Jude Bellingham has said the external “noise” around his place in the England team may help him find his best form during the World Cup.
One of the main talking points around selection before England’s first group game against Croatia was whether boss Thomas Tuchel would select Real Madrid’s Bellingham or Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers in the number 10 role behind captain Harry Kane.
Bellingham was chosen to start in Dallas and scored England’s crucial third goal just after half-time, with Marcus Rashford adding a fourth late on to complete a 4-2 win.
“For me personally, it was nice to put some of the noise aside and just show my country and my team-mates how committed I am to help us try to win football matches,” the 22-year-old, who is appearing in a fourth consecutive major tournament for England, told BBC Sport.
“To contribute, to help my team and help my country is one of the biggest honours and regardless of the noise outside, that honour doesn’t change for me at all.”
Bellingham conceded that it has been a “bit of a tougher season for me”, with the start of his 2025-26 campaign disrupted by injury, his club side in Spain ending up eight points behind eventual champions Barcelona and his place in the national team under scrutiny.
But Bellingham said he feels “fresh and sharp” heading into the tournament and it was “nice to hear” comments from colleagues such as Jordan Henderson, who said the former Birmingham City and Borussia Dortmund player gives England an “X-factor”.
Asked if he has entered the World Cup with added impetus, Bellingham said: “A little bit – I think I’ve got a little bit of a chip on my shoulder, haven’t I?”
Adrian Vestea nominated as prime minister after previous choice, Eugen Tomac, withdraws.
Published On 14 Jun 202614 Jun 2026
Romanian President Nicusor Dan has nominated Adrian Vestea, a National Liberal Party member and former mayor, as prime minister to form a new government after the previous choice for the post withdrew.
“Eugen Tomac withdrew his mandate this morning and as such I nominate Adrian Vestea as prime minister,” Dan, a centrist, said in a post on X on Sunday.
Recommended Stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
Vestea, 52, is the county council president of the central Romanian county of Brasov. Eugen Tomac had been seeking to lead a government of technocrats but lacked support from the parties in parliament.
Vestea, who served as a development minister from 2023 to 2024, said in a statement that he wants a “political government that will undertake real reforms and keep Romania on a pro-Western path”.
“We are the sixth largest country in Europe, and we need to put a major emphasis on development. Which I will do from day one,” he said.
Dan’s two nominations for the prime ministerial role this month come after a no-confidence vote toppled former Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan in May. A general election is not scheduled until 2028.
Dan said Vestea was suitable for the role because he had “gone through all the administrative stages” throughout his political career.
“He was a successful mayor, a successful county council president, a successful minister, and he attracted European funds, being focused on development, for example the Brasov airport, which is a success,” Dan said.
Parliamentary parties have previously said a minority government, whose members do not hold a majority of the seats in parliament, would be better than a government of technocrats.
Vestea will have 10 days to form a government and must win a parliamentary vote of confidence to take up his new post.
Romania has one of the highest budget deficits in the European Union and suffers from rampant inflation and a technical recession.
When a coalition government came to power in June 2025, it made reducing the budget deficit a priority. Bolojan was sworn in with the aim of ending one of Romania’s worst political crises in its post-communist history, but his government lasted less than a year.
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang delivers his keynote speech as part of the COMPUTEX 2026 AI exhibition in Taipei, Taiwan, 01 June 2026. Jensan Huang officially announced NVIDIA’s new products and various AI integration. Photo by RITCHIE B. TONGO / EPA
June 2 (Asia Today) — Naver Cloud is moving to expand its presence in the global artificial intelligence infrastructure market through a deeper partnership with Nvidia.
The company aims to combine its HyperCLOVA X large-scale AI model and sovereign AI capabilities with Nvidia’s AI infrastructure platform to become a key player in the era of AI factories.
Industry officials said Tuesday that Naver Cloud CEO Kim Yu-won attended the Nvidia Cloud Partner Summit in Taiwan and outlined the company’s strategic cooperation with Nvidia.
The partnership is drawing attention because it goes beyond a simple graphics processing unit supply arrangement and extends across infrastructure, AI models and services.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang introduced Naver Cloud as a major AI-native cloud partner in the global AI ecosystem during his keynote speech at GTC Taipei 2026 on Monday.
The two companies also plan to expand cooperation in large language models. Naver Cloud plans to use Nvidia’s open large language model technology, Nemotron 3 Ultra, to advance HyperCLOVA X. The companies also plan to jointly study model optimization and core technologies.
Cooperation will also continue in physical AI. In March, Naver Cloud unveiled the Seoul World Model, a digital recreation of Seoul built with Nvidia’s Cosmos physical AI platform.
The Seoul World Model was trained on South Korean map data and 1.2 million panoramic images collected across Seoul, allowing it to reproduce real road environments and spatial structures.
Naver Cloud plans to target the global AI market by emphasizing its full-stack capabilities, which combine its own AI models and cloud infrastructure. The company also plans to expand sovereign AI projects that protect national data sovereignty by working with governments and local companies.
Naver board chair Lee Hae-jin and Huang are expected to meet soon in South Korea and disclose specific plans for the AI factory project.
“The AI industry paradigm is shifting from models to inference-focused AI factories that can operate large-scale infrastructure reliably,” Kim said. “Our cooperation with Nvidia is not a simple supply relationship but a strategic decision to expand the global AI ecosystem together.”
She has flown early to the west coast of the US to be fully acclimatised for this week’s major, imbued with the confidence of her Ohio triumph.
And the key to that victory on 17 May was worked out by the player herself. She had been bemused by an uncharacteristically erratic performance on the greens while missing the cut at the Mizuho Americas Open earlier in the month.
“My putting was pretty poor and I’d been putting pretty good this year,” Woad said. “OK, it could be me, it is probably is me, but, I thought I’ll check the putter.
“The grip was just a tiny bit off, but obviously as golfers, we’re pretty specific. So it was bugging me a little bit. I got it regripped and then, yeah, all good.”
Woad beat a quality field, holding off South Korea’s Haeran Ryu to win by two shots, with major winners Miyu Yamashita and Ruoning Yin trailing in her wake.
The spectacularly in-form Nelly Korda and former world number one Lydia Ko shared eighth place.
“I think it was probably a more important win for me than the first one,” Woad said. “The first one [in Scotland last July] was obviously amazing, but it all happened so quickly.
“I had just turned pro right before that one and then went off and played loads of events. I didn’t really get time to reflect on it.
“I don’t know how many events I’ve played now, but a lot more events, playing each week, travelling each week. Seeing the competition, seeing how good everyone is.
“I think to win again, to get the second one was more important for me.”
It would be a huge call for Edwards to drop Knight, who made a record 310th England appearance at Chelmsford, for such an important summer.
Hartley said her top three would consist of Wyatt-Hodge, Capsey and Sciver-Brunt, keeping Knight in the middle order and with Dunkley missing out.
However, Dunkley is one of few England batters capable of clearing the ropes, which is an area in which they are lacking.
Since the last T20 World Cup in 2024, Dunkley has hit 11 sixes and Wyatt-Hodge five. They are the only batters in England’s top seven to have hit more than three sixes in that timeframe.
Explosive all-rounders Dani Gibson and Freya Kemp were tasked with scoring at more than 10 runs per over by the time they came in, having been in a very similar position during England’s defeat by New Zealand at Canterbury.
On both occasions, they fell cheaply trying to score quickly from ball one because of the pressure that had built when Knight was batting.
The argument to stick with Knight is not helped by the fact her attacking shot percentage has dropped to 64% in 2026 compared to 75% between 2023 and 2025.
“I don’t think Charlotte Edwards will want to drop one of the all-rounders,” Hartley added.
“She’s a huge all-rounder fan and she wants that left-hander in Kemp as well.”
Former England Test captain Nasser Hussain backed Knight to deliver because of her wealth of experience, but accepted there needs to be an improvement.
“I back Heather because she has been a world-class player for a long time,” Hussain said on Sky Sports.
“Under pressure you need people like Heather Knight, but she will know her last four innings, particularly today, to a get a run-a-ball 20 after three run-a-ball 20s – you are better getting out for a first-ball duck than getting that.
“She didn’t play T20 internationals for a year. Maybe she is taking time to get going.
“She is not as mobile. She is not someone like Jemimah Rodrigues who is putting away the bad balls and looks a lot busier, but she has been around long enough to know that is not the innings you need in a 180 run-chase.”
Since the last international break, no player has scored more Premier League goals than Watkins’ nine.
Manchester City‘s Erling Haaland is second on that list with seven, while Nottingham Forest‘s Morgan Gibbs-White is the next best English player on five.
But, while Watkins may well be arguably England’s most in-form striker heading into the World Cup, realistically the spot everyone is vying for is the number one back-up position to captain Kane.
Ivan Toney has been in prolific form all season for Al-Ahli but playing in the Saudi Pro League means his numbers are difficult to directly compare with the other contenders.
Of the rest, Watkins’ 19 goals in all competitions puts him five ahead of both Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who returned to the England fold after a five-year exile in March, and Danny Welbeck, whose last cap was in 2018.
“He’s got to be on the plane,” former Villa midfielder Lee Hendrie said on Sky Sports when asked about Watkins’ chances of being included this summer. “Since being left out we’ve just seen a massive turning of the corner.
“He’s been relentless in front of goal, he’s shown his capabilities. He’s a totally different player to Harry Kane and gives them something different.”
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Presenting a utility bill as a valid form of identification at a voting precinct in West Virginia has gone the way of the tavern polling place and the punch-card ballot.
State lawmakers tightened an existing voter identification law by requiring photo ID at the polls, with some exceptions. The law was used for the first time in Tuesday’s primary election, and officials said they’ve seen very few glitches.
“The whole point of the law is just making sure you are who you say you are,” Secretary of State Kris Warner said Monday.
Voters will nominate candidates for U.S. Senate, U.S. House and state legislature. They also will elect two new state Supreme Court justices.
During the in-person early voting period that ended Saturday, Warner said his office hadn’t heard of anyone who demanded to vote without a photo ID. He said the state had asked residents to use photo IDs for the past few elections, so “it was not a big shock that it was now law.”
During his statewide travels over the past two weeks, Warner said he was told of some instances where people returned to their vehicle to retrieve a photo ID after entering a polling place. Another voter used an exception to the law by filling out a form that was verified by a poll worker who has known them for at least six months. There also were exceptions for first-time voters.
Most states either require or request some form of ID for in-person voting at the polls.
Proponents say the West Virginia law will cut down on voter fraud and that a photo ID is already required for everyday tasks such as getting on an airplane or buying alcohol.
The bill sailed through the Republican-supermajority legislature last year. All votes against it were cast by Democrats, some who argued it would suppress access to the polls. State Democratic Party Chair Mike Pushkin said no credible evidence was shown during legislative debate that West Virginia had a widespread problem with ineligible voting. Pushkin said the legislation was “designed more for political messaging than solving actual problems.”
But Warner said it allows senior citizens to use expired driver’s licenses, as long as it was valid on their 65th birthday
“I wanted to make sure it didn’t prevent anyone from voting,” Warner said.
Forms of identification that are no longer accepted at polling places include utility bills, bank statements, hunting and fishing licenses, bank or debit cards, and concealed carry gun permits. Acceptable forms of photo IDs include a driver’s license, U.S. passport, military ID, employee ID issued by a government agency and a student ID from a high school or college.
Monongalia County Clerk Carye Blaney said for several years her county has used an electronic system to scan bar codes on the back of driver’s licenses to check in voters at polling places.
“I think that it makes voters feel more secure, or it confirms for the voters the security of our elections when we are verifying a photo to a person,” Blaney said.
After more than two and a half years of research, planning and construction, Dataland, the world’s first museum of AI arts, will open June 20.
Co-founded by new media artists Refik Anadol and Efsun Erkılıç, the museum anchors the $1-billion Frank Gehry-designed Grand LA complex across the street from Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles. Its first exhibition, “Machine Dreams: Rainforest,” created by Refik Anadol Studio, was inspired by a trip to the Amazon and uses vast data sets to immerse visitors in a machine-generated sensory experience of the natural world.
The architecture of the space, which Anadol calls “a living museum,” is used to reflect distant rainforest ecosystems, including changing temperature, light, smell and visuals. Anadol refers to these large-scale, shimmering tableaus as “digital sculptures.”
“This is such an important technology, and represents such an important transformation of humanity,” Anadol said in an interview. “And we found it so meaningful and purposeful to be sure that there is a place to talk about it, to create with it.”
The 35,000-square-foot privately funded museum devotes 25,000 square feet to public space, with the remaining 10,000 square feet holding the in-house technology that makes the space run. Dataland contains five immersive galleries and a 30-foot ceiling. An escalator by the entrance will transport guests to the experiences below. The museum declined to say how much Dataland, designed by architecture firm Gensler, cost to build.
An isometric architectural rendering of Dataland. The 25,000-square-foot AI arts museum also contains an additional 10,000 square feet of non-public space that holds its operational technology.
(Refik Anadol Studio for Dataland)
Dataland will collect and preserve artificial intelligence art and is powered by an open-access AI model created by Anadol’s studio called the Large Nature Model. The model, which does not source without permission, culls mountains of data about the natural world from partners including the Smithsonian, London’s Natural History Museum and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. This data, including up to half a billion images of nature, will form the basis for the creation of a variety of AI artworks, including “Machine Dreams.”
“AI art is a part of digital art, meaning a lineage that uses software, data and computers to create a form of art,” Anadol explained. “I know that many artists don’t want to disclose their technologies, but for me, AI means possibilities. And possibilities come with responsibilities. We have to disclose exactly where our data comes from.”
Sustainability is another responsibility that Anadol takes seriously. For more than a decade, Anadol has devoted much thought to the massive carbon footprint associated with AI models. The Large Nature Model is hosted on Google Cloud servers in Oregon that use 87% carbon-free, renewable energy. Anadol says the energy used to support an individual visit to the museum is equivalent to what it takes to charge a single smartphone.
Anadol believes AI can form a powerful bridge to nature — serving as a means to access and preserve it — and that the swiftly evolving technology can be harnessed to illuminate essential truths about humanity’s relationship to an interconnected planet. During a time of great anxiety about the power of AI to disrupt lives and livelihoods, Anadol maintains it can be a revolutionary tool in service of a never-before-seen form of art.
“The works generate an emergent, living reality, a machine’s dream shaped by continuous streams of environmental and biological data. Within this evolving system, moments of recognition and interpretation emerge across different forms of knowledge,” a news release about the museum explains. “At the same time, the exhibition registers loss as part of this expanded field of perception, most notably in the Infinity Room, where visitors encounter the 1987 recording of the last known Kauaʻi ʻŌʻō, a now-extinct bird whose unanswered call becomes part of the work.”
“It’s very exciting to say that AI art is not image only,” Anadol said. “It’s a very multisensory, multimedium experience — meaning sound, image, video, text, smell, taste and touch. They are all together in conversation.”
