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It was obvious why Martin was unhappy. In Plzen, Rangers conceded 27 shots, a staggering 21 of them coming from inside their penalty area.

As a result, the Czech side ended with an expected goals rating of 3.31, with Butland making eight saves, with the one to deny Prince Adu truly world class.

Given Rangers’ impressive first-leg performance, a one-off poor display with a comfortable 3-0 aggregate lead could be forgiven given the end result.

But early in the season, it has been a pattern. Rangers have conceded 97 shots in their six games so far, an average of 16 per game.

Had Plzen, Panithinaikos, Motherwell, or even Dundee been more clinical then it could easily be a different story in this nascent campaign.

“Plzen had four 100% chances and took one of them – and they all came from Rangers’ mistakes,” former Rangers midfielder Ian McCall said on Sportsound.

“They were shoddy and shabby, but the name of the game is getting into the next round.

“There’s an awful lot of money at stake, and they’ll have a chance. But they’ll need to defend a lot better in terms of not giving the ball away in dangerous areas.”

Princess Andre shows her dad Peter the sort of messages she’s been receiving online despite her only being 18

Doting dad Peter Andre has been left horrified after seeing the “disgusting” messages his daughter Princess has been receiving from men online. The 18-year-old is all set to star in her own four-part series, The Princess Diaries, which airs on ITV2 tonight and she’s joined by her dad, 52.

In the very first episode, the teenager, who is 17 at the time of filming, is joined by a pal as they discuss the vile messages she’s been receiving online from men.

Her friend is left gobsmacked by the messages as Princess tells her: “”Usually it’s like old men, going on about my toes. Sometimes they’ll be like, ‘let me take you on a date.”

Speaking directly to the camera in her confessional, she added: “”I can’t even read this message out, it’s actually disgusting.” It comes after Princess Andre says she’s ‘independent’ from parents as she breaks silence after Katie Price row.

READ MORE: Katie Price’s daughter Princess admits ‘there weren’t many rules’ as she talks home life

READ MORE: Katie Price accused of ‘last act of desperation’ hours before Princess Andre’s show

“I do love my job and I do love social media and I do love interacting with people but there is a dark side to social media that people don’t see, and there are a lot of inappropriate messages that…yeah some of them can be horrible. “Like I’m literally 17, that’s actually not OK.”

Later on in the episode, the beauty influencer is joined by her dad and talk soon turns to the messages she’s been receiving. A shocked Peter looks up and asks her what sort of messages as she tells him it’s normally older men asking for feet pictures.

He responds: “Please God that’s the only thing they ask for,” before she gives him bad news by telling him they also ask: “Are you finally legal now?”

Peter is in disbelief and puts his hand to his face as his little girl shows him the message she had earlier shown to her friend. As he reads the message, the shocked dad-of-five says: “Oh my God Biss I didn’t think it was going to be like that.”

After placing his face in his hands again and trying to come to terms with what he had just read, the Mysterious Girl singer adds: “That really made me feel sick, like in the pit of my stomach. I hate it because you’re still my baby.”

The four-part series will see the budding star carving out a career for herself as a beauty influencer as cameras follow her every move as she steps out of the shadow of her dad and mum Katie Price.

Princess and her older brother Junior, 20, appeared on This Morning on Friday 8 August and insisted they’re trying to step outside of their famous parents and just do their own thing.

She told guest hosts Joel Dommett and Emma Willis: “I got older and a lot more things have come in for me solo. A lot of things I used to do was with my parents and now I’m doing a show that is independent and actually focused on me. Now is the right time because my life is busy right now and I want people to see it.”

She’s already inked big money deals with huge brands including Morphe and Superdrug and no doubt her star will continue to rise following the airing of her series.

Meanwhile, Junior is becoming a force in the music industry after signing a major record deal with Columbia at the age of 16, who also manage Harry Styles and Calvin Harris.

The Princess Diaries airs tonight at 9pm on ITV2 and is available to watch on ITVX now

While women hold just 10% of the pilot licences given out in the UK, they could actually be more adept than men at handling high-pressure situations in the cockpit

Female pilots may be better than their male counterparts at handling pressure during flight situations, a new study has revealed. The researchers, from the University of Waterloo in Canada, used a flight simulator to study 20 experienced pilots as they went through different scenarios.

The pilots wore eye-tracking glasses, which allowed the team of scientists to record where the participants were looking and how they responded. The flight tasks included unexpected engine failures and landing challenges, which were designed to test the pilots’ reactions under pressure.

“These findings are exciting because they push us to rethink how we evaluate pilots,” Naila Ayala, the study’s lead author, said.

She added: “We can’t assume that because two pilots are looking at the same things, they will react the same way. Our study shows that women may be better at keeping control and making decisions in stressful flight scenarios.”

The research found that female pilots tended to make fewer flight control errors when stress levels increased. This means that women were more consistent and accurate in how they responded to the information presented to them.

Suzanne Kearns, associate professor and director of the Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Aeronautics, said: “Understanding how different people perform under pressure helps us build better training programs for everyone, safer cockpits, and more inclusive aviation systems.

“At a time when the industry is facing a pilot shortage, tapping into the full potential of all pilots, regardless of gender, is more important than ever.”

The team hopes that the research, published in the Proceedings of the 2025 Symposium on Eye Tracking Research and Applications, will help shape future pilot training.

According to the study, the women demonstrated more stable landing approaches, completed tasks faster in the emergency scenario, and had higher situation awareness ratings.

It explains: “These preliminary findings suggest that female pilots may manage task demands effectively under pressure and have important implications for addressing gender-based assumptions in training and recruitment.”

Last July, it was announced that there had been a 26% increase in the number of pilot licenses issued to women between 2019 and 2023.

Data from the UK Civil Aviation Authority showed that 239 pilot licences were issued to women in 2019, while this number rose to 301 four years later.

However, licences for women are still comparatively low as they make up just 10% of the total number given out. Bronwyn Fraser, the secretary of the British Women Pilots’ Association, said: “Women pilots bring diverse perspectives and skills.

But aviation is so much more than just flying. We have brilliant women engineers, air traffic controllers, and sustainability experts pushing the boundaries of innovation, developing new technologies and unlocking the full potential of our airspace.” Fraser explained that the UK needs “more young women in aviation”.

A MUM halved her weight without the help of fat jabs and now men are racing to take her out.

Laura Taylor was a heavy size 24 before she embarked on her weight loss journey in March 2024, after struggling with her weight since she was a teenager.

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The mum claims fellas would flee dates because ‘they didn’t realise’ her size, but now blokes try to woo her with drinks.

The 35-year-old says the battle with her weight began when she was bullied for being ‘fat’ and branded ‘tree trunk legs’ by cruel bullies at high school.

As a result, the mum-of-five didn’t wear a skirt for decades and was reluctant to leave the house due to her size 24 figure.

The self-conscious cleaning business owner would only share pictures of her face, not of her body, on her dating profiles.

Laura says when she did meet up for dates, men would sheepishly admit they ‘didn’t realise how big she was’ before slinking off just an hour after meeting her.

After trying and failing to lose the weight naturally, Laura underwent a ‘life-changing’ gastric sleeve operation in Turkey in March 2024.

Since then, she has switched her old diet of McDonald’s breakfasts, pub lunches, takeaway dinners, and five cans of Coca-Cola per day for protein coffees, fruit and chicken salads.

As a result, Laura has shed a whopping 10 stone in 16 months, initially tipping the scales at 20st 1lb and dropping down to 9st 13lbs and a slinky size eight.

Following her incredible weight loss, Laura says men now race to the bar to buy her drinks – and she’s finally confident enough to share full body images on her dating profile.

Laura, from Barnsley, South Yorkshire, said: “When men tell me that I look beautiful and sexy because I’ve lost all of my weight I do feel it.

“When I was really big I used to go on dates and then an hour later they would say that they had to go and then I’d get blocked.

“They used to say that they didn’t realise how big I was or that my pictures looked different because they couldn’t see my body.

“I never used to show my body [on my dating profile], I just used to show my face.

“I include pictures of my body now. All of my profile pictures are of my full body because I feel more confident in myself now I’ve lost weight.

“I think I look a lot better, but I think I still have the mindset of when I was fat.

“I go out and I’ve got men coming up to me asking to buy me a drink and I’m like ‘what do you see in me really?’ Sometimes it’s quite hard to take in.”

Problems with Laura’s weight first began when she received cruel comments from bullies at high school.

Laura said: “I’ve had an issue with my weight all my life, really since I was a teenager.

“I got a lot of bullying at school because when I used to wear skirts I’d get called ‘tree trunk legs’ and fat.

“After a couple times of wearing skirts I never wore them again.

“I never wanted to go to school with a skirt on because I used to get called that all the time.

“Food was a comfort for me. I used to sit at home and eat food because I got bullied and I felt like nobody fancied me.”

After struggling with her weight since she was a teen, Laura decided to commit to having gastric sleeve surgery.

Laura said: “I went to the doctors and asked to be put on the waiting list for a gastric sleeve in the UK but they told me I wasn’t big enough.

“I looked at the prices in the UK but it was £10,500 and I didn’t have the money.

“When I was pricing it up it was so much cheaper in Turkey than it was over here.

“It was £2,400 and then the flights were £600, so about £3,000 in total.

“The NHS was a six-year waiting list and I couldn’t wait that long because I didn’t leave the house.

“I didn’t see my friends or anything like that because they were all quite skinny and I was the fat one of the bunch.”

Since having the £3,000 op, Laura says she gets told she looks younger and some of her friends don’t even recognise her when they see her in the street.

Laura said: “I get told I look younger because I have lost a lot of weight in my face.

“I feel good in myself and people say that I look amazing.

“I do need to start taking those compliments in because I’ve been fat all of my life it’s hard for me to say I do actually look good.

“A lot of friends haven’t seen me in the past 18 months and when I’ve been out they’ve walked past me.

“I’ve had to tap them on the shoulder and say ‘do you not recognise me?’.”

Laura says she now finally has the confidence to wear skirts and dresses again and will even be wearing a bikini when she goes on holiday in August.

Laura said: “I never used to wear the stuff I wear now, there’s no way I would be putting on a dress on above my knees.

“I don’t go out in jeans now, I only wear skirts or dresses.”

Laura says the operation ‘saved her life’ and has had a positive impact on her socially.

Laura said: “I’ve always been the one [in my friend group] that’s sat in the corner and not really danced because I didn’t want to.

“I’m on the dance floor before anyone else now because I’ve got so much energy I want to dance.

“The operation saved my life. I’d still be sat in the house now not going out, so it has changed my life completely.”

Here’s what Laura would eat in a day.

TYPICAL FOOD DIARY BEFORE WEIGHTLOSS

Breakfast – McDonalds breakfast

Lunch – Pub lunch mixed grill or English breakfast

Dinner – Takeaway or chips and sausages

Snacks – Chocolate, sweets, crisps and five cans of Coca-Cola per day

TYPICAL FOOD DIARY AFTER WEIGHTLOSS

Breakfast – Protein coffee

Lunch – None

Dinner – Chicken salad, chilli or chicken and rice

Snacks – Apples, cheese strings, decaf coffee

The 5 best exercises to lose weight

By Lucy Gornall, personal trainer and health journalist

EXERCISE can be intimidating and hard to devote yourself to. So how do you find the right workout for you?

As a PT and fitness journalist, I’ve tried everything.

I’ve taken part in endless fitness competitions, marathons and I maintain a regime of runs, strength training and Pilates.

Fitness is so entrenched in my life, I stick to it even at Christmas!

The key is finding an activity you love that can become a habit.

My top five forms of exercise, especially if you’re trying to lose weight, are:

1. Walking
2. Running
3. Pilates
4. High-intensity interval training (HIIT)
5. Strength training

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Wales will play in the European top flight for the first time in 24 years in 2027 after beating Austria 2-1 in dramatic fashion in their Women’s EuroHockey Championship II semi-final in Poland.

It will mark Wales’ return to the European A Division for the first time since 2003 having already secured a place in the World Cup qualifiers for just the second time in their history, by progressing from the group stage in Gniezno.

Wales’ men will also play in the World Cup qualifiers and Europe’s 2027 top flight after their 5-0 win over Italy in the EuroHockey Championship II in Portugal.

Against Austria, Wales women captain Beth Bingham struck first, in the 21st minute, by tapping in from a penalty corner rebound.

Kristine Vukovich levelled for Austria with 10 minutes left through a penalty corner, but Amy Cradden stepped up to score the winner late on, also from a penalty corner, to spark Wales’ celebrations.

If you’re still looking for someone to blame for Donald Trump’s 2024 reelection, don’t just look at the usual suspects — the MAGA die-hards, the QAnon crowd or your uncle screaming at Fox News. Consider the bros at your local gym’s squat rack, the Discord server or the gaming lounge who suddenly swung right — or, better yet, consider blaming the Democrats who decided those guys didn’t matter. Yeah, nice work, geniuses.

Recent focus groups conducted by the centrist Democratic group Third Way, with the polling firm HIT Strategies, show that many young men feel criticized, overlooked and talked down to by a party they see as hostile to their values and concerns. This echoes similar feedback from last fall, when young male voters told pollsters that the Democratic Party “has somehow become the anti-male party.”

If you’re wondering why this siege mentality hasn’t softened, it may be because the condescension and antagonism persist — especially among progressive elites whose statements are often conflated with the Democratic Party.

July alone offered a plethora of examples. And lest you think this is from the fever swamps of the internet, consider a few selections from the New York Times.

First, we got “The Boy Crisis Is Overblown,” which shrugs off boys’ educational struggles, instead suggesting that boys expect others (women) to pick up the slack, both at home and in school. Then came “The Trouble With Wanting Men,” a literary masterclass on how dating men amounts to unpaid emotional labor. And to round it out, “Why Women Are Weary of ‘Mankeeping,’” which blames men for … being human? Having different priorities than their girlfriends and wives?

See a pattern?

None of these pieces are entirely wrong. Boys and men are only human, and there are good guys and bad guys. But if you’re a dude just trying to stay afloat in a rapidly changing world, you might get the impression that the cultural left, which (let’s be honest) constitutes the Democratic Party’s base of energy and pressure, isn’t exactly rolling out the welcome mat.

And if you’re a guy, what do you do with all of that criticism? You check out. You find a podcast. You listen to some YouTuber explain how protein cured his depression and why you should never trust a woman who owns more than one NPR tote bag.

You exercise your greatest act of middle-finger rebellion: You vote for Trump!

Now, you might say, “Is it really fair to blame the entire Democratic Party for what a few writers say?” No! But politics isn’t about fairness. It’s about vibes, and the vibe right now is that progressive culture has morphed into the HR department from hell. Heck, even Sydney Sweeney in an American Eagle ad was too much for the online pitchfork crowd. What’s next? Canceling golden retrievers?

The problem for the Democratic Party is that once you’re branded a “woke scold,” it’s hard to pivot, no matter what you say.

Look at President Biden. He was called “Genocide Joe” for supporting Israel, yet still got blamed for pro-Palestinian campus protests — proof that stereotypes are sticky, and perception, not policy, drives voter sentiment.

But here’s the irony: Democrats have an opportunity to turn things around — and if their friends weren’t so busy writing gender theory op-eds, they might notice there’s an opening to do just that.

Thanks to issues ranging from tariffs to immigration roundups to the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, some of these podcast bros have started mocking Trump. Meanwhile, “South Park” skewered him for threatening lawsuits to intimidate or silence his critics, which is an impressive about-face considering he used to score points by criticizing cancel culture.

“While some of these young men are still drawn to Trump and the Republican Party,” Third Way’s focus groups found, “most are persuadable swing voters who dislike significant aspects of Trump’s actions so far in his second term.”

But it’s gonna take more than President Obama podcasting about “what’s right with young men.” It’s gonna take modern leaders — men and women — who have the guts to stand up to their own tribe and say, “Hey, maybe we shouldn’t treat half the population like defective appliances.”

Want their votes? Talk to them like they’re human. Stop acting like masculinity is a war crime. Nominate a presidential candidate who lifts and can go on Joe Rogan’s podcast. Offer some real policies that don’t sound like they were cooked up in a gender studies seminar at Bryn Mawr.

Until then? Don’t be shocked if a whole generation of guys hears one more lecture about toxic masculinity … and decides to vote for the most toxic guy in the room.

This is how Trump wins.

Matt K. Lewis is the author of “Filthy Rich Politicians” and “Too Dumb to Fail.”

Luka Doncic is a changed man.

Just look at the photos accompanying a new “Men’s Health” feature on the Lakers superstar.

He’s slimmed down. He’s toned.

“Just visually, I would say my whole body looks better,” Doncic said in the article published Monday.

His altered physique, however, is not what makes Doncic a changed man. His sleek new look is the result of much bigger changes in his lifestyle this offseason.

According to the article, Doncic has been home in Croatia where he gets in two 90-minute workouts a day. The sessions included deadlifts, dumbbell bench presses, lateral bounds, resistance band drills, sprints and hurdles. The workouts wrap up with Doncic on the basketball court shooting jump shots.

And Doncic’s eating habits have changed too. His diet is now gluten-free, low-sugar and high-protein. He also uses an intermittent fasting plan the article says is “designed to limit inflammation and help his body recover better.”

The Mavericks selected Doncic with the third overall pick in the 2018 draft. He was the NBA’s rookie of the year that season. The 6-6 guard is a five-time All-Star selection and led the Mavericks to the 2024 NBA Finals.

But in early February, Doncic was shipped to the Lakers in a deal that sent Anthony Davis to Dallas. According to an ESPN report at the time, the Mavericks initiated the talks at least in part because of “significant frustration within the organization about Doncic’s lack of discipline regarding his diet and conditioning.”

Doncic acknowledged that narrative during his introductory news conference with the Lakers on Feb. 4 and said it would motivate him moving forward.

“It’s a motive,” Doncic said. “I know it’s not true. I know. But it’s a motive … it’s a big motive for a long run here.”

Apparently, he meant it. The day after the Lakers were eliminated by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the playoffs, the Men’s Health article states, Doncic texted his manager saying he was ready to begin his offseason workouts.

Doncic has worked with the same trio of fitness experts — a physiotherapist, a trainer and a nutritionist — since 2023, but this offseason has been different.

“I think that this summer, he sees the difference, and he’s really happy,” Javier Barrio, Doncic’s physiotherapist, told Men’s Health.

Doncic indicated that his newfound dedication to wellness won’t end once the season begins.

“This year, with my team, I think we did a huge step,” he said. “But this is just the start, you know. I need to keep going. Can’t stop.”

He added: “If I stop now, it was all for nothing.”

In the aftermath of a magnitude 5.7 earthquake, the five men were accused of robbing damaged homes in the Santa Maria de Jesus municipality.

Five men have been lynched after rural community members accused them of robbing damaged homes following an earthquake that struck Guatemala and caused widespread damage.

Police spokesperson Cesar Mateo told the AFP news agency on Friday night that the men were accused of using the dark of the night to break into homes following the tremors, which led people to sleep in shelters or with relatives.

“While it’s true that robbery is illegal, lynching is also a crime,” Mateo said.

Guatemala’s Ministry of the Interior said residents of Santa Maria de Jesus municipality searched for the men late on Thursday and then blocked authorities who tried to detain and take them away.

Residents beat the men with sticks and stones and then burned them in the community, which lies in the Sacatepequez department southwest of the capital.

Santa Maria de Jesus was the worst-affected area by the earthquake that created tremors of up to 5.7 magnitude. At least seven people were killed across Guatemala after Tuesday’s earthquake.

Vigilante violence is a recurrent response to criminals who are not prosecuted in Guatemala.

According to a local civil society organisation, between 2008 and 2020, vigilante justice left 361 people dead and 1,396 injured in the country.

The earthquake left Santa Maria de Jesus, home to an Indigenous Mayan community, without power, while access to roads was cut off by landslides.

The government flew in humanitarian aid to Santa Maria de Jesus to help residents.

The disaster coordination agency, Conred, which has been evaluating the level of damage in affected areas, said a delivery of solar lamps, buckets, mats, mosquito nets, blankets and kitchen kits has been received from the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR).

In a separate statement on Friday, the agency said it was continuing to assist, including the “mobilisation and delivery of humanitarian aid” to parts of the country.

Attack on equipment for Ukraine was planned by Wagner mercenaries on behalf of Russian intelligence, prosecutors said.

A jury in the United Kingdom has convicted three men of arson following an attack on an east London warehouse that was storing Starlink satellite equipment destined for Ukraine.

Prosecutors had alleged that the attack on March 20, 2024, was planned by agents of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, acting on behalf of Russian military intelligence.

Jakeem Rose, 23, Ugnius Asmena, 20, and Nii Mensah, 23, were found guilty of aggravated arson on Tuesday at London’s Old Bailey court.

Jurors cleared a fourth man, Paul English, 61, who told police that while he was paid to drive the others, he knew nothing about the fire.

Dylan Earl, 21, who was accused of orchestrating the attack, and Jake Reeves, 23, had already pleaded guilty to aggravated arson and offences under the UK’s National Security Act 2023.

Prosecutors said Wagner used British intermediaries to recruit the men to target an industrial unit in Leyton, east London, where generators and Starlink satellite equipment bound for Ukraine were being stored.

Authorities cast the arson, which caused about 1 million pounds ($1.35m) of damage, as part of a campaign of disruption across Europe that Western officials blame on Moscow and its proxies.

Ukraine’s military frequently uses Starlink in its effort to fend off Russia’s invasion.

Commander Dominic Murphy, head of Counter Terrorism Command at London’s Metropolitan Police, said the case was a “clear example of an organisation linked to the Russian state using ‘proxies’, in this case British men, to carry out very serious criminal activity in this country”.

He said Earl and Reeves “willingly acted as hostile agents on behalf of the Russian state,” adding that it was “only by good fortune nobody was seriously injured or worse”.

Earl also admitted to plotting to set fire to a wine shop and a restaurant in the upmarket London neighbourhood of Mayfair, as well as plans to kidnap their owner, Evgeny Chichvarkin.

Chichvarkin, an exiled Russian tycoon who has been vocal in his criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the war in Ukraine, told the court in a written statement that he is considered “a key enemy of the Russian state and received daily death threats”.

Two other men were on trial in connection with the arson and related plots.

Ashton Evans, 20, was found guilty of failing to disclose information about terrorist acts relating to the Mayfair plot but cleared of failing to tell authorities about the warehouse arson. After Dmitrijus Paulauskas, 23, was cleared of both, he burst into tears and nodded towards the jury.

Jurors were shown evidence from security cameras and of the arson Mensah filmed on his phone, along with a message he sent Earl later saying: “Bro lol it’s on the news.”

They were also shown hundreds of messages among the men and between Earl and a Russian recruiter.

Earl was the first person to be charged under the National Security Act, which created new measures to combat espionage, political interference and benefitting from foreign intelligence services.

Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb said the convicted defendants would be sentenced in autumn.

Founded in 2014, the Wagner Group has become Russia’s largest and most notorious private military company, with operations around the world, including in Africa, the Middle East, South America and Ukraine.

In 2022, Wagner enlisted 50,000 Russian prisoners to fight on the front lines of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, of which some 20,000 were killed in the months-long battle for control of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, the group’s founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said at the time.

In June 2023, Prigozhin was listed as a passenger on a private jet which crashed north of Moscow shortly after he led Wagner troops who crossed from Ukraine into the Russian border city of Rostov-on-Don, saying he would fight anyone who tried to stop them.

SEOUL — It’s a worldwide shift that has taken political scientists and sociologists by surprise: the growing ideological divide between young men and women.

In the recent U.S. presidential election, President Trump won 56% of the vote among men ages 18 to 29, according to an analysis from Tufts University’s Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.

In Germany, young men are twice as likely as young women to support the far-right Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, according to the Pew Research Center. Last year’s European Parliament elections showed a similar trend. According to the European Policy Center, in Portugal, Denmark and Croatia, more than four young men voted for far-right candidates for every young woman who did the same.

But few countries exemplify the trend more than South Korea, where a recent presidential election showed just how polarized its youth has become.

In South Korea, 74.1% of men in their 20s and 60.3% of men in their 30s voted for one of the two conservative candidates compared with 35.6% and 40.5% of their female counterparts, respectively.

Experts say the so-called 2030 male (men in their 20s and 30s) phenomenon, which emerged alongside the mainstreaming of gender equality discourse in South Korea over the last decade, has defied traditional left-right taxonomies.

The “2030 men are difficult to define under standard electoral theory frameworks,” said Kim Yeun-sook, a political scientist at Seoul National University’s Institute of Korean Political Studies.

Having come of age in a world with radically different social contracts than those of their parents, right-leaning 2030 male voters are less likely to focus on North Korea — a defining preoccupation for older conservatives — than on feminism, which for them has become a dirty word that conjures “freeloading” women trying to take more than they are owed.

The men have taken umbrage with visual symbols or hand gestures — such as a pinched forefinger and thumb — that they argue are anti-male dog whistles used by feminists, in some cases succeeding in getting companies to discontinue marketing campaigns featuring such offending content.

South Korean women supporting the #MeToo movement stage a rally to mark the upcoming International Women’s Day in Seoul on March 4, 2018.

(Ahn Young-joon / Associated Press)

In the 2022 presidential election, it was men in their 20s and 30s who helped Yoon Suk Yeol — the conservative candidate who claimed that structural sexism no longer existed — clinch a razor-thin victory over his liberal opponent, Lee Jae-myung, who was elected president in June.

This perception that men — not women — are the true victims of gender discrimination in contemporary society is a defining belief for many young South Korean men, says Chun Gwan-yul, a data journalist and the author of “20-something Male,” a book about the phenomenon that draws on extensive original polling of young South Koreans.

Although male backlash to contemporary feminism is the most visible aspect of the phenomenon, Kim Chang-hwan, a sociologist at the University of Kansas, says that its roots go back to socioeconomic changes that began much earlier.

Among them was a series of government policies three decades earlier that led to a surge in both male and female college enrollment, which soared from around 30% of the general population in 1990 to 75% in 2024. Add to that the increasingly long-term participation of women in the workforce, Kim said, and “the supply of educated labor has ended up outpacing economic growth.”

“The young men of today are now feeling like they are having to compete five times harder than the previous generation,” he said.

(Despite the fact that gender inequality in South Korea’s job market is among the worst in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, with women making on average around 65% of their male counterparts and far more likely to be precariously employed, such wage gaps tend to be less prominent for earners in their 20s.)

And although most research has shown that the negative effect of South Korea’s male-only compulsory military service — which lasts up to 21 months — on wages and employment is minimal, anxieties about getting a later start than women in a hypercompetitive job market have also contributed to young South Korean men feeling that they are getting a raw deal.

Chun, the data journalist, points out that the mass entry of women into higher education also led to another tectonic shift being felt by the current crop of young men: the rapid collapse of traditional marriage dynamics.

“Women have been doing the math and are increasingly concluding marriage is a net loss for them,” he said. “South Korea transformed from a society where marriage was universal into a marriage-is-optional one in an incredibly short time frame, especially compared to many Western countries where those changes played out over 60 or 70 years.”

In 2000, just 19% of South Koreans between the ages of 30 and 34 were unmarried, but today that number is 56%, according to government data. Over a third of women between 25 and 49 years old now say they don’t ever want to get married, compared with 13% of men, according to a government survey last year. One in 4 men will now remain unmarried in their 40s.

South Korean women take part in a rally to mark International Women’s Day in downtown Seoul on March 8, 2024.

(Jung Yeon-je/ AFP/Getty Images)

Chun notes that the mismatch in the marriage landscape has bred in many the misogynistic resentment associated with incels, a term for men who identify as involuntarily celibate. A common refrain among young conservative men is the swearing-off of South Korean women, who are often cast as “kimchi women” — gold diggers who are unwilling to pull their weight while demanding too much of men.

“Do you need to only date Korean women just because you’re Korean? No,” said Chul Gu, an online personality popular among young men in a recent stream. “There are Thai women, Russian women, women of all nationalities. There is no need to suffer the stress of dating a Korean kimchi woman.”

Resentment toward South Korean women, Chun says, is inseparable from the generational animus that feeds it.

“In the worldview of young South Korean men, they aren’t just fighting women, they are fighting the older generation that is siding with those women,” he said. “It’s essentially an anti-establishment ethos.”

The “586 generation,” as they are commonly called, are South Koreans in their 50s or 60s who came of age during the high-growth, authoritarian period of the 1980s. Associated with the pro-democracy movements of the time, the 586 generation is one of the most liberal and pro-gender equality demographics in South Korea — and one whose members built much of their wealth through cheap real estate, an avenue no longer available for the majority of young South Koreans accustomed to seeing housing prices in Seoul double in as little as four years.

“Young South Koreans are seeing those homes become worth millions,” Chun said. “Meanwhile, South Korea’s birth rate is falling and life expectancy is rising to 80 or 90, so many young voters are thinking, ‘We’re going to have to be responsible for them for the next 40 to 50 years.’”

Among the candidates in last month’s presidential election, it was Lee Jun-seok, a 40-year-old third-party conservative candidate, who most aggressively targeted these tensions.

During his campaign, Lee promised to segregate South Korea’s fast-depleting national pension by age, a move he said would relieve younger South Koreans of the burden of subsidizing the older generation’s retirement.

Although he finished with just 8% of the total vote, he won the largest share — 37.2% — of the 20-something male vote, and 25.8% from men in their 30s.

“South Korea is very much locked into a two-party system where it is generally rare to see a third party candidate make much of a difference,” Kim, the political scientist, said. “I think there’s a lot of negative polarization at play — an expression of defeatism or disenfranchisement at the fact that status quo politicians aren’t addressing young men’s problems.”

Data show that disillusionment with democracy too runs deep.

According to a recent survey of 1,514 South Koreans by the East Asia Institute, a Seoul-based think tank, just 62.6% of South Korean men between the ages of 18 and 29 believe that democracy is the best political system — the lowest percentage in any age and gender group — with nearly a quarter believing that a dictatorship can sometimes be more preferable.

Whether the rightward drift of young South Korean men is a temporary deviation or a more serious forecast for South Korea’s democracy is still an open question, according to Kim.

“But now is the time to act,” she said. “There absolutely needs to be a political response to the younger generations’ frustrations.”

When Lauren Hersh, the national director of the anti-sex trafficking activist group World Without Exploitation, heard Wednesday that Sean “Diddy” Combs was convicted only on the two least serious charges against him, she felt grief for his former partner Casandra Ventura and his other accusers.

“I think this is a travesty,” Hersh said. “It shows there is culturally a deep misunderstanding of what sex trafficking is and the complexity of coercion. So often in these cases, there’s an intertwining of horrific violence and affection.”

Hersh, the former chief of the sex trafficking unit at the Kings County district attorney’s office in Brooklyn, said that Combs’ verdict — guilty on two charges of transportation to engage in prostitution but acquitted on one for racketeering and two for sex trafficking — is a mixed message about Combs’ conduct. But it will likely be felt as a step backward for the movement to hold powerful men to account for alleged sex crimes.

In a cultural moment when other music stars like Marilyn Manson and Chris Brown have mounted successful comebacks after high-profile abuse investigations and lawsuits, Hersh worries the Diddy verdict may deter prosecutors from pursuing similar cases against powerful men and chill the MeToo movement’s ability to seek justice for abuse victims.

“It’s a huge setback, especially in this moment when the powerful have continuously operated with impunity,” Hersh said. “It sends a signal to victims that despite the MeToo movement, we’re still not there in believing victims and understanding the context of exploitation. But I’m hoping it’s a teachable moment to connect the dots with what trafficking is and understanding the complexity of coercion.”

The charges against Combs were not a referendum on whether he had abused Ventura or the myriad other women and men involved in his “freak-off” parties, where group sex and drug use intertwined into an allegedly decadent and violent culture around Combs.

Combs’ defense team freely admitted that his relationship with Ventura was violent, as seen in an infamous 2016 videotape of Combs beating Ventura in an elevator lobby at the InterContinental hotel in Los Angeles. Marc Agnifilo, one of Combs’ lawyers, said in closing arguments that Combs has a drug problem but described his relationship with Ventura as a “modern love story” in which the hip-hop mogul “owns the domestic violence” that plagued it.

“The defendant embraced the fact that he was a habitual drug user who regularly engaged in domestic abuse,” federal prosecutors wrote in a hearing about Combs’ possible bail terms.

The jury decided that Combs’ conduct, however reprehensible, did not amount beyond a reasonable doubt to a criminal racketeering organization or sex trafficking. Yet the case’s impact on movements within music and other industries to hold abusers to account is uncertain.

Many civil suits against the music mogul are still moving through court and could affect his depleted finances. Combs’ reputation has been thoroughly tainted by the lurid details of the trial and strong condemnations from his many accusers.

Still, for victim advocates, the verdict was a bitter disappointment.

Reactions within the music world were swift and despairing. “This makes me physically ill,” said Aubrey O’Day of Danity Kane, the band Diddy assembled on his popular reality TV show “Making the Band,” on social media. “Cassie probably feels so horrible. Ugh, I’m gonna vomit.”

“Cassie, I believe you. I love you. Your strength is a beacon for every survivor,” wrote singer Kesha, who in 2014 sued producer Dr. Luke, accusing him of assault. Kesha has frequently altered the lyrics of her hit single “TikTok” in performances to lambast Combs.

Even longtime Diddy antagonist 50 Cent seemed to acknowledge his partial victory. “Diddy beat the feds that boy a bad man,” 50 Cent wrote on Instagram, before referencing a famous mobster notorious for evading convictions. “Beat the RICO he the gay John Gotti.”

Mitchell Epner, a former assistant U.S. attorney in New Jersey who prosecuted numerous sex trafficking and involuntary servitude cases, said that despite some recent high-profile sex trafficking cases that ended in convictions, Combs’ charges were never going to be easy to prove.

“In recent years, we’ve seen prosecutions of Ghislaine Maxwell in the Jeffrey Epstein case, Keith Raniere of NXIVM and R. Kelly, where they are trafficking in order to feed the traffickers’ sexual desire,” Epner said. “But this indictment was all about Sean Combs sharing women with people he was paying. He wasn’t receiving money, he wanted to be a voyeur. That technically fits the definition of sex trafficking, but it wasn’t the primary evil Congress was thinking about.”

The hurdles for accusers to come forward with claims against powerful men, and for juries to discern between transgressive sexual relationships and criminally liable abuse beyond a reasonable doubt, make such cases difficult to prosecute.

In the absence of convictions, some recently accused artists have already mounted successful comebacks.

Shock-rocker Marilyn Manson had been under investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department since 2021, when several women accused him of rape and abuse including “Westworld” actor Evan Rachel Wood and “Game of Thrones” actor Esmé Bianco.

Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman said in January that the statute of limitations had run out on Manson’s domestic violence allegations, and that prosecutors doubted they could prove rape charges.

“While we are unable to bring charges in this matter,” Hochman said in a statement then, “we recognize that the strong advocacy of the women involved has helped bring greater awareness to the challenges faced by survivors of domestic abuse and sexual assault.”

Bianco told The Times that, “Within our toxic culture of victim blaming, a lack of understanding of coercive control, the complex nature of sexual assault within intimate partnerships, and statutes of limitations that do not support the realities of healing, prosecutions face an oftentimes insurmountable hurdle. Once again, our justice system has failed survivors.”

Manson has denied all claims against him. He has since released a new album and mounted successful tours.

Meanwhile, R&B singer Chris Brown was recently the subject of “Chris Brown: A History of Violence,” a 2024 documentary that shed new light on a 2022 lawsuit where a woman accused Brown of raping her on a yacht owned by Combs in 2020.

That lawsuit — one of many civil and criminal claims made against Brown over the years, beginning with the infamous 2009 incident in which he assaulted his then-girlfriend Rihanna — was dismissed. In 2020, Brown settled another sexual assault lawsuit regarding an alleged 2017 incident at the singer’s home. Brown currently faces criminal charges around a 2023 incident where he allegedly assaulted a music producer with a tequila bottle in a London nightclub.

Brown denied the claims in the documentary, and his attorneys called the film “defamatory.” He sued Warner Bros. Entertainment for $500 million. He is currently on a stadium tour that will stop at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood in September.

Combs, meanwhile, may still face a range of criminal and civil consequences. He could be sentenced from anywhere up to the maximum of 10 years apiece on each prostitution charge, or to a far lesser sentence. Some experts said it’s possible he may be sentenced to time served and walk away a free man soon.

Though it’s too soon to know what kind of future awaits Combs should he return to public life, it’s hard to imagine a return to the heights of influence that defined his ‘90s tenure at Bad Boy Entertainment, or his affable multimedia-mogul personality in the 2000s. A fate similar to the former hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons seems most likely — reputationally tarnished and culturally irrelevant.

Still, his supporters thronged outside the New York courtroom waving bottles of baby oil — an infamous detail of the trial — in a pseudo-ironic celebration of his acquittal on the most serious charges.

If Combs wants to ever return to music, he’ll have at least one ally in Ye, the embattled Nazi-supporting rapper who showed up in court to bolster Combs. Ye featured the incarcerated mogul on his song “Lonely Roads Still Go to Sunshine,” and released clothing featuring the logo of Combs’ old fashion label Sean John.

President Trump, another convicted felon and alleged sexual assailant who quickly returned to the heights of power, has said he is open to pardoning Combs. “It’s not a popularity contest,” he has said, regarding a Combs pardon. ”I would certainly look at the facts if I think somebody was mistreated.”

OMAHA, Neb. — UCLA’s return to the College World Series started with three hours of sweaty palms in 86-degree heat and high humidity. An early lead shrunk across four innings on a muggy afternoon.

Only when closer Easton Hawk struck out Murray State’s Dominic Decker on a full count for the final out could the Bruins exhale. They walked off Charles Schwab Field for the first time in 12 years with a 6-4 win Saturday.

The Bruins jumped ahead early but couldn’t build momentum. They loaded the bases on their first three batters but only scored after Roman Martin drew a four-pitch walk. Dean West ripped an RBI single to right field in the second. Then he got thrown out trying to get back to first after rounding the bag. In the third, Murray State left fielder Dustin Mercer made an athletic catch on the warning track to rob the Bruins of a two-run hit.

Finally, UCLA broke through in the fourth with four runs. Martin and Roch Cholowsky each drove in runs before AJ Salgado’s two-run double to right field. The Bruins’ first multi-run inning gave them a 6-0 lead.

UCLA’s Mulivai Levu runs to first base against Murray State on Saturday.

(Cory Eads / Associated Press)

That was enough behind a gritty start from junior Michael Barnett. The righty scattered three hits and four walks across 4 ⅔innings. The bullpen conceded three more runs and escaped to secure the win.

UCLA will play the winner of Saturday’s evening contest between Louisiana State and Arkansas on Monday.

Heading into the final stretch of the 2024 election, it seemed every cable news program had a segment dedicated to this one question: What will Black men do?

Progressives on the ground were voicing concerns about Black male voter turnout long before the 2022 midterms. But because the overturning of Roe vs. Wade enabled Democrats to avoid a “red wave” then, the urgency regarding Black men was muted. That quickly changed once former Vice President Kamala Harris became the presumptive nominee and media personalities such as Stephen A. Smith and Charlamagne tha God began questioning her qualifications without a hint of irony.

In the end, nearly 75% of Black men voted for Harris, and all of those cable news segments about the concerns of that voting bloc went away. That’s unfortunate because in many ways the question at the center of it all — “What will Black men do?” — is more relevant today than it was seven months ago. Since President Trump has retaken office, federal civil rights offices have been gutted, grants for minority business programs canceled and the names of enslavers are making a comeback on military bases. Cable news may be waiting until the next election to talk about the concerns of Black men, but the Black community can’t wait that long. Khalil Thompson and Bakari Sellers agree.

The pair are part of the leadership team for Win With Black Men, a political advocacy group that began in 2022. Thompson said he was inspired to start the group by Win With Black Women, which started after the murder of George Floyd in 2020. Both organizations were key to jump-starting the enthusiasm for Harris, especially financially, with each raising millions of dollars within days of her campaign’s launch.

Now, with the election behind us and three years of a hostile White House administration ahead of us, Thompson’s group has announced an 18-city listening tour starting in July to strategize about ways to help the community outside of the political system. The goal is to reach 3,500 Black men in person and another 25,000 through a national survey in hopes of building a database to better serve the community. Thompson said it’s particularly important to keep people engaged now that the election is over because of how the White House continues to test the limits of both presidential power and the support from his party.

“There has to be a moment where right is right,” said Thompson, a former operative for President Obama. “We raise our children to understand the basic tenets of being a good person. … We need to build a system that can adequately accommodate and support the vast majority of people in this country who just want to enjoy this small amount of time we have on this planet. I see the protests happening and the raids and I’m reminded of Ruby Bridges or the lunch counter in Greensboro. What is happening now in our cities — ripping parents away from their children — doesn’t speak to our better angels.”

Sellers added: “Democracy is participatory, and a lot of time people forget that. The choices are to be on the sideline or get engaged — either way, you are involved.”

He made that choice at a young age, becoming the youngest Black person in elected state office across the country in 2006, as a 22-year-old state representative in South Carolina. His early social justice work echoes that of his father, Cleveland Sellers, who was part of the leadership for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee during the civil rights movement.

“I’d rather get in the fight, be knocked around a little bit, face terror head on, knowing I’m doing it for a just and righteous cause,” Sellers said.

Thompson said that in addition to engagement, Win With Black Men is looking to be a vessel for helping people financially with their utility and grocery bills, as the steep federal cuts and job losses threaten to send millions of Americans into poverty. The current fundraising goal is $2.5 million. And while the organization is nonpartisan, Sellers said a prominent Democrat is the unofficial North Star: “We need to get back to the politics of Jesse Jackson. Meet people where they are, focus on the working class and facilitate conversations that uplift people, not demean them.”

Few things are more demeaning than feeling like your voice matters only once every four years. If nothing else, this upcoming listening tour is a reminder to Democrats that Black men are more than a vote.

@LZGranderson

EUGENE, Ore. — South Florida ran a brilliant 1,600-meter relay to close the NCAA men’s outdoor track and field championships Friday night, leaving USC and Texas A&M tied for the team title.

The Trojans, who won the indoor title earlier this year but hadn’t won an outdoor title in 49 years, and the Aggies, both finished with 41 points, one ahead of Arkansas.

That came after a late surge by the USF anchor to edge Texas A&M in the final race, winning in 3 minutes, 42 seconds. Arkansas was third with the Trojans a disappointing eighth to earn just one team point. The Aggies earned eight points in the relay — a win would have been worth 10 points — and the Razorbacks got six.

Arkansas protested after the race that a USF runner hindered a Razorback but the protest was denied. If successful, Texas A&M would have won the title and Arkansas and USC would have tied for second.

USC’s top performances included Max Thomas (third in the 100 with a time of 10.10 seconds), William Jones (second in the 400 with a 45.53) and Garrett Kaalund (third in the 200 with a 19.96). The 4×100 relay team took second overall with a time of 38.46.

The women’s title will be decided Saturday at Hayward Field on the Oregon campus.

Sam Whitmarsh of Texas A&M, runner-up a year ago, beat indoor champion Matthew Erickson of Oregon to capture the 800 in 1:45.86, the second-fastest in school history.

Jordan Anthony of Arkansas, the NCAA champion in the indoor 60, added an outdoor title, winning the 100 in 10.07 from Lane 9.

Ja’Kobe Tharp, who won the 60 hurdles at the indoor championships for Auburn, added the 110 hurdle title to his resume with a personal-best time of 13.05. Tharp ran the fifth-fastest time in NCAA history, only 0.07 off of Grant Holloway’s record.

Auburn also won the 400 relay in a time of 38.33.

Samujel Ogazi of Alabama raced to a dominant win in the 400 with a time of 44.84, more than six-tenths faster than the runner-up. The sophomore, who made the Olympic finals in Paris, became the first Nigerian athlete to win the 400 NCAA title in 26 years.

James Corrigan of Brigham Young, a 2024 Olympian, won the 3,000 steeplechase in 8:16.41, grabbing the lead at the last water jump. His time is the fourth fastest in college history.

Nathan Green of Washington, the 2023 champion, won the 1,500 meters in 3:47.26 with the top 11 finishing within 0.68 of Green.

Brian Masau on Oklahoma State added the outdoor title in the 5,000 to the indoor title he won earlier this year, finishing in 13:20.59.

Ezekiel Nathaniel of Baylor lowered his Nigerian record to 47.49 in the 400 hurdles, the second-fastest time in the world this year.

Carli Makarawu of Kentucky took the 400 in 19.84 seconds, a Zimbabwe national record, edging countryman Makanakaishe Charamba of Auburn, who ran 19.92.

Oklahoma’s Ralford Mullings, who returned to the championship for the second time in his career, took the discus title by launching a meet-record and personal-best 227 feet, 4 inches.

Brandon Green Jr. and Floyd Whitaker gave Oklahoma a 1-2 finish in the triple jump with Green soaring 55-2 to win by more than a foot. Green led from the first jump and had it wrapped up after five rounds and then had his best leap to end it.

Arvesta Troupe of Mississippi cleared 7-5¼ to win the high jump.

Blenheim Palace

Thames Valley Police

Thames Valley Police

‘Truly shocking’

Thames Valley Police

Who are the other burglars?

Since coming to Westwood, Roch Cholowsky has had Omaha on his mind.

The Big Ten Player of the Year — a projected No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 MLB draft by some analysts — turned Charles Schwab Field in Omaha into a playground during the Big Ten tournament, winning player of the tournament honors despite UCLA not claiming the championship.

So far, in the NCAA tournament, Cholowsky had been uncharacteristically quiet for his standards. He still made hard plays look easy as a “premium shortstop” — as UCLA coach John Savage glowed about his defensive skills — but his bat wasn’t making its usual noise.

Lagging behind for Cholowsky isn’t the same for the rest of Division I baseball. The Arizona-raised team captain was still hitting .333 through the regionals and super regionals entering Sunday. A big swing, however, had yet to come — Cholowsky flying out to the deep outfield on numerous occasions across the last two weeks.

“He’s just trying to do too much, probably,” Savage reasoned after Game 1 of the Los Angeles super regional on Saturday. “All he cares about is winning. That’s all what these guys all care about. We like an average Roch. Average Roch is pretty good.”

Cholowsky finally had his moment Sunday. He did a little too much, as Savage said, trying to catch Texas San Antonio’s defense sleeping and got picked off at third base in the fifth. But his big swing finally arrived — a swing that helped deliver the Bruins to Omaha.

“I ran out and told [starting pitcher Conor Myles] not to throw a strike to Roch,” said Pat Hallmark, Texas San Antonio coach. “He threw him a strike.”

Cholowsky’s RBI single off that strike in the fifth, a part of his two-for-five day, clinched UCLA’s spot in the Men’s College World Series with a 7-0 victory over Texas San Antonio . The two-game sweep of the Roadrunners gave the Bruins their sixth berth to Omaha and first since 2013, when they won it all.

UCLA players celebrate after defeating Texas San Antonio to win the L.A. Super Regional on Sunday to advance to the Men’s College World Series.

(Ross Turteltaub / UCLA Athletics)

“It’s not easy, but I think we have the right cast of characters in terms of just people, great people on this team, people that want to represent UCLA,” Savage said.

Cholowsky, whose trip to Omaha as a high school senior convinced him of going to UCLA rather than becoming a likely first-round MLB draft selection, will now get his wish. The shortstop fell to the ground as Phoenix Call caught the final out in shallow right field, holding his head to the dirt. Cholowsky then leapt up, his teammates already celebrating at the center of the diamond. He joined them, jumping in glee; his dreams, realized.

“This is surreal to me,” Cholowsky said. “It’s just something that I’ve dreamed of for as long as I can remember, and then just getting back there and getting to go experience that a couple years ago just added that much more fire to the dream. I haven’t wrapped my head around it.”

Savage said UCLA being able to live a full week in Omaha during the Big Ten tournament last month gave the Bruins an idea of what the College World Series environment will be like.

“I think it’s huge for us,” Cholowsky said. “Using that next week I feel like going to help us. Same ballpark, same everything.”

Whereas Cholowsky may be one of the most well-known Bruins baseball players in recent memory, it was a little-playing junior who broke a scoreless game. Outfielder Toussaint Bythewood, a Harvard-Westlake alumnus, dunk a soft line drive into right field for a two-out RBI single against Myles.

UCLA sophomore infielder Roman Martin follows through on a hit against Texas San Antonio on Sunday.

(Ross Turteltaub / UCLA Athletics)

Bythewood, who had started twice all season and taken just 12 at bats entering the game, provided the Bruins with their winning swing. UCLA added two insurance runs in the eighth and three in the ninth to build enough distance for its arms to pitch a little more comfortably as the Roadrunners ran out of outs.

“Toussaint’s been really consistent in practice,” Savage said. “He should have had more opportunities at the end of the day. He was ready for that opportunity — hadn’t come up with a huge hit. So happy for Toussaint.”

A UTSA offense that was dominant in an Austin Regional sweep a week ago, exited with a whimper, rallying just four hits against UCLA’s pitching staff. Starting pitcher Landon Stump couldn’t get through the fifth, but the Bruins’ relief pitchers carried the brunt of the battle to shut out the Roadrunners.

Left-hander Chris Grothues tied a career high with 2 ⅔ scoreless innings, striking out two and making a nifty play to catch a popped-up bunt to end the sixth. Righties Cal Randall and August Souza bridged the gap to the ninth, where freshman closer Easton Hawk shut the door.

“They pounded a zone pretty good,” Savage said. “We walked two guys in two games, and it just seemed like we were very competitive. … Today, just a lot of contributions from a lot of different guys.”

Across the final five innings, the Bruins’ bullpen no-hit the Roadrunners.

Savage, who is in the 12th and final year of the contract extension that UCLA rewarded him with after winning the 2013 national championship, will get his long-awaited chance to revisit old memories and create new ones as the Bruins attempt to win their second national championship beginning next weekend in Omaha.

“It just tells you one thing — how difficult it is to get there,” Savage said about finally returning to Omaha after 12 years. “It’s great to be back and looking forward to the challenge.”

What advice does Savage have for his team at the Men’s College World Series?

“Enjoy the moment, enjoy the process, enjoy the journey,” he said.

Great Britain’s men produced a solid performance to win team gold at the European gymastics championship in Leipzig, Germany.

Olympic medallists Jake Jarman and Harry Hepworth, double European floor champion Luke Whitehouse plus Jonas Rushworth and Jamie Lewis – two newcomers to the senior squad – combined for a winning score of 247.528 points.

That total was enough to see off the challenges of Switzerland and Italy and earn Britain a first gold in the event since 2022.

Jarman, who was part of the quartet who won that title in Munich, told BBC Sport: “I’m incredibly proud of this team. It was a new team coming into this and I was a bit unsure how we’d get on together, but from day one it just seemed like the chemistry of the team came together so seamlessly.

“I was just trying to tell them to enjoy it. We do all the hard work back in the gym at home and when it comes to the day you don’t want to walk away from a competition wishing you’d enjoyed it more.”

Rushworth, 19, was making his senior debut for GB.

He told BBC Sport: “It’s a privilege, I feel blessed to be in this team.

“There’s no better group of lads to be here with. The experience was immense and I’m just excited for the future.”

The team event also served as qualification for the men’s all-around and apparatus finals, while the mixed team final takes place on Wednesday.

Italy won the women’s team event, external on Monday, with Great Britain finishing in sixth place.

Millions of elderly Americans are still hunting for appointments to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Millions of younger Americans are waiting impatiently for their turn in line.

But there’s one group whose members are far more skeptical about the vaccine — and in some cases are actively refusing to get jabbed at all.

That group is Republicans, especially GOP men.

In a recent NPR/PBS/Marist survey, fully 49% of Republican men said they do not plan to get vaccinated — a higher share of refusers than any other demographic group. Among Democratic men, the number saying no was only 6%.

The finding, which has been confirmed in other polls, has confounded public health professionals.

“We’ve never seen an epidemic that was polarized politically before,” Robert J. Blendon, a health policy scholar at Harvard, told me.

For months, Blendon and his colleagues expected “vaccine hesitancy” to be a problem mainly among African Americans, whose history has been marked by neglect and abuse by medical authorities. But Black Americans, after some initial hesitance, now say they want the vaccine at the same rate that white people do.

Republicans, on the other hand, have become more resistant — especially since a Democrat became president.

They don’t trust the federal government — and they trust it even less since Joe Biden came to the White House. They don’t trust scientists, and they especially don’t trust Dr. Anthony Fauci, Biden’s chief medical advisor.

Many tell pollsters they’re worried that the vaccine might not be safe. Such fears have been fed by Fox News, whose star polemicist Tucker Carlson has frequently accused authorities of “lying” about the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness.

Blendon said he expects many of those Republican skeptics to come around once they see friends and relatives get immunized without ill effects.

“We have to find a way to depoliticize this issue,” he said. “Instead of hearing Joe Biden or Tony Fauci tell them to take the vaccine, they need to hear it from physicians in their own states — people who have never worked in Washington.”

But some GOP politicians have decided to make resistance part of their political brand. As many as half of the 211 Republicans in the House of Representatives have refused to get vaccinated. So have at least four GOP senators.

A few, like Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, have asserted that they don’t need an injection because they contracted COVID-19 the natural way. (Scientists disagree, recommending that COVID survivors like Paul get booster shots.)

In perhaps the least devastating insult of the year so far, Paul dismissed Fauci last week as “a government worrywart.”

Others, like freshman Rep. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina, have defended the right not to be immunized as an exercise in individual freedom.

“The survival rate [from COVID-19] is too high for me to want it,” Cawthorn, who is 25, explained.

But there’s a flaw in that argument: The hazards of refusing the vaccine don’t confine themselves to the individual refuser. Vaccine resisters are putting the rest of us in danger, too.

Unvaccinated people who contract COVID-19, even if they don’t become seriously ill, can pass the virus to family and friends.

And resisters are making it harder to achieve “herd immunity,” the point at which the virus can no longer find new hosts to infect. That’s when the pandemic will come to an end.

Herd immunity against the coronavirus will require between 70% and 85% of the population to be vaccinated, Fauci estimates. It’s a new disease, so nobody knows the precise level, and new variants of the virus could push the number higher.

“If a significant number of people do not get vaccinated, that would delay where we would get to that endpoint,” Fauci warned recently.

And the longer it takes, the more people will get sick.

Paul, Cawthorn and their colleagues are casting themselves as courageous individualists. In fact, they’re acting as epidemiological moochers. They’re free riders, relying on the rest of us to protect them by helping the country reach herd immunity.

Their relatives and friends, especially those 65 or older, should give them a wide berth. And their voters should treat them as what they are: dangerous to the health of their communities.

Real Housewives of Cheshire star Tanya Bardsley and her family were sleeping at her lavish home when two masked men allegedly attempted to gain entry to the property

Tanya Bardsley has been left shocked after masked men attempted to break into her home. The Real Housewives of Cheshire star has told how her home in the leafy region was targeted by the masked men on Friday night.

The former model has taken to social media, sharing video footage of one son, Rocco, 16, standing on the driveway of the family home alongside two police officers and a member of a private security firm. Tanya, 44, and her family, including husband, Macclesfield assistant manager Phil, 39, were at home with their children when the incident occurred.

It’s believed that police were alerted about the attempted break-in after it was flagged on Tanya and Phil’s home security system, which is monitored by an external company. Taking to Instagram, Tanya shared a video showing a police car parked outside the gates of her home as the police spoke on their radios.

“Two masked men in Wilmslow lock your doors put your cameras on and call police if you see them,” she said. Tanya added: “Thank God for @tarussecuritygroup.” Now, a source has claimed that while the family were at home, they were fortunate enough that the break-in failed and nobody was injured.

“The family was home at the time, but luckily nobody was harmed,” a source told The Sun. The source went on to add: “Security and police turned up as fast they could, but the two masked men got away.”

The Mirror has approached Tanya and Cheshire Police for comment. Tanya and Phil are not the only stars of the Real Housewives franchise to be targeted by brazen thieves. Her former co-star, Nicole Sealey, was left shaken in 2022 when armed robbers gained access to her Cheshire home with crowbars.

It’s believed that the armed thieves who entered Nicole’s home, which she shares with her husband, former footballer Joe, went straight for their valuables, which included Nicole’s engagement and wedding rings as well as several Rolex watches. The scary incident comes after Tanya and Phil opened up to the Mirror about their decision to open their doors for the cameras once again, but on their own reality show.

Previously, former Manchester United FC legend Phil had ruled out appearing on their own programme but reluctantly gave in to pressures from his family. “We had to wear him down,” said Tanya when asked on how she persuaded Phil to take part. She went on to add: “Complete peer pressure from the whole family but we got there.” Although both have had glittering careers, Tanya admits that having their own show was “a lot harder” than shows, including Housewives.

“Even when I’m not filming, I’ve got to be there for the kids filming. It was a lot, but I’ve loved it,” she said. But having both been in the business since 2003, Tanya admits that the biggest thing she’s learnt about herself – she “can’t keep her mouth shut,” as Phil joked: “That’s nothing new, is it?” This is seen in one episode, with Tanya oversharing with some of her friends about Phil’s manscaping.

“Phil’s got a d**k-fringe,” she laughed. Explaining the bombshell, Tanya revealed: “He was in the shower for a long time, obviously he had a razor and he got a bit experimental. He walked out and he’s got a d**k-fringe. I told Jenny Powell this. As soon as it came out, I was like ‘S**t, he’s going to kill me!’ because I’d said it on camera, I had to tell him on camera that I said it.

“He took it well.” Although he’s been married to Tanya since 2014, Phil admitted: “Nothing surprises us with Tanya, with what comes out of her mouth.” She joked that she often told her Housewives co-stars about Phil’s manhood and joked he should be proud, as she would also tell them if it wasn’t up to scratch.

“I appreciate the compliment,” Phil joked. When asked about their relationship, Phil joked that he was there to “put fires out” after Tanya’s hilarious outbursts. This show will be different to how Tanya has been seen on TV as she won’t be getting “dolled up” all the time, only when she’s heading on a night out.

“We’re slouching around, the crew have become sort of part of the family, we don’t do scenes – we’re just being us,” she said. Phil added: “It’s more off the cuff stuff is what people want to see.”

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