Lewis

And the DRC’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Therese Kayikwamba Wagner said in a statement last week that “giving (Rwanda President) Paul Kagame this platform would help polish the image of an authoritarian leader whose government has helped fuel a devastating war in our country”.

She pointed out that the US had sanctioned the Rwandan army and four senior officers for their role in destabilising the region, conducting military operations inside the DRC and supporting, training and fighting alongside the M23 rebel group.

She added that F1 “should require credible, independent guarantees that no money used to host the race comes from conflict-linked minerals or the exploitation of Congolese resources”.

Seven-time world champion Hamilton said: “Africa is a place that deserves to have a grand prix. It’s about more than just one country. It’s about the continent itself, and there are so many beautiful countries within it.

“The people are so lovely. The culture is so rich, and I think it’s important that we get to show that to the world. We get to do that with our sport. We get to go to all these different countries, and people see some of these countries they didn’t really know too much about.

“All of a sudden, it becomes something that’s on the screen, and kids are talking about it. They go to school talking about it. So, I’m really, really hopeful for that grand prix.”

However, the Ferrari driver added: “Going there doesn’t mean that you neglect the things that are happening there.

“So hopefully many people start to educate themselves a little bit more about what is happening there and what has happened there for hundreds of years. I hope that does spark the conversation.

“And then I guess I’ll finish it off with this: I think we need to make sure we’re pushing to free Congo, free Sudan, free Syria, free Palestine. I think there’s a lot of peace that I’m hoping we get to at some stage.”

The first player to celebrate with Lewis Koumas in front of the travelling supporters in Linz was Liverpool‘s hat-trick hero in Bradley Barcola.

This time last season, Koumas was on loan at Birmingham in the Championship while Barcola was at Paris St-Germain, who went on to win the Champions League for the second season in a row.

Quite a chain of events led to the pair starting together for Liverpool in their 6-3 win over LASK.

And as Barcola left the Raiffeisen Arena with the match ball after a superb hat-trick, the Frenchman knew that he wasn’t the only player who put the ball in the net three times on Wednesday in Austria.

Koumas had his first two strikes ruled out for offside, but thankfully it was third time luck for the 21-year-old Wales international.

And so, just three days after making his first Premier League start against Manchester City – with Alexander Isak, Cody Gakpo and Hugo Ekitike all injured – Koumas became the youngest Liverpool player to score and assist in a Champions League game.

Previously, the youngest to achieve the feat had been Steven Gerrard in 2001.

When that was put to him, Koumas wanted to know “Is that official?”.

“It’s not a bad stat, is it?” he said. “And it’s not a bad name to be alongside. Wow. What a legend. I just want more of this.”

He is enjoying his run in the first team but staying level-headed about it all, keen to point out: “This is my job.”

“I need to get goals and assists,” he said. “I hadn’t had any before Linz so it was really important to get them.”

In a Liverpool side where attention tends to be directed towards big-money names, Koumas provides a real feel-good story.

He joined Liverpool aged 11 and scored on his first-team debut as an 18-year-old under Jurgen Klopp.

After spells on loan at Stoke, Birmingham and Hull, where he helped the Tigers win promotion last season, Andoni Iraola decided in the first week of pre-season that Koumas was part of his Liverpool plans.

He made his Premier League debut at Newcastle before coming on against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League. He was man of the match on his first start of the season against Tottenham in the Carabao Cup after an energetic performance which left Iraola describing his playing style as “contagious”.

That night, Koumas went straight on a video call with his family after the game and it was the case again in Austria after he scored his first goal of the season.

“It was probably the best feeling in my career, 100%. I’m just really grateful to have the opportunity again,” said Koumas.

“I would not have been a happy man [if I didn’t score], I would have been gutted. I just kept going because I knew the more the game was going on, it was opening up.

“Going over to the fans at the end meant absolutely everything. They are the reason we do this and that we want this job. I wish I could have got in there with them, but there was a big metal cage in the way!”

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took his second pole position in a week by beating the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton in qualifying at the Singapore Grand Prix.

Verstappen’s first lap in final qualifying was enough to take pole, his time fending off a second lap from Leclerc that was 0.054 seconds off pole.

Hamilton was closest to Verstappen after the first runs but was unable to improve on his second run.

In fact, most of the front runners struggled to improve on their second runs, as Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli took fourth on the grid, from McLaren’s Lando Norris.

Antonelli’s team-mate George Russell was sixth fastest but will drop to the back of the grid with a penalty for using too many engine parts.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was the only driver in the top four teams other than Leclerc to improve on his second run but could do no better than qualify seventh.

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and the Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad completed the top 10.

More to follow

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won an incident-packed sprint race at the Singapore Grand Prix after Mercedes driver George Russell crashed out of the lead.

Russell was leading in tricky conditions, with half the track dry and half wet, when he got a little too wide at the final corner at the end of the first lap.

He lost control of his Mercedes, which spun across the track into the inside wall, before bouncing back again to the outside, the rest of the field somehow avoiding him.

A final-lap collision between the McLarens as Lando Norris tried to pass Oscar Piastri at Turn Five promoted Russell’s team-mate Kimi Antonelli to fourth place.

In combination with Russell’s retirement, that extends the Italian’s championship lead to 89 points.

More to follow

KIM Kardashian was single for five years as she needed time to “heal” following her traumatic divorce from Kanye West.

Apart from a brief fling with comedian Pete Davidson, the reality superstar shunned dating until falling for F1 ace Lewis Hamilton earlier this year.

Kim, 45, said: “I was really single for five years. And that felt great.
“I felt like I needed my time. I wanted to completely heal and just work on myself.

“I wasn’t ready to open up. I really wasn’t even thinking about it. The universe works in your favour when you just allow it to.”

The mogul filed for divorce from Ye, 49, in February 2021 following a turbulent period driven by his erratic behavior and public breakdown.

In a new interview with The Sunday Times, the Skims founder admits she worries about exposing her four children with the rapper – North, 13, Saint, 10, Chicago, 8, and Psalm, 7 – to her stratospheric fame.

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Describing herself as an “intermediate-strict parent,” Kim bans her kids from taking part in any storyline drama on Keeping Up with the Kardashians.

She said: “I do worry about it. Each kid does what they’re comfortable with.

“So, my little ones come around when I’m filming but they don’t really do storylines.

“North loves it a little bit more than the rest. I hold her back. All she wants to do is forward-facing projects.

“And with her, since it’s more music-related, that is something that her dad and I have better communication about. We make sure that we’re aligned and that she’s in projects that we both approve.”

The star, worth £1.9 billion, recently branched out into acting with a role in the popular but critically panned Hulu drama All’s Fair.

Addressing the backlash, she added: “I am so used to it, I have a really thick skin.

“I mean, at the beginning, to the girls, my cast, I was like, ‘Wait, are we OK? Did I ruin everything?’

“And they were like, ‘Listen, we are OK.’

“I didn’t realise that in the film business as well you get so much criticism. But we had so much fun.”

Lewis was part of the Wales squad at the 2022 union World Cup and was set to play in the inaugural WXV tournament a year later.

But she suffered a serious knee injury as Wales beat Italy in the 2023 Six Nations.

Since her recovery Lewis has played for Brython Thunder in the Celtic Challenge but, with no WRU contract, felt she had unfinished business and “didn’t want any regrets”.

“I could have easily just walked away from rugby at that point. I could have just been like ‘I’m done’,” said Lewis.

“But internally, I knew I wasn’t, and I put so much time and effort into coming back and getting back fit, and I was only 28, and I was like, ‘I’ve still got so much time left’, and I just felt individually I didn’t deserve my time to be done based on someone else’s decision.

“So I took some time, and then I just set a goal to myself. If I got the opportunity to play rugby league, great.

“If I had the opportunity to play union, I wouldn’t say no. But this opportunity came up, and I just grabbed it with two hands, and hopefully now it’s paid off.”

KIM Kardashian and her beau Lewis Hamilton are looking as loved up as ever on a getaway in Paris.

The adorable duo smooched up a storm in the City of Love as the Eiffel Tower glittered in the background.

Kim wore skin-tight gold dress that hugged her curves to perfection and matched the dazzling glow of the tower.

She swept her hair up into a stylish bun, leaving face-framing pieces softly trailing down her cheeks.

Kim cupped Lewis‘ face in her hands and pulled him in for a steamy kiss under the stars.

Other snaps shared to Kim’s Instagram from the getaway show her flaunting her amazing figure in a little black dress.

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The couple also appeared to enjoy a romantic candle-lit dinner for two as well as a Celine Dion show.

Fans gushed all about the couple in the post’s comments section, with one saying: “Please get married I love this for you.”

A second shared: “So happy for yall.”

A third added: “My favourite couple Kimilton.”

The cute carousel comes shortly after Kim revealed that she sweetly calls her man “Mr. Bridgerton“.

In a clip circulating online Kim can be seen inspecting a range of Bridgerton-themed body wash when she makes a saucy comment.

She said: “Bridgerton! I have my own Mr Bridgerton. Speak for yourself.”

The comment sent social media into meltdown with one X user writing: “Kim calling Lewis her Mr. Bridgerton is peak crossover energy — he really does have the royal aura for it.”

Another added: “‘I have my own Mr. Bridgerton’ oh she is DOWN bad for that man.”

The Sun revealed the social media personality was dating Hamilton in February after enjoying a romantic getaway in the Cotswolds.