a trailer released by the soap, his colleague DS Lisa Swain is heard emotionally saying: “If we knew today was our last day on earth, what would we do differently?” She chillingly adds: “There isn’t always more time.”
Details about what happens and whether Craig makes it are being kept under wraps, with episodes airing from Monday May 19, through to the Wednesday and Friday of that week. It’s believed it will be Colson’s final week on the show, with him teasing his excitement over his final storyline.
Recent reports claimed Craig would be killed off in a tragic storyline(Image: ITV)
What can be revealed is that a “horrific” attack leaves Craig’s life hanging in the balance, and he’s rushed to hospital after being found by his neighbours. The entire week of episodes will specially focus on Craig’s story, as well as his colleague Kit’s own story following on from the flashback episode that details his and Mick’s past.
Kit finds this past coming back to haunt him, with it said his friends and family are “in grave danger”. So is Craig one of those at risk at the hands of Mick?
Craig is soon to start his placement shadowing Kit in CID, but soon a series of “climactic events” unfold on the famous cobbles leading to a horrifying and shocking incident. Whatever it is leads to Craig fighting to survive, and fighting “for every breath”.
Speaking about the scenes ahead, actor Colson said he was “proud” of the big week and said it was all “great fun”. But Will Craig pull through?
Colson Smith was confirmed to be leaving the role after more than a decade(Image: ITV)
Colson said: “I can’t wait for people to see Craig’s final scenes. It is exactly the exit I wanted for him and we are all really proud of what we filmed in those final weeks. It was actually great fun. I was walking around covered in fake blood for days and I was chuffed that I got to work with so many brilliant people in this final storyline.”
The actor had revealed earlier this year he was leaving the show after being axed. He posted online: “Autumn last year I was told that Craig Tinker’s time on the Cobbles is to come to an end in 2025. I’ve LOVED every single second of my 14 year stay as a resident on the greatest street in the world.”
