Mark

Flekken, who has signed a three-year deal with Leverkusen, had been at Brentford since joining from Freiburg in May 2023.

The 31-year-old made 77 appearances for the west London club and helped them finish 10th in the Premier League last season.

“Mark has proven to be a seamless replacement for David Raya, who set an extremely high standard during his years with us,” added Giles.

“We were expecting Mark to be our goalkeeper for many more years, however when Bayer Leverkusen made it known that they wanted to do this transfer, and Mark made it clear that he was interested in moving closer to home and with a possibility of Champions League football, we turned our attention towards how all parties could make this happen.

“Mark has done a great job for us and leaves with our thanks and support.”

Leverkusen recently appointed former Ajax and Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag as their new manager following the departure of Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid.

“Mark Flekken possesses a wide range of skills that a goalkeeper in modern top-flight football must possess,” said Leverkusen sporting director Simon Rolfes.

“Mark exudes an impressive physical presence; from a footballing perspective, he has certainly been one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League over the past two years.”

The United Nations nuclear watchdog has delivered its most damning allegations against Iran in nearly two decades.

It comes as the United States proposes a nuclear deal that it says is in Tehran’s best interests to accept.

But Tehran is accusing the West of political pressure and warns it will take “appropriate countermeasures” if European powers reimpose sanctions.

So is there still room for a deal?

Or will the US, United Kingdom, France and Germany declare Iran in violation of its nonproliferation obligations?

Presenter: James Bays

Guests:

Hassan Ahmadian – assistant professor at the University of Tehran

Ali Vaez – Iran project director at the International Crisis Group

Sahil Shah – independent security analyst specialising in nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation policy

On this date in history:

In 1790, President George Washington signed a bill creating the first U.S. copyright law.

In 1859, construction concluded and bells rang out for the first time from London’s Big Ben clock tower.

In 1889, a flood in Johnstown, Pa., left more than 2,200 people dead.

In 1902, Britain and South Africa signed a peace treaty ending the Boer War.

In 1916, the Battle of Verdun passed the 100-day mark. It would continue for another 200 days, amassing a casualty list of an estimated 800,000 soldiers dead, injured or missing.

In 1921, the Tulsa race massacre was set off when a mob of White residents attacked the Black residents and businesses in the Greenwood District. The total number of those killed in the violence is unknown, with an Oklahoma commission established in 2001 estimating between 75 to 100 people dead. The number of displaced Black residents was far greater.

In 1940, a thick fog hanging over the English Channel prevented the German Luftwaffe from flying missions against evacuating Allied troops from Dunkirk.

Troops evacuated from Dunkirk on a destroyer about to berth at Dover, England, on May 31, 1940. File Photo courtesy of the Imperial War Museum

In 1985, seven federally insured banks in Arkansas, Minnesota, Nebraska and Oregon were closed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. It was a single-day record for closings since the FDIC was founded in 1934.

In 1996, Israeli voters elected opposition Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister.

In 2003, Eric Robert Rudolph, the long-sought fugitive in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics bombing and attacks on abortion clinics and a gay nightclub, was arrested while rummaging through a dumpster in North Carolina. Rudolph, whose bombings killed two people and injured many others, was sentenced to four life terms in prison.

In 2005, Mark Felt admitted that, while No. 2 man in the FBI, he was “Deep Throat,” the shadowy contact whose help to Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein on the 1972 Watergate break-in led to U.S. President Richard Nixon’s resignation.

File Photo by Alexis C. Glenn/UPI

In 2012, John Edwards of North Carolina, former U.S. senator and presidential candidate, was acquitted on a charge of taking illegal campaign contributions, and a judge declared a mistrial on five other charges against him.

In 2014, U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, 28, captured in Afghanistan nearly five years earlier, was released by the Taliban in exchange for five detainees held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba. In March 2015, the Army announced that Bergdahl had been charged with desertion.

In 2019, a shooting a a Virginia Beach, Va., municipal center left 12 victims and the shooter — a disgruntled former employee — dead.

In 2021, China announced plans to allow couples to have a third child, scrapping its controversial two-child policy amid a slumping birth rate and aging population.

File Photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI

MINNEAPOLIS — Police reform and civil rights activists joined thousands of other people Sunday to mark the fifth anniversary of George Floyd’s murder at religious services, concerts and vigils nationwide and decry the Trump administration for setting their efforts back decades.

The Rev. Al Sharpton said at a Houston graveside service that Floyd represented all of those “who are defenseless against people who thought they could put their knee on our neck.”

He compared Floyd’s killing to that of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black boy who was abducted and lynched in Mississippi in 1955 after being accused of offending a white woman.

“What Emmett Till was in his time, George Floyd has been for this time in history,” Sharpton said.

In a park about 2 miles away from Floyd’s grave site, a memorial service was set to take place, followed by five hours of music, preaching, poetry readings and a balloon release.

Events started Friday in Minneapolis with concerts, a street festival and a “self-care fair,” and were to culminate with a worship service, gospel music concert and candlelight vigil on Sunday.

The remembrances come at a fraught moment for activists, who had hoped the worldwide protests that followed Floyd’s murder by police on May 25, 2020, would lead to lasting police reform across the U.S. and a continued focus on racial justice issues.

Events in Minneapolis center around George Floyd Square, the intersection where Police Officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, used his knee to pin Floyd’s neck to the pavement for about 9½ minutes, even as the 46-year-old Black man’s cried, “I can’t breathe.” Even with Minneapolis officials’ promises to remake the Police Department, some activists contend that the progress has come at a glacial pace.

“We understand that change takes time,” Michelle Gross, president of Communities United Against Police Brutality, said in a statement last week. “However, the progress being claimed by the city is not being felt in the streets.”

The Trump administration moved Wednesday to cancel settlements with Minneapolis and Louisville that called for an overhaul of their police departments following Floyd’s murder and the police killing of Breonna Taylor. Under former President Biden, the U.S. Justice Department had pushed for oversight of local police it had accused of widespread abuses.

President Trump has also declared an end to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives within the federal government, and his administration is using federal funds as leverage to force local governments, universities and public school districts to do the same. Republican-led states also have accelerated their efforts to stamp out DEI initiatives.

Vancleave and Lafleur write for the Associated Press and reported from Minneapolis and Houston, respectively.

MONTREAL — Olivier Giroud and Mark Delgado each scored for LAFC on Saturday night in a 2-2 tie with CF Montreal.

Montreal scored multiple goals for the first time since a 3-2 loss to Atlanta in its season opener on Feb. 22.

Hugo Lloris stopped five shots for LAFC (6-4-5).

Giroud scored on a one-touch finish from point-blank range to make it 2-2 in the 77th minute.

In the fifth minute, Montreal’s Prince Owusu had his shot blocked but the loose ball rolled directly to Giacomo Vrioni, who held a defender on his hip before spinning and rolling a shot inside the right post for a goal. Owusu converted from the penalty spot in the 22nd to give Montreal a 2-0 lead.

Delgado put away a cross played in by Nathan Ordaz, blasting a one-touch shot from near the penalty spot that deflected off goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois into the net in the 38th minute.

Sirois finished with seven saves for Montreal (1-9-5).

Montreal rebounded from a 6-1 loss to Toronto last week.

Tens of thousands of people have rallied across the world in solidarity with Palestinians amid Israel’s brutal war on Gaza and to mark the 1948 ethnic cleansing of Palestinians by Jewish militias, remembered as the Nakba, or catastrophe.

The Nakba resulted in the permanent mass displacement of Palestinians after the creation of Israel in 1948. Activists say that history is repeating itself today in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

In Stockholm, thousands assembled at Odenplan Square, responding to calls from various civil society organisations to protest against Israeli attacks on Gaza. Participants waved Palestinian flags, displayed photographs of children killed, and carried banners stating: “Stop the Zionist regime’s genocide in Palestine”.

Many demonstrators bore placards listing the names of civilians killed in Gaza, seeking to highlight the ongoing massacre.

Meanwhile, in London, United Kingdom, hundreds of thousands marched towards Downing Street, demanding an end to what they described as Israel’s genocide in Gaza, 77 years on from the Nakba. Protesters, some dressed in keffiyehs and waving Palestinian flags, chanted slogans such as “Stop the genocide in Gaza”, “Free Palestine”, and “Israel is a terror state”.

The demonstrators denounced the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, accusing it of deliberately starving more than two million Palestinians, and criticised the UK government for its political and military backing of Israel, alleging complicity in the humanitarian crisis.

In Berlin, Germany, people gathered at Potsdamer Platz to protest against Israeli attacks on Gaza. Demonstrators waved Palestinian flags and held signs reading: “Your silence is complicity” and “You cannot kill us all”. Women in traditional dress carrying Nakba-themed visuals were also present.

The event took place amid heavy security measures, with at least three people reportedly detained.

A solidarity march was held in Athens, Greece, where protesters, adorned in keffiyehs and carrying Palestinian flags, marched first to the embassies of the United States and Israel.

Protests have erupted after hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in the past few days as Israel intensified its attacks, with the announcement of a new ground offensive.

Globally, May 15 was observed as the 77th anniversary of the expulsion of 700,000 Palestinians from their homes following the establishment of Israel in 1948.

The Israeli military has killed 53,272 Palestinians and injured 120,673 since it launched an offensive on October 7, 2023, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health. The Government Media Office updated the death toll to more than 61,700, noting that thousands still missing beneath the rubble are presumed dead.

Love Island will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a one-off special episode called Love Island: A Decade of Love, which will look back on the show’s most iconic moments

ITV2 is set to commemorate a decade of Love Island with a special anniversary episode, celebrating the cultural phenomenon that’s dominated reality TV over the last decade.

The one-off special, ‘Love Island: A Decade of Love’, will air on ITV2 and ITVX, revisiting some of Love Island’s most seminal moments and catching up with unforgettable Islanders who’ve become household names.

The show promises to take fans down memory lane, reliving heart-stopping recouplings, shocking bombshells, and romance for the ages which have gripped viewers nationwide. It promises exclusive interviews and a peek behind the Love Island curtain to look at how it’s shaped television and impacted its alumni.

READ MORE: Comedy legend Matt Lucas forced to quit show mid performance after falling ill

But, the question on everyone’s lips is which show legends will return for one-off 10th anniversary special? ITV has revealed exactly which Islanders will be back on screens with Dani Dyer, Curtis Pritchard and lovebirds Liam Reardon and Millie Court all set to return.

Georgia Steel will no doubt revisit her iconic ‘I’m loyal’ catchphrase as she will make a comeback alongside series two winners Cara De La Hoyde-Massey and Nathan Massey. The show’s other successful couples Kai Fagan and Sanam Harrinanan and Indiyah Polack and Dami Hope will also be back to give fans an update on their love stories.

Returning favourites include Gabby Allen, who recently split from her All Stars boyfriend Casey O’Gorman, and other iconic Islanders such as Hannah Elizabeth, Anton Danyluk, Whitney Adebayo and Catherine Agbaje. Montana Brown – who welcomed her second child with fiancé Mark O’Connor at the start of the year – will also be gracing screens again, reports the Daily Record.

Mike Spencer, Creative Director, expressed excitement about the upcoming special: “We’ve had an incredible 10 years of love, drama and unforgettable moments in the villa – now it’s time to look back and celebrate the icons who made it all happen.” He added, promising a nostalgic trip full of emotions, “Expect big laughs and plenty of heart as we revisit a decade of Love Island magic.”

Paul Mortimer, Head of Reality, has shared his enthusiasm about the show’s impact: “Love Island has become a true phenomenon over the past decade, delivering must-see TV moments every summer.” He also highlighted what fans can look forward to: “This special offers viewers a chance to relive some of the show’s most iconic moments with the Islanders who made them so memorable.”

The highly anticipated special is set to air on ITV2 and ITVX, acting as a precursor to the fresh summer series returning to Majorca this June. What do you think of the cast? let us know in the comment section below.

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Mark Delgado has known Greg Vanney since he was 13.

“We’re definitely close,” the LAFC midfielder said of the coach he played for in three MLS Cup finals.

So it’s been difficult for Delgado to watch from afar as Vanney’s Galaxy team, the one Delgado played for last season, has struggled through the worst start in franchise history.

“I definitely hope, personally, things go better for him,” Delgado said of Vanney, who got a multiyear contract extension Friday, one that reportedly makes him the best-paid manager in MLS. “I hope Greg can get things turned around.”

As long as that turnaround starts next weekend since Delgado returns Sunday to Dignity Health Sports Park for the first time since December’s MLS Cup final. Only this time he’ll be wearing the black and gold of LAFC, the Galaxy’s bitter rival.

“Yeah, definitely. I want to come out on top,” he said. “It’s kind of a weird situation. You don’t wish them too well because you want to do well yourself.”

A weird situation is also an apt description of Delgado’s last five months. Six weeks after capping a career-best season by assisting on the winning goal in the Cup final, Delgado was traded 12 miles up the Harbor Freeway to LAFC, a sacrifice to the league’s paltry salary cap.

The Galaxy (0-10-3) haven’t won since but Delgado has thrived. Not only did LAFC (6-4-3) give him a multiyear contract with a raise from the $876,250 he made last season, but he’s tied for the team lead with three assists and is one of just three players to appear in all 13 MLS games for a team that hasn’t lost a league game in six weeks and is fifth in the Western Conference table.

And he’s done that despite playing under a coach not named Greg Vanney for just the second time in 11 seasons.

Galaxy coach Greg Vanney celebrates after a win over Seattle in the Western Conference final on Nov. 30. The defending MLS Cup champion Galaxy is winless through its first 13 games of the season.

(Etienne Laurent / Associated Press)

“Coming to a new team, a different view of things, may take a little time,” said Delgado, who played under Vanney in Toronto and with the Galaxy after breaking in as a teenager with Chivas USA, where Vanney was an assistant coach. “I’m a guy who can take in information and change on the fly as well. I think my ability to do things passing and how I see the field, [my] work rate covering ground, helps.”

His leadership and experience is also important. Although he just turned 30 on May 9, Delgado is in his 14th MLS season and his 340 appearances, including playoffs, ranks ninth among active players, according to Transfermarkt. No other LAFC player is close.

He’s also the only man to have played for all three of Southern California’s MLS teams, Chivas USA, the Galaxy and LAFC. Yet none of that, he said, has prepared him for changing sides in El Tráfico.

“It is definitely a different look,” he said. “But at the end of the day it’s a Derby. Once that whistle blows and we’re on the field, I’m locked in.”

The crosstown rivalry has grown into the most passionate in MLS but most of that bad blood is felt in the stands. On the field, Delgado said, the feeling is more one of mutual admiration regardless of the colors you’re wearing.

“I don’t know what goes on between the two fans bases, but I know as players there’s a level of respect. Everyone has their own journey of getting here. Everyone has their own battles,” he said.

And his fight Sunday will be for LAFC. So while he feels for his former teammates, he’d like nothing better than to see them suffer for at least one more week.

“I have an emotional attachment with the club over there. But I’m over here, right?” he said. “I have duties over here and I’m working on doing my part and finding success for this club.”

SOME of London’s biggest festivals face an uncertain future after residents won a court battle to block a major park from hosting events. 

Backed by Oscar winning actor Mark Rylance, the campaign has ordered the council to confirm that events will be cancelled this summer.

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Brockwell Park in Lambeth has long been a popular site for some of the UK’s biggest festivals. 

Hundreds of thousands of Brits flock to the park every summer to attend events including Mighty Hoopla – which was set to host both Kesha and Jade Thirwall this year. 

However, residents decided to fight back against the festivals after the park was left in a state they described as a “mud-bath”. 

Rebekah Shaman, a member of the Protect Brockwell park group, successfully brought legal action against Lambath Council over the use of the area for events season – which kicks off on May 23. 

The High Court was told that the challenge was over the council’s decision to certify the use of the land as lawful, since a change of the park’s use is allowed for 28 days per year. 

Mr Justice Mold rule in Rebekah’s favour, since the park would be used as an event space for more than 28 days. 

Now, events such as Brockwell Live and the Mighty Hoopla could be banned from setting up in the park.

Rebekah and her lawyers wrote a letter addressed to the council which asked if the “event has been cancelled” and ordered them to clear any fencing or infrastructure. 

The draft letter from Goodenough Ring solicitors said that Brockwell Live does not have planning permission and cannot benefit from permitted development rights, and that a planning application could not be decided for at least three weeks.

The letter read: “It follows that not only do the Brockwell Live events not have planning permission, but permission cannot be obtained until after they are concluded.”

It continued: “As there is no planning permission for the Brockwell Live event, the event has to be cancelled.”

Goodenough Ring has asked for a response by 10am on May 19.

A Lambeth Council spokesperson responded by saying: “We are currently assessing the impact of this judgement and determining next steps.”

The court ruling recieved a cheer from Dunkirk actor Mark Rylance. 

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The Oscar nominated performer said: “Wonderful news. Brockwell park will be open to all for free again this summer. No walls. No trucks.

“The grass, and trees, and plants will have a chance to recover from the years of abuse.

“Now let’s help revive the beloved Lambeth country fair as it used to be, open to all. Congratulations to all who worked so devotedly to achieve this decision.

“Every small victory for nature makes a difference.”

However, the event’s cancellation is a blow to London’s beleaguered events industry. 

Critics of residents’ associations have said that noise complaints have led to the closure of several major London locations. 

However, in April, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan was awarded increased powers to protect the capital’s pubs. 

The Mayor will be able to block councils and residents from shutting down late-night pub and club openings. 

The increased powers had support from Chancellor Rachel Reeves who said that “unnecessarily burdensome red tape” was choking London’s events industry.

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Palestinians held marches in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah to commemorate the Nakba, or “catastrophe”, of their mass dispossession during the creation of Israel in 1948.

More than 50,000 people have been killed in Gaza since October 2023 and an aid blockade threatens famine, while Israeli leaders continue to express a desire to empty the territory of Palestinians.

In the West Bank, too, occupied since 1967, Israeli forces have displaced tens of thousands from refugee camps as part of a major military operation.

This year marks the 77th anniversary of the Nakba, during which an estimated 750,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from their lands after Israel declared itself an independent state in the territory.

In Ramallah city, Palestinian flags and black ones branded “return” flew at road intersections on Wednesday, while schoolchildren were bussed into the city centre to take part in the weeklong commemoration.

At one event, young boys wearing Palestinian kuffiyeh scarves waved flags and carried a giant replica key, a symbol of the lost homes in what is now Israel that families hope to return to.

No events were planned in Gaza, where more than 19 months of war and Israeli bombardment have left residents destitute and displaced.

Moamen al-Sherbini, a resident of the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, told the AFP news agency that he felt history was repeating itself.

“Our lives here in Gaza have become one long Nakba, losing loved ones, our homes destroyed, our livelihoods gone.”

Nearly all of Gaza’s 2.4 million people have been displaced at least once during Israel’s war.

In early May, Israel’s security cabinet approved plans for an expanded military offensive in Gaza, aimed at the “conquest” of the territory while displacing its people en masse, drawing international condemnation.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his government is working to find third countries to take in Gaza’s population, months after United States President Donald Trump suggested they be expelled and the territory redeveloped as a holiday destination.

“Nakba Day is no longer just a memory – it’s a daily reality we live in Gaza,” said 36-year-old Malak Radwan, speaking from Nuseirat in the centre of the enclave.

“This is a miserable day in the lives of Palestinian refugees,” said 52-year-old Nael Nakhleh in Ramallah, whose family comes from the village of al-Majdal near Jaffa in what is now Israel.

Palestinian refugees maintain their demand to return to the villages and cities in current-day Israel that they or their relatives were forced to leave in 1948. The “right of return” remains a core issue in the long-stalled negotiations between Israel and Palestine.