John

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon announced Wednesday that the Navy’s top civilian official, Secretary of the Navy John Phelan, is leaving his job.

In a statement posted to social media, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said Phelan was “departing the administration, effective immediately.”

Navy Undersecretary Hung Cao will become acting secretary of the Navy, Parnell said.

The sudden departure comes just a day after Phelan addressed a large crowd of sailors and industry professionals at the Navy’s annual conference in Washington, and spoke with reporters about his agenda.

Phelan’s departure also comes just weeks after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired the Army’s top officer, Gen. Randy George, as well as two other top generals in the Army.

Phelan had not served in the military or had a civilian leadership role in the service before President Trump nominated him for secretary in late 2024.

Phelan was a major donor to Trump’s campaign and founded the private investment firm Rugger Management LLC. According to his biography, Phelan’s primary exposure to the military came from an advisory position he held on the Spirit of America, a nonprofit that supported the defense of Ukraine and the defense of Taiwan.

Toropin and Finley write for the Associated Press.

Former MasterChef judges Gregg Wallace and John Torode have been replaced in the latest series

Fan-favourite cooking competition MasterChef is returning for a new series on BBC One with two new judges.

Season 22 begins tonight (Tuesday, April 21), with renowned chef Anna Haugh and restaurant critic Grace Dent now at the helm, following Gregg Wallace and John Torode’s departures.

Gregg was axed from the show last year after law firm Lewis Silkin upheld 45 out of 83 complaints against the star of inappropriate behaviour. The 61-year-old said he was “deeply sorry for any distress” he caused, adding that he “never set out to harm or humiliate”.

Meanwhile, John didn’t have his contract renewed with Banijay UK – who make MasterChef – after he was alleged to have used racist language amid an investigation into his former co-star’s behaviour.

A BBC spokesperson confirmed that John denied the allegation, stating: “He has no recollection of the alleged incident and does not believe that it happened. He also says that any racial language is wholly unacceptable in any environment.”

Ahead of the new series of MasterChef airing on BBC One tonight (Tuesday, April 21) at 9pm, let’s explore where former judges Gregg and John are now.

Gregg hasn’t appeared on TV since his MasterChef axing, but recently hosted a 12-hour live cooking show on TikTok, titled Gregg’s Kitchen.

Now, the presenter has confirmed his “new chapter”, telling his Instagram followers that he will be leaving the UK for a new life in Italy by the end of this month.

Speaking in his social media video, Gregg said: “I’ve always loved Italy and we plan to move around and rent in different places, which is quite an adventure. And with the help of my autism specialist mates, I am going to home school Sid [his son] as well. It is a new chapter for us. It is a life that should be full of travel and adventure and I’m very, very much looking forward to it.”

Following his axing from MasterChef, John continued to host his ITV series, John and Lisa’s Weekend Kitchen, with his wife Lisa Faulkner.

The couple are also set to release a new cookbook in September, following the success of their first book together. John & Lisa’s Weeknight Dinners includes “delicious” recipes that can be used on repeat.

“Having cooked together for 10 series of John and Lisa’s Kitchen, they want to encourage people, more than ever, to cook from scratch with simple and fool proof recipes,” reads the official synopsis for the book.

“They use everyday supermarket ingredients, straightforward techniques and no fancy gadgets, to give people the confidence to cook and, most importantly, enjoy creating dishes for their friends and family.”

MasterChef 2026’s first heat will see six talented cooks from all walks of life competing to secure one of four gleaming white MasterChef aprons. The first two will be awarded to those who impress Anna and Grace with their Signature Dish.

The other four will have one more chance to shine as they fight it out for the last two aprons, taking on the Classic Recipe Test. The successful cooks will then have another hurdle to jump to secure their quarter-final place, as they aim to impress last year’s finalists with two courses.

MasterChef season 22 is available to stream on BBC iPlayer

Kenyan runner John Korir has won the Boston Marathon for the second year in a row — and this time he did it in record-setting fashion.

Korir crossed the finish line Monday morning with a time of 2 hours, 1 minute, 52 seconds, shattering the previous course record of of 2:03:02 set by Geoffrey Mutai in 2011. It’s the fifth fastest marathon of all time.

Mutai was actually bumped down to fourth on the all-time list as all of the top three finishers from the 2026 men’s race beat his previous record time. Tanzania’s Alphonce Felix Simbu came in second (2:02:47) and Kenya’s Benson Kipruto was third (2:02:50).

Korir pulled away from the pack as the group was approaching the Heartbreak Hill area between miles 20 and 21. After the race, he told reporters that he had no idea he had set a new course record until after he crossed the finish line.

“I knew I would defend my title, but I didn’t know I could run my fastest,” Korir said. “So for me, it was just go and defend my title, but the time came, so I’m happy.”

Korir receives $150,000 for winning the race and another $50,000 for setting a new course record.

Kenya’s Sharon Lokedi celebrates after winning the women’s division of the Boston Marathon on April 20.

(Charles Krupa / Associated Press)

Fellow Kenyan Sharon Lokedi also was a repeat winner in the women’s race. Her time of 2:18:51 is the second-fastest in race history, behind her 2025 time of 2:17:22. She was followed across the finish line by three countrywomen. Loice Chemnung stayed close to Lokedi before fading late to finish in second place (2:19:35). Mary Ngugi-Cooper was third (2:20:07) and Mercy Chelangat fourth (2:20:30).

“It feels great,” Lokedi said of defending her title. “I ‘m really happy with it. I feel like this course challenges you so much, and with the help of people and all the cheers of the course, it makes it special, so I’m really grateful.”

Like Korir, Lokedi receives $150,000 for winning the race.

New course records for U.S. runners also were set, as Zouhair Talbi finished the men’s race in 2:03:45 and Jess McClain finished the women’s race in 2:20:49. Both runners placed fifth in their respective races.

“I knew it was going to be tailwind, which is an advantage for us to run a fast time,” Talbi told reporters after the race,” but the pace is determined by the leaders, and at this point you just want to follow the pace. A lot of athletes were pushing the pace early on, and … I was like, ‘Yeah, today’s going to be a fast time.’”

Switzerland’s Marcel Hug won the men’s wheelchair division with a time of 1:16:06. It’s his fourth straight Boston Marathon victory and ninth time overall, bringing him within one victory of tying South African great Ernst van Dyk for most wheelchair division wins in race history.

Britain’s Eden Rainbow-Cooper won the women’s wheelchair division in 1:30:51, two years after winning the race for the first time. She and Hug each receive $50,000 for winning their races.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has subpoenaed several witnesses to testify before a federal grand jury in Washington as part of its investigation into former CIA Director John Brennan, three people familiar with the matter said Monday.

The subpoenas were issued in recent days and represent an effort by the Justice Department to press forward with the investigation even as a Florida-based career prosecutor who’d been helping lead the inquiry left the case after expressing doubts about the legal viability of a potential prosecution.

A former Justice Department lawyer who served as a top prosecutor in the 1980s and later supported legal efforts by President Trump to overturn his 2020 election loss has since been sworn in to serve as a special counselor to the attorney general, and is expected to work on the investigation.

The months-old Brennan investigation is one of several criminal probes the Justice Department has opened over the last year against Trump’s perceived adversaries. It centers on one of the Republican president’s chief grievances — a U.S. intelligence community finding that Russia interfered on his behalf during his successful 2016 presidential campaign.

The subpoenas were described by people with knowledge of them who spoke on condition of anonymity to the Associated Press to discuss an ongoing criminal investigation. At least three were said to have been issued, said two of the people. CBS News earlier reported the issuance of subpoenas.

Brennan served as CIA director under President Obama and was in that role when the intelligence community in January 2017 published an assessment detailing Russian interference aimed at helping Trump defeat Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016. An investigation led by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III concluded that Russia meddled on Trump’s behalf and that his campaign welcomed the assistance, but it did not find sufficient evidence to prove a criminal conspiracy.

The Justice Department last year received a criminal referral from Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, alleging that Brennan made false statements before the panel in 2023 about the preparation of the intelligence community assessment. Brennan and his lawyers have vigorously denied any wrongdoing.

The investigation has been unfolding for months in Florida, with investigators having lined up interviews and issued subpoenas for records. The latest subpoenas seek grand jury testimony in Washington, an indication that prosecutors expect they would have to bring any criminal case in Washington since that is where Brennan’s testimony took place.

On Friday, it was revealed that a key national security prosecutor in Florida who’d been handling the investigation, Maria Medetis Long, left the case. She expressed doubts about the case and was removed, another person familiar with the matter said.

The Justice Department since then has tapped Joseph diGenova, 81, a Trump loyalist who served as the U.S. attorney in Washington for part of the 1980s, to serve as a special counselor to the attorney general. He was sworn in Monday in Florida and is expected to work on the Brennan investigation.

DiGenova supported Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him. He made headlines that year when he said Chris Krebs, a top Trump administration cybersecurity official who said the election was not tainted by fraud, should be killed. DiGenova later apologized and a lawsuit filed against him by Krebs was withdrawn.

Tucker writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington contributed to this report.