moment

Caitlin Clark says everybody making a big deal about a heated moment on the bench between her and Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White has gotten it “blatantly wrong.”

“I know there’s a camera on me … but there’s a lot of people out there in the media or on TV that think they know a lot of things, and they’re just blatantly wrong,” the star point guard said on Monday. “It’s just another example of what everybody … want[s] to blow up and make something that is just … not in reality.”

Clark was addressing a moment that occurred during the Fever’s 100-84 loss to the Portland Fire on Saturday. The viral footage appears to show Clark and White having a heated exchange while the team is huddled on the bench. White then subs Clark out for Raven Johnson, having her take Clark’s seat, as they presumably continue to discuss their next play. Kelsey Mitchell and Makayla Timpson appear to try to calm Clark, who can be seen shaking her head while standing behind her coach.

As with many moments involving the 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year, video capturing the exchange was widely circulated and discussed among fans and pundits online and on TV.

Clark dismissed the moment as just “two people being competitive, two people that really want to win” and pushed back against it being described as “a blow up.”

“I ride for Steph, I ride for these girls. Steph has my back more than anybody,” the two-time All Star said. “Nobody in … our locker room, or Steph, or our coaching staff, thought twice about it.”

Clark’s teammate Lexie Hull was also asked about the moment on Monday during an appearance on Yahoo Sports Daily, and the Fever guard indicated it wasn’t even a blip on the team’s radar.

“That’s part of the game,” Hull said after mentioning the team had been in some foul trouble. “There’s frustrations that rise, and decisions have to be made, and ultimately, this wasn’t something that carried on. This is, in the moment, something that happened, and not something that is talked about now in our locker room or talked about even later on in the game.”

White echoed her players’ sentiments Monday, saying the footage just captured her coaching.

“I was challenging a player,” White said. “It’s coaching. … My relationship with Caitlin is great. … She wants to be coached. I want her to help me be a better coach. We’re both competitive, we’re both stubborn, we’re more alike than different. Hopefully we continue to bring the best out of each other.”

White attributed the attention to Clark’s popularity and how “everything that she does gets clicks.” She also pushed back against attempts to frame these moments as “tense.”

“It’s not a new thing,” White said. “It happens in every sport … and it’s not a story.”

Clark, the 2024 No. 1 draft pick, first gained buzz for her three-point shooting during her college years at Iowa. While her popularity has carried over into her WNBA career, she has more recently been increasingly scrutinized for her demeanor and perceived disrespect toward coaches and officials rather than for her play. Her injury-plagued 2025 campaign and the Fever’s less-than-stellar start to the 2026 season haven’t helped. The Fever are currently 4-4 and ninth in the WNBA standings. The team went 20-20 in the regular season during Clark’s rookie campaign and 24-20 in 2025 (Clark played just 13 games).

“There’s immense amount of pressure, and sometimes that pressure can get you and frustrate you in different ways,” said Clark. “I want to win. This team wants to win, and I’m the point guard, so it’s on me to help this team and this franchise win.”

Weeks after Trump administration officials announced that management of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory would open to competitive bidding for the first time, questions remain as to why Caltech could lose control of the lab its researchers founded in 1936.

On one hand, observers note, high-profile delays and cost overruns on significant recent JPL projects earned sharp criticism from NASA even before the 2024 presidential election.

On the other, the second Trump administration’s record of squeezing scientific funding and attacking institutions in Democratic-led states make it difficult to consider any action as separate from the charged political atmosphere, analysts say.

“My first instinct is that this [competition] isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s not written in stone that Caltech must run JPL, and it wouldn’t be the worst thing to have some competition for running the place,” said Casey Dreier, chief of space policy at the nonprofit Planetary Society.

“That said, that requires this contract evaluation to be fair and unbiased, and this administration has no credibility in such things,” he added. “The responsibility is on NASA to earn the trust and ensure such an evaluation is open and free from political meddling. That’s almost impossible.”

JPL became part of NASA when the space agency was formed in 1958, and Caltech has been awarded the contract to run the institution outright ever since.

Its current 10-year contract with NASA, which is valued at up to $30 billion, runs through Sept. 30, 2028.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced the competition on May 22 as part of a slate of sweeping organizational changes at the space agency.

“When you step back, it is worth considering how many additional missions we could have undertaken with the resources lost to program cancellations and cost overruns over the years,” Isaacman wrote in a memo to staff. “That is the problem we must fix, so the American taxpayer and space-loving community can receive the highest scientific return on every dollar we spend at NASA.”

Allowing competition on the contract for JPL, the lone Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) in NASA’s portfolio, was an effort to address cost-efficiency concerns, Isaacman wrote.

“This process will take several years, and I do not anticipate it having any impact on the projects underway or the location of the facilities,” he wrote. “It does, however, provide an opportunity to evaluate management costs, overhead burdens, and ideally find ways to get after the science faster and more affordably.”

In a joint statement, Caltech President Thomas F. Rosenbaum and JPL Director Dave Gallagher said that the competition was “no surprise” and that a team was already in place “to ensure we are positioned for success.”

In July, NASA’s Office of Procurement held an informational event for companies and institutions interested in the upcoming FFRDC contract.

The dozens of registered attendees included universities such as USC, Texas A&M and Georgia Tech; aerospace companies such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin; and nonprofit corporations like MITRE, which manages several FFRDCs, and Universities Space Research Assn., a university consortium founded by the National Academy of Sciences in 1969. (SpaceX, which has been awarded more than $13 billion in NASA contracts in the last decade, was not on the list.)

“Lockheed Martin has more than 50 years of deep space exploration success with JPL, supporting landmark missions to Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Pluto, including nearly a dozen missions to Mars,” said Bob Behnken, vice president of exploration and technology strategy. “We look forward to building on that unmatched partnership in the years ahead. We are closely following NASA’s review and will continue to assess how we can best contribute to the agency’s mission.”

Other attendees contacted by The Times declined to discuss their involvement.

Isaacman indicated that JPL could come under scrutiny even before he took over NASA. The billionaire entrepreneur referenced high costs at the La Cañada Flintridge institution in a memo prepared in advance of his confirmation hearings on his priorities for the space agency.

“Contract structure: Very expensive,” Isaacman wrote of JPL in a table outlining organizational issues at each of NASA’s centers. “Must increase the output and ‘time-to-science’ KPI,” or key performance indicator.

The institution has recently suffered a number of high-profile management stumbles.

After the JPL-managed Psyche mission to a metal-rich asteroid failed to meet its 2022 launch date, NASA commissioned an independent review that said internal reorganizations and personnel changes created distracted and uninformed managers and burned-out, stretched-thin staffers.

After a 2023 independent review found there was “near zero probability” of the JPL-managed Mars Sample Return mission making its proposed 2028 launch date, and “no credible” way to bring rocks back from the Red Planet within the stated budget, Isaacman’s predecessor, Bill Nelson, put out a call for proposals to industry and all other NASA centers, forcing JPL to compete for its own project.

After Trump’s election, Nelson announced that the final decision would be in the next administration’s hands.

The White House pushed for massive cuts to NASA’s 2026 budget that Congress overturned, and has lobbied for similarly steep cuts again this year. JPL has instituted painful cost-cutting measures of its own, reducing staffing from roughly 6,500 employees in 2023 to 4,500 last year through layoffs and attrition.

Its struggles come at a point when NASA is enthusiastically embracing private industry. Last month the agency awarded several key contracts for its upcoming lunar missions to Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and other private companies.

Trump has also made no secret of his willingness to punish states that haven’t voted for him through job losses. In announcing his decision to move U.S. Space Command from Colorado to Alabama, Trump acknowledged that his loss in Colorado in three presidential elections played a part in the move.

It’s impossible to consider any decision on JPL’s future as separate from the administration’s track record of politically motivated decisions, Dreier said.

“At the heart of this is why? Why now? If this is not just some rank political attack on California, what do they hope to gain from this?” he said. “That deserves explanation, because the administration otherwise has no credibility here.”

Will Smith crouched, his left knee on the ground and his mitt grazing the dirt as his Team USA teammate Mason Miller strode towards the plate.

From there, the only way for his glove to go was up and through the slider that fell out of the strike zone as the Dominican Republic’s Geraldo Perdomo stopped his swing. But, in a full count, home plate umpire Cory Blaser called it strike three.

Miller threw his hands above his head. Smith pumped his first. And the United States advanced to the World Baseball Classic final.

“That’s the work we do in the cage, and off the machine, and drills, and all that coming to fruition, and being applied to in-game,” Smith said in a recent conversation with The Times.

He has a slim chance of replicating that moment during the season, with the ABS challenge system implemented in MLB. If it had been in play during the WBC — as long as the Dominican Republic had challenges left — Perdomo surely would have used one on the final pitch of that 2-1 game.

And yet, as counterintuitive as it may sound, Smith dedicated time and effort during spring training to improving his framing.

“It’s important because you only get two challenges a game, offensively and defensively,” Smith said. “The whole team only gets those two. So the harder I can make it on the other team to challenge pitches, the better. The more strikes I can get and not have to challenge, the better. I think overall, it almost makes it more important, in a way.”

United States pitcher Mason Miller and catcher Will Smith celebrate a WBC semifinal win over the Dominican Republic.

(Rebecca Blackwell / Associated Press)

Framing had been a weakness in Smith’s game in recent seasons, according to Statcast’s catching metrics. His best season was 2023, when he recorded four runs saved via pitch framing. But he slipped to minus-eight and minus-10 the next two seasons. Entering the Dodgers’ series against the Phillies this weekend, he was at an even zero after 43 games at catcher this season, including 39 starts.

And now, when Smith doesn’t get a call, he has ABS to fall back on. Entering Friday, he’s challenged 41 calls through the ABS system from behind the plate, the 10th-most of any catcher. And he had a 71% success rate, the ninth-best mark among catchers with at least 20 challenges.

Because the catcher has the best vantage point, teams across the majors have made their catchers, not their pitchers, the point men for ABS challenges on defense.

ABS as a skill, however, isn’t just about getting the challenges right. Knowing the right times to take a risk is also key.

“There’s so many games within the game,” Smith said, “and that’s just another one of them.”

As Smith alluded to, under the challenge system — as opposed to fulltime ABS, which MLB also tested in the minors — it’s still possible to steal strikes.

“I like the challenge system because you still have the human error element to the game,” Smith said. “…Everyone always talks about how it’s a game of life, dealing with failure and dealing with ups and downs — the umpire screwing you or catching a break, that’s part of the game.”

Dodgers catcher Will Smith walks to the dugout after the fifth inning of a Dodgers-Marlins game at Dodger Stadium on April 27.

(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)

Now, the players have recourse for the egregious calls and the biggest moments of the game.

The margins are so slim, however, that if a hitter isn’t convinced enough on a borderline strike call, and the situation dictates caution, he may not challenge.

The same goes for a catcher on a borderline ball call.

That’s where Smith’s work on framing comes in. He describes it as a change in philosophy.

“For me, it’s more just understanding the move,” Smith said. “I had to drill it in a little bit obviously, but more understanding the move of going farther out to get it, working through the ball, more like towards the pitcher, as opposed to letting the ball kind of come back to you. That was just not how I’d ever done it.”

That’s what he did on that last pitch of the WBC semifinals. Moving through the ball creates a more seamless motion, compared to pulling it into the strike zone, making the frame job more convincing. And catching it out in front also stops the ball’s own movement before it gets too far out of the zone.

That’s how Smith made a pitch that appeared to cross the plate below Perdomo’s knees look like a strike from Blaser’s vantage point.

The effect Smith’s spring training work behind the plate will have on the Dodgers’ season will be subtler. Instead of a singular game-defining moment, it’ll be an edge here and there.

But over the course of a long season, that adds up.

The Vicar of Dibley star Dawn French was taken aback when a fan yelled at her in the street enthusiastically but had mistaken her for her fellow sitcom legend Dame Joanna Lumley

Dawn French was taken aback aback when a fan mistook her for Dame Joanna Lumley. The comedienne, 68, is best known playing the title role of Geraldine Granger in The Vicar of Dibley, while former model Joanna, 80, starred as boozy fashion magazine editor Patsy Stone in Absolutely Fabulous alongside Dawn’s sketch comedy partner Jennifer Saunders.

The TV star took to social media on Bank Holiday with a humorous video where she recounted the situation for her fans and followers as she appeared to take it all in good humour.

She said: “So I did something on the telly and come out of there, just walking along and [someone shouts] ‘Hey you, you! You are absolutely fabulous.’

READ MORE: Dawn French shocks fans with talk of ‘funeral’ plans and the sad story behind new projectREAD MORE: Joanna Lumley says she believes secret to not ageing is not eating meat as she turns 80

“Oh, thank you very much!’ [And they said] ‘No, you are Absolutely Fabulous, Joanna Lumley. That’s you!’ Yeah that’s me all right!” Captioning the post, she wrote: “ABSOLOOOOTLY FABLUSS!!!”

Fans were quick to react to the post, with one simply writing: “Joanna Lumley,” and leaving behind a string of crying-laughing emojis. Referring to a moment from the second series of The Vicar of Dibley, in which Geraldine is mistaken for a celebrity, another fan wrote: “Its like someone thinking you’re Alison Moyet all over again!”

Another joked: “You’ve finally made it [face palm emoji]” and a fourth said: “Recognition get it where you can! and another said: “Poor fella probably thinks Joanna Lumley was a lady vicar.”

Author and singer Jann Arden wrote: “joanna lumley!! just the best. I once had someone come up to me in the grocery store, they were awfully excited and then proceeded to tell me that I looked like Jann Arden’s mother. So there’s that.”

Dawn is actually part of the history of Absolutely Fabulous, which followed the capers of hapless PR guru Edina Monsoon and her best friend Patsy.

The sitcom, which ran sporadically over the course of 20 years, was initially based on a sketch that appeared as part of French & Saunders titled Modern Mother and Daughter, where Dawn played the part of Edina’s straight-laced daughter Saffy, and the part was eventually taken on by Julia Sawalha when the project was greenlit as a full series.

Dawn later made a cameo appearance as a television presenter in the first series, and reprised the role for Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie in 2016, alongside a host of other guest stars like Rylan Clark, Kate Moss and Dame Joan Collins.

Joanna’s early career consisted of appearances in Coronation Street and The New Avengers but she has also gone on to become known for narrating a host of travel documentaries, and has found renewed sitcom success with a starring role in Amandaland.

Meanwhile, as well as French & Saunders and The Vicar of Dibley and more recent TV roles with Can You Keep A Secret? , Dawn has carved out another career as an author, having recently released her fifth novel Enough.

It follows a woman named Etta who at 68 invites all of her family to go to the beach as the sun is rising, where she tells them that by sunset, she won’t be there anymore.

“She’s made a decision to excuse her kids from the difficult, prickly last part of life,” Dawn said as she appeared on The One Show. “And she has made this decision thinking that it’s extremely selfless to do that.”

The star told the BBC show’s hosts Angellica Bell and Clara Amfo that she felt that the fact her own father had died by suicide gave her some “permission” to write the story. Dawn also shared that her own age – 68 – was also a factor when she penned the book.

She said: “I feel a little bit of permission to write this theme because I am a child of suicide myself. My dad took his life when I was 19. And I have lived with the various stages of grief about that for my whole life.”

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Love Your Weekend host Alan Titchmarsh questioned Jeremy Vine after the presenter opened up about an embarrassing celebrity encounter.

Jeremy Vine has shared a cringe-worthy story about meeting one of pop music’s biggest stars under rather unfortunate circumstances.

Love Your Weekend With Alan Titchmarsh returned to ITV this morning, with the much-loved presenter heading to The Big Cat Sanctuary in Kent for this week’s episode.

Alan Titchmarsh, 77, was joined by BBC presenter and journalist Jeremy, Michael Flatley and Kate Fleetwood, while dog-in-training Titch also made a welcome reappearance.

The veteran host kicked off the programme by quizzing his celebrity guests about their greatest “pinch me moments”.

Jeremy then launched into a rather risqué anecdote about a particularly memorable bathroom visit during his time at BBC Radio 2, prompting Alan to step in with a cautionary word.

“Behind Radio 2 reception there was a loo…” he began, as Alan interjected: “I think you’re going to take this slightly downmarket…”

“I wont!” Jeremy insisted as Alan questioned: “Is this really necessary?”

Jeremy then explained: “I’ve got to tell this story; I’ve got to unload because I haven’t really told it before.”

Alan then cheekily warned Jeremy that the phrase ‘I’ve really got to unload’ hardly inspired great confidence given the direction the tale was heading, reports the Express.

Undeterred, Jeremy continued: “So behind Radio 2 reception there is a single cubicle toilet and it was always locked because the receptionist said we don’t want anyone going in there for obvious reasons.

“And one day I was bursting and I could see the door unlocked, so I say, ‘Do you mind if I go in?’ and I lock the door and I’m in a seated position…

“You’re on the verge of oversharing!” Alan exclaimed, as Jeremy continued: “I don’t understand what’s going on outside the door because I’ve got no idea.

“But Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees has said to reception, ‘I need to use the loo urgently.’

“And reception looks round and the door is locked because it always is because they lock the door to stop people using it,” he clarified.

“So they gave him the master key and I’m sitting in the loo in a seriously private moment and [the door] suddenly opens and Barry Gibb walks in!

“This is the guy who wrote Islands in the Stream!” Jeremy added, as the studio erupted into laughter.

“He walks in a completely continuous movement and I think he made the noise ‘ha?!'” the presenter said, imitating a similar sound to what the Bee Gees sing in their famous track, Stayin’ Alive.

“I’ve only met him once and that was it,” Jeremy concluded, as Alan swiftly steered the conversation elsewhere.

For her standout moment, Kate recounted the occasion she encountered legendary Hollywood actor Dustin Hoffman following a theatrical performance.

She recalled being completely starstruck having previously watched him in classics such as Tootsie and The Graduate, while younger cast members recognised him from the animated blockbuster Kung Fu Panda.

Meanwhile, Michael disclosed he had recently had an audience with Pope Leo XIV, describing it as amongst the greatest days of his life.

Love Your Weekend With Alan Titchmarsh airs every Sunday at 9.30am on ITV1 and ITVX.

WASHINGTON — For much of President Trump’s second term, Republican senators have largely stayed in line, wary of the consequences of defying a president with a history of targeting those who cross him. This week, that dynamic noticeably shifted.

Senate Republicans blocked two of Trump’s legislative priorities, angered by the push to create a $1.8-billion federal fund to compensate people who claim to have been politically persecuted, including rioters who assaulted the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The revolt forced Republican leaders to pull a planned vote on legislation to fund the president’s immigration crackdown and security features for the president’s White House ballroom project.

In response, the president defended the fund and lashed out at its critics.

“I gave up a lot of money in allowing the just announced Anti-Weaponization Fund to go forward,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “Instead, I am helping others, who were so badly abused by an evil, corrupt and weaponized Biden Administration, receive, at long last, JUSTICE”!

The president also called Republican senators who broke with him quitters who are “screwing the Republican Party.”

The friction, which has been building for weeks, is being watched as potential test to the limits of Trump’s grip on his party amid an already tense political environment heading into the midterm elections.

“This is kind of a perfect storm,” former Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “It may be that this time you can point to it and say this is when the great migration begins, away from some of the president’s policies and away from the fear that the president can target you.”

Whether this week marks the beginning of that moment — or simply another episode of political turbulence that fades — is the central question now handing over Trump’s second term.

Not the first break — but an escalation

This is not the first time Republicans have broken with the president. In November, Congress overwhelmingly voted to force the Justice Department to release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, an effort that Trump unsuccessfully tried to thwart for months.

The Epstein vote showed that on the right issue, under the right circumstances, Republicans could be moved to defy Trump. This week, the creation of the fund changed the circumstances again, and the number of Republican senators willing to act quickly grew.

This moment comes after months of rising costs during the war in Iran, efforts by the president to oust members of his own party and now a set of proposals that are proving hard to defend in an election year.

“What you have is basically a bunch of people who feel a bit under siege,” said Bob Olinksy, the senior vice president of Structural Reform and Governance at the Center for American Progress. “At the same time, they know that most of what the president is doing is unpopular, and they’re the ones who are going to be standing for reelection in November.”

Republicans push back

Senate Republicans leaders are now asking the Department of Justice to reconsider the terms of the fund, underscoring just how politically toxic the idea has become within the president’s own party.

Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) told reporters that the politically speaking, the fund is “unexplainable.” Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) told the New York Times the fund should be in real trouble. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) called the fund “utterly stupid” and “morally wrong.”

Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican whom Trump has singled out for going against him, was equally unsparing, saying he opposed “using billions of taxpayer dollars to compensate convicted felons and thugs who attacked police.” He also criticized the administration for pushing domestic and foreign policy issues that he says are bad for housing and the military.

“If opposing these things makes me a RINO [Republican In Name Only], then I gladly accept that nickname,” Tillis wrote on X. “We need Republicans to do well in November, but the stupid stuff is killing our chances!”

The Republican push back comes as the concern about self-dealing runs deep across the electorate.

A recent poll Economist/YouGov poll found that 59% of Americans believe Trump is using his office for personal gain, though that belief is sharply divided among partisan lines. A CNN poll found that 37% of Americans say Trump puts the good of the country above his personal gain, while 32% say he is in touch with the problems of ordinary Americans.

Asked if the political environment influenced the actions this week, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters that there is a “political component to everything we do around here.”

Funds and tax immunity clauses

Senate Democrats are wondering if the fund will mark a watershed moment for Republicans.

“Have Republicans finally found a bridge too far?” Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) told reporters after Republicans left Washington without funding Trump’s priorities.

Democrats have called the fund an illegal abuse of power designed to line the pockets of Trump’s allies with taxpayer dollars. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) called it a “pure theft of public funds.”

The fund was created as part of a settlement resolving a $10-billion lawsuit Trump personally brought against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns. Alongside it, the deal says the IRS is “forever barred and precluded” from pursuing any tax claims against Trump and his businesses.

Under the tax immunity clause, Trump and his family could save more than $600 million, according to an analysis by Forbes.

The fund, however, has been the target of most of the bipartisan ire. Mostly because Trump and administration officials have not ruled out that it could stand to benefit people who carried out violence during the Jan. 6 riot.

The public funds, if disbursed, would come from the federal judgment fund, which is a Congress-approved ongoing appropriation that allows the Justice Department to settle cases and make payouts. In the past, Republicans have taken issue with the fund. The GOP-controlled House Judiciary Committee characterized it an abuse in 2017.

Several of the president’s allies have already talked about tapping into the fund.

Michael Cohen, Trump’s former attorney who served prison time in relation to campaign finance violations, said he plans to apply for compensation.

Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, who was convicted of seditious conspiracy and later pardoned by Trump, told CBS News he would seek a payout from the fund.

“I was targeted,” Tarrio said. “And I do believe that this fund does apply to me.”

On the eve of the City Section championship baseball game at Dodger Stadium, let’s explore a sometimes forgotten character trait: Patience.

When JJ Saffie walks onto hallowed ground Saturday as a starting left fielder for 10-time City champion El Camino Real High in the Open Division championship game against Birmingham, he will be finishing a journey few want to travel these days.

He spent three years on the junior varsity team waiting and grinding before getting his chance to start on varsity this season.

“Very patient,” he said. “Freshman year, played frosh-soph, called up for a few JV games. Sophomore year, on and off starter on JVs. Junior year is when it started clicking for me. I found my bat, I found the style I like to play, I started hitting real good.”

He was part of an outstanding JV team his junior year, called up as a pinch runner for the playoffs. He developed power and a knack for hitting balls over El Camino Real’s left-field fence during batting practice.

“I’ve hit two windows and six cars,” said the 18-year-old, who likes to cause mayhem for insurance companies.

El Camino Real celebrates a 4-3 win over Granada Hills to earn a trip to Dodger Stadium on Saturday.

(Craig Weston)

He’s hit two home runs this season and become a key player for the Royals.

Now he gets to start at Dodger Stadium, a moment every high school baseball player in the City Section dreams of reaching.

“I’m a big believer in good things will come to those who are patient,” he said. “I knew I needed to be patient, work on my game and eventually success would come my way and I’d have my opportunities and here’s my opportunity. I’m trying to prove that Saturday.”

El Camino Real needed a two-run single by RJ De La Rosa in the bottom of the sixth inning on Wednesday to defeat Granada Hills 4-3 in the semifinals at Cal State Northridge.

“I saw my pitch,” De La Rosa said. “I wanted to take advantage. It was the bottom of the sixth. The team needed me most and I pulled through. It was an amazing moment. These boys are my brothers. I will fight for them. I will do everything for them. I can’t wait to make some memories at Dodger Stadium.”

For Saffie, staying and fighting to get better rather than running away from a challenge is a great lesson for others.

“I had a few people tell me to transfer,” he said. “But my sister came here, my dad. I want to prove myself at this school.”

Top-seeded Birmingham will have junior Nathan Soto starting on the mound in the 1 p.m. game. It’s a big assignment and he’ll be working on his mental part of the game.

“It’s just another game,” he said after the Patriots’ 4-1 semifinal win over Carson. “I think it’s everyone’s dream to pitch there, but you have to keep it as a normal game.”

Pitcher Carlos Acuna grinded out a complete game in Birmingham’s 4-1 win over Carson to send the Patriots to Dodger Stadium.

(Craig Weston)

Birmingham can thank Carlos Acuna for putting together a sophomore season to remember. His pitching season is done. He finished with an 11-0 record after a complete-game win against Carson.

“It’s an amazing season he’s having,” coach Matt Mowry said.

In six of the seven innings on Wednesday, Carson got the leadoff batter aboard, forcing Acuna to work extra hard while throwing 102 pitches.

“He was on the edge of coming out,” Mowry said.

Acuna wouldn’t let him.

“I love this team,” Acuna said. “I want to play one last game.”

He’ll start on Saturday at second or third base in a game matching two of the most successful programs in City baseball history. El Camino Real is seeking a record 11th title. Birmingham wants its ninth title.

The 10 a.m. game at Dodger Stadium has Verdugo Hills taking on Taft in the Division I final.

Fans will come for the sun, the hot dogs, the fun of cheering on someone they know or enjoying a moment of distraction at Los Angeles’ most sacred stadium.

Just remember those are teenagers out there who’ve sacrificed and spent years working toward this moment. There’s no losers when you get to play at Dodger Stadium as a high school kid.

For Saffie, it validates his belief in trusting the process and trusting himself. He didn’t run when the going got tough. He persevered and learned a valuable lesson: patience still pays off.

There appears to be a shift in the years-long conflict in Ukraine.

Last weekend, Ukrainian forces struck deeper into Russian territory, piercing its air defences in a large strike on the Moscow region.

This came a week after fears of a Ukrainian attack forced Russia to scale down its annual Victory Day parade.

Kyiv’s also been relentlessly striking Russia’s oil facilities and military logistics, as it tries to disrupt supplies to the front lines.

All this as Russian missiles and drones continue to target sites across Ukraine.

So, where does the war stand in its fifth year? Does any one side have the upper hand?

Presenter: James Bays

Guests:

Peter Zalmayev – Director of the Eurasia Democracy Initiative

Pavel Felgenhauer – Russian foreign policy analyst

Mark Episkopos – Research fellow at the Quincy Institute’s Eurasia Program

Two US Navy jets collided during an air show at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho, sending both aircraft crashing to the ground in front of spectators. All four crew members ejected safely before impact.

As Kelsey Luderer rounded third base and headed home Thursday after hitting a game-tying home run that ignited Sherman Oaks Notre Dame to a 6-3 Division 1 softball playoff win over Anaheim Canyon, she was greeted by every teammate at the plate. They engulfed her in a sea of white, screaming, yelling and patting her head.

Looking on with pride was Brian Luderer, her father and Notre Dame assistant coach. Every moment he’s at a game or practice, it serves as a positive distraction from thinking about the fight his brother, Matt, the athletic director at St. Francis, has been enduring. For more than a year, Matt has been battling an uncureable brain cancer, glioblastoma.

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame assistant coach Brian Luderer with his daughter, Kelsey.

(Craig Weston / For The Times)

It’s hard for Brian to talk about his brother without crying. “These girls give me what I need,” he said. “They’re like my family. The more we can win, the better for me. I’m proud he’s been fighting his butt off.”

Three weeks ago, Matt suffered a relapse. The many Luderer family members (Brian has four children and Matt has six daughters) have united to keep the faith. And softball is their place for a moment away from life’s challenges.

“This is kind of our happy place, a good place to get away,” Kelsey said.

Haley Maldonado had a three-hit day for Sherman Oaks Notre Dame.

(Craig Weston / For The Times)

The Knights fell behind 3-0 after Canyon’s Mia Saenz hit a two-run home run and added another run on an error. The hitters started forcing Canyon pitcher Kelsey Perez to work extra hard, producing multiple three-and-two counts. Sophomore Haley Maldonado, who finished with three hits, contributed an RBI double in the second. But it wasn’t until Luderer’s home run to left field in the fourth that the Knights were set free, leading to a three-run inning and a comeback victory.

Brian and Notre Dame head coach Justin Siegel are best friends and former minor league baseball players who turned to softball when they had daughters. Brian has sophomore twins Kelsey and Keira in starring roles. In four years, they’ve built the Knights (22-3) into a Division 1 title contender. Next up is Marmonte League champion Oaks Christian on Saturday.

Every softball win brings a moment of peace to the Luderer family.

Oaks Christian 8, Chaminade 1: Sophia Debs struck out 13 and hit a home run for the Lions.

Murrieta Mesa 10, Valley View 0: Lilly Hauser had three hits and struck out 11 in a six-inning mercy rule win.

La Mirada 4, Los Alamitos 2: Alison Ortega struck out 10 for La Mirada.

JSerra 3, Yucaipa 2: Liliana Escobar struck out nine and walked one for JSerra.

Mater Dei 11, Foothill 3: Danica Lancellotti had a two-run double and finished with three hits for Mater Dei.

May 13 (UPI) — King Charles III set out the British government’s legislative program at the State Opening of Parliament on Wednesday, focusing on expediting new agreements on closer U.K.-EU economic ties, tackling the cost of living, boosting defense AI and tech innovation and easing financial sector regulation.

The king’s 17-minute speech in the House of Lords referenced 37 bills in total, including legislation to renationalize British Steel, a Competition Reform Bill to fast-track reviews by the competition watchdog and a bill to help small businesses by hiking the interest suppliers can charge clients that fail to pay on time.

Charles opened his address with the geopolitical situation, saying Britain faced threats from an “increasingly dangerous and volatile world,” with the conflict in the Middle East the most recent example, and warned every “element of the nation’s energy, defense and economic security” would be challenged.

Honing in on the economy, Charles said the government would harness the power of the state “in partnership with business and enable reforms that support higher growth and a fair deal for working people.”

“My Government believes that the United Kingdom’s economic security depends on raising living standards in every part of the United Kingdom. My Ministers will support measures that maintain stability and control the cost of living. They will use public investment to shape markets and attract further private investment,” he said.

The speech pledged progress on airport expansion and highway infrastructure projects and a Northern Powerhouse Rail program to better connect the big cities in the north with each other and the rest of the country, along with reforms to the police, National Health Service and criminal justice system.

An immigration and asylum bill was also promised to help tackle the issue of migrants and asylum seekers arriving on small boats.

One issue that received no mention was cutting welfare spending, an area where the Labour administration of Prime Minister Keir Starmer has twice been forced to back down in the face of his own MPs since coming into office in 2024.

While the address is called The King’s Speech, it is purely ceremonial with the speech actually given to him by the government to read out.

It was Charles’ third time to open parliament, a historic tradition that dates back to the 16th century as a way to periodically bring together three normally separate elements of British polity: the democratically elected members of the House of Commons, the House of Lords and the Crown.

The proceedings include Buckingham Palace taking an MP “hostage” to ensure the king is returned unharmed and a “search” of the basements of the Palace of Westminister for dynamite by the King’s ceremonial Yeomen bodyguards, a throwback to the gunpowder plot to blow up the House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament on Nov. 5, 1605.

Wednesday’s opening of parliament comes amid a leadership crisis at the top of government with scores of Starmer’s own MPs demanding he either stand aside or set a timetable for his departure after the party suffered heavy losses in local elections on Thursday.

“There’s deep uncertainty as to whether Starmer will be leading the government over the next 12 months or so. So it’s a bit of a paradox,” Craig Prescott, an expert in the constitutional and political role of the monarchy at Royal Holloway, University of London, told NBC News.

Starmer has insisted he is staying put and will lead his party into the next election, not a big stretch given his 165-seat parliamentary majority and that no MP or cabinet member has mounted a formal challenge to his leadership.

Nevertheless, Prescott described the parliament into which the king ventured on Wednesday as “febrile.”

“The politics of all this is a bit too close for comfort,” he said.

The BBC said allies of Health Secretary Wes Streeting had told it that he would formally challenge Starmer as early as Thursday. The pair held talks in Downing Street early Wednesday but there was no word on the outcome of their meeting.

O’Leary has seen hundreds of players come and go, whether as team-mates or members of squads he has coached.

There has always been a desire, he says, to ensure those who have arrived understand what the place is about.

“Even as a player, I hated it if someone who came in had something negative to say about the club, the city, the people, anything,” O’Leary explains.

“I take it really personally. So I do all I can to make sure people who come here have the best possible experience at Swansea City, like I’ve had, and that they see it how I see it.”

O’Leary first watched Swansea play against Manchester United in 1986, a friendly game which was played to raise money for the cash-strapped Welsh side.

It was his first experience – but certainly not the last – of a crisis at the club.

By his early teens O’Leary was involved in the Swans’ youth set-up, and by 1995-96 he was knocking on the door of the first team.

That was a season in which Swansea had no fewer than four managers – including the unknown Kevin Cullis, who lasted a week – and suffered relegation to what is now League Two.

Jan Molby was in charge for the back-end of the campaign, and it was the former Liverpool star who gave O’Leary his debut, in a 5-1 defeat at Bradford City in March 1996.

While all Swansea’s senior pros were in tracksuits, O’Leary and another youth prospect, Damien Lacey, travelled to the game in “trousers and a polo shirt” because in those days, there was no kit dished out to youngsters.

Villa’s wretched 2-1 home defeat by Tottenham on Sunday – a third consecutive loss – did not give them the ideal platform, even if Emery made eight changes.

It underlined the lack of depth within the squad, with Emi Martinez, Matty Cash, Youri Tielemans and Morgan Rogers viewed as the only first-choice starters in Sunday’s XI.

Emery, though, has earned admiration from at least two fellow Premier League managers who have been privately impressed with the decisions he made – a clear focus on his biggest game at the club – and how he stuck to the strategy.

He has won the Europa League a record four times – three times with Sevilla and once with Villarreal – and with minds focused those close to Emery expect to see a different performance to Sunday’s surrender.

“We are improving, including myself, and we will have more challenges to set for the present or future,” said Emery, when asked if this is the last chance for this squad to win something.

“I don’t think tomorrow is the last opportunity for us or anyone. The players are enjoying the process we are doing and they are aware about how difficult football is, and this is the greatest moment we are having in the last three years.

“It will break nothing about how we are thinking and trying to improve.”

Even if Emery believes they can push for honours beyond this season and with Champions League football – Villa should finish in the Premier League’s top five regardless of their European fate – changes are expected.

The squad needs to be refreshed and selling players is the easiest way to comply with regulations – with England forward Morgan Rogers their biggest asset.

There is a realisation a significant number need to be recycled and Emery has been aware since the opening month of the season what needs to be done.

He and president of football operations Roberto Olabe are aligned, but Olabe was brought in to help progress Villa further, more medium and longer term.

Going forward there will be more focus on younger players, and filling the necessary first-team gaps with more senior signings, but Emery, the same as any manager, wants players who are ready now.

The pair are close – Emery handpicked Olabe to replace Monchi in September – so a common ground is found and the duo spend hours talking about tactics and philosophies, conversations which usually start in the club’s canteen at Bodymoor Heath.

Yet the desire for new players to take Villa to the next level is the hardest task.

This story includes spoilers for Episode 8 of “Daredevil: Born Again” Season 2.

By the end of “Daredevil: Born Again’s” first season, showrunner Dario Scardapane knew they were heading toward Matt Murdock’s big reveal in Season 2.

The second season finale of the Marvel series, out now on Disney+, sees Murdock (played by Charlie Cox) declare to the world that he’s the vigilante Daredevil.

“Coming in with Season 1, I wish I could say I knew exactly where we were going,” says Scardapane during a recent video call. “But I knew that moment in the courtroom where Daredevil outs himself, we were definitely heading towards that.”

Iain B. MacDonald, who directed Episodes 7 and 8, said that everybody involved understood that it “was going to be a super significant moment” while they were filming the scene.

“When that’s out, that’s out,” MacDonald says. “That moment clearly has a domino effect for the rest of the episode. … I’m super excited to just to see how that’s received by the fans … because as a director, you want to deal with big moments in what you direct, and that is, for me, one of them.”

A continuation of Netflix’s “Daredevil,” which initially concluded in 2018, “Born Again” has followed Wilson Fisk’s (Vincent D’Onofrio) rise from criminal kingpin to the supposedly reformed mayor of New York. Fisk’s authoritarian tactics and campaign targeting vigilantes pushes Daredevil underground to try to assemble allies in order to bring the Kingpin down.

Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) returned to the courtroom to make his case.

(JoJo Whilden / Marvel)

Their much anticipated showdown occurs in a courtroom in the season finale during the trial of Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll).

“Myself and my DP [director of photography], Jeffrey Waldron, looked at a lot of courtroom dramas, just to really think about how we can tell those courtroom stories really well, and do it creatively and imaginatively … and in the language of ‘Daredevil,’ ” said MacDonald. “It was a challenge, for sure, [but] I really, really enjoyed shooting them.”

While Murdock may have triumphed in the courtroom, his revelation has consequences as teased in the episode. Scardapane says those consequences will be explored in Season 3.

“That last scene in Season 2 tells you where we’re going,” says Scardapane. “If the question is, are we doing a specific comic book run that is beloved by all, including me, I think that it’s pretty obvious what we’re doing in that last scene.”

The fallout for Murdock, as seen in the episode, is his arrest and imprisonment. In the final moments of the finale, the Man Without Fear is shown getting locked up at Rikers Island. Murdock appears to have accepted his fate, but a glimmer of smile hints that this is not the end of his story.

“Charlie and I talked about [the scene], and we knew that we wanted to end on that close-up of his face,” MacDonald says. “He said we can do two things here, one which is like acceptance of circumstances, like he’s resigned. He has made the sacrifice of outing himself to the world about who he really is [and] he has put himself away in service of the greater good … as well as have that little moment of a hint of a smile to say, this is a beginning. This is a new adventure. This is a new challenge.”

In a conversation edited for clarity and length, Scardapane discussed Murdock and Fisk’s arcs in Season 2, “Daredevil: Born Again’s” timely political themes and what to expect in Season 3.

Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) and Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) get a chance to celebrate in the “Daredevil: Born Again” Season 2 finale.

(JoJo Whilden / Marvel)

At what point did you know that what you were building toward in Season 2 would end with Matt Murdock in jail?

It’s kind of a process that snowballs. They had started before me. They were doing the Mayor Fisk run. It was much more procedural, much different tone. They did six episodes, and I came in, and we moved it more in line as a continuation of the Netflix series. When Fisk becomes the mayor of New York, you put the villain at a really, really elevated place. So, Season 1 was the rise of Fisk. Season 2 has got to be the rise of that which takes him down — the resistance.

That moment that Matt stands up in court and says, “I am Daredevil,” that’s like the record scratch. Everything has changed from this moment on. At the end of Season 1, beginning of Season 2, we knew we were heading toward that moment. That moment’s consequences, for Matt and for Fisk, are kind of the fodder for Season 3.

There are comic book runs that I shall not name — although they’ve been named — that take that dilemma that Matt put himself in and go to really great places with it. Coming in with Season 1, I wish I could say I knew exactly where we were going. But I knew at the very beginning, that moment in the courtroom where Daredevil outs himself, we were definitely heading toward that.

It felt significant that Matt and Fisk’s big showdown this season happened in a courtroom.

The fun of Daredevil since the comics started is here you have a lawyer who really believes in the justice system who goes out and breaks bones at night. He’s a vigilante lawyer. That’s such a dichotomy. When the villain takes power, when the villain is the police — this situation, the villain is the Anti-Vigilante Task Force — the villain has now become the power structure of New York and has become the justice system. How does Matt fight back? He fights back as a vigilante until it gets to a crucial moment where Karen is pulled into this flawed justice system. Now there’s nowhere he could go. He’s put in this place where both his personas have to integrate, have to kind of collide, for him to beat Fisk. I think that Charlie’s performance in that courtroom scene is his best courtroom performance in any episode of “Daredevil” ever. Building to that moment of Fisk and Matt facing off in court, it was pretty important because all four of them are in court there: Wilson Fisk, Kingpin, Matt Murdock and Daredevil are all there in that scene.

Wilson Fisk’s (Vincent D’Onofrio) ambitions are thwarted in “Daredevil: Born Again” Season 2.

(JoJo Whilden / Marvel)

Fisk, the villain, ultimately loses this battle. Can you speak a bit about his arc this season?

One of the joys of this job is working with Vincent D’Onofrio, full stop. He’s done such a good job of humanizing a monster. I don’t write Fisk as a villain. I don’t think Vincent plays him as a villain. And that’s where the fun comes in.

Building up a man whose appetite, whose isolation, whose just general hunger to dominate, making that character and then giving him this one lifeline to humanity in Vanessa — that’s all calculated. We knew in Season 1 when Foggy was killed that Vanessa was going to be the cost for Fisk. The idea that Vanessa set up Foggy to die using Bullseye, and Bullseye ended up inadvertently killing Vanessa, that was 100% in the DNA from jump. Vanessa passed away in the comic books in two different ways, but that takes Fisk now into a place where, for me, all bets are off. I think that the Fisk that Vincent is playing in Episode 6, 7 and 8 and beyond are a different animal entirely. We just finished a very special episode that is pretty much all Fisk in this new incarnation and it was pretty exciting. Vincent’s in rare form in Season 3.

I understand that the Anti-Vigilante Task Force stuff was shot before the the story and imagery became extremely timely.

It’s really strange because there’s footage in the finale that’s intentionally supposed to reflect certain events. One of the things that I really wanted to do with this story, when you’re dealing with politics and everything, is we’re living in a time where these values of mutual respect, mutual listening, mutual live and let live … what I would say, democratic values are being thrown out the window when you’re dealing with the other side. If somebody doesn’t share your beliefs, it’s free game. And I’ve never really seen a time like that. So we took that story, where the mayor’s side has no quarter for the vigilante side and the vigilante side has no quarter for the mayor’s side. When they storm the rotunda, it looks very familiar. That is intentional. I’m not going to dodge that. Because it’s the idea that everybody sees themselves as a hero of this story, where they’re treating the people on the other side horribly. There’s no lesson there. It’s just the idea that when mobs get involved, when large groups of people get involved, the higher morals and higher sense of humanity falls apart.

You’ve mentioned that in writing and filming this show, you were looking at history. But what was it like when the present started mirroring what you already made based on the past?

The sequence in Episode 2, when the bodega is raided and people are dragged away by the Anti-Vigilante Task Force, that was filmed before Los Angeles, before Minnesota — before all of it. The whole thing got really strange in that the real world started to feel cartoony, and I don’t mean that in a positive way.

I think we were, as writers and directors, tapping into an unease and a malaise that’s just out there. Having it look exactly like things that then happened on the news, that was chilling. It was really hard to get my head around it. It was hard for the people involved, the directors, the fact that some of those sequences in our show, of people being dragged away and thrown into vans, looked exactly like what we were seeing on the news.

There have been other touch points, like the affinity some Task Force officers have for the Punisher logo, that crosses from the fictional into reality.

I’ve been wrestling with this since working on “The Punisher.” The map of what you do when you want to be an autocrat: You form a militia, you empower them beyond, you target a group that you want to make scapegoats, you round them up. When Charles Soule was doing the Mayor Fisk run in the comic books, that’s what he was thinking about. S—, Tony Gilroy did it in “Andor.” When you build any kind of story about an autocrat, it follows the same script. Weirdly, the script’s now playing out outside our door, and that’s become really hard to deal with. The funny thing about this show in these times is, no matter what I say, somebody’s gonna get all like, “Oh, they put politics in our comics” and “they’re trying to teach us a lesson.” Nobody’s trying to teach you a lesson. We’re just laying out a story about a guy who’s a criminal who becomes a mayor and a guy who’s a lawyer who tries to take him down. But does that have echoes in what’s going on outside our window? Yes, it does.

There is a sect of the audience that gets very vocal about the MCU getting ”too woke” or comic books and superheroes ”becoming political.”

One thing that just broke me when we started Season 3, I posted a picture of our writers room, and it’s just some of the best genre writers in the television business. I posted it [on Instagram] and I said “so stoked to get into it with these guys.” The first comment was, “Looks like a pretty woke room. Don’t ruin the show.” How does a room look woke? Oh, so you’re looking at the makeup of the people in that room, and you’re saying that that is something you don’t like? I can’t help you [with that]. I’ve just got to go into that room and write stories.

It’s also not like superhero comic books haven’t had storylines about marginalized communities or interrogating people in power.

Guys, comic books are political. They’ve always been political. The first graphic novel that ever won a Pulitzer Prize was “Maus.”

Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter) gets in on the action.

(JoJo Whilden / Marvel)

I think I’ve waited long enough to ask about Luke Cage, played by Mike Colter, showing up in the finale. How did all of that come together?

One of the things that I’ve said a bunch about this show is we lean into the idea that these characters have grown up. The time that has passed between the end of the Netflix shows and the beginning of this show, we acknowledge and we lean into. Their lives have matured. As anybody knows, in the comics, Luke and Jessica had a child, Danielle. Now for me, as a writer, that’s just great story. We have a family of two very interesting people who were made iconic by the performances of Krysten Ritter and Mike Colter. What does that little family look like moving forward? So that tease at the end has seeds for acres and acres of stories. There’s a world that I’m super interested in, that a lot of the characters from the Netflix shows live in, that I’d love to see go forward. A lot of that’s out of my hands. But Mike and Jessica and that family are important to these stories.

Can you say anything more about what Luke has been up to since audiences last saw him?

Luke went to do some work for Mr. Charles. That’s a little bit of an Easter egg, a storyline that will play out in the future. Mr. Charles’s interest in alternatively abled people, or people who can do special things, that interest has long tentacles. It touched Luke and Jessica. It touches Bullseye at the end of the season, and that moves forward.

I think everybody’s been curious since Charlie Cox’s return. Matt’s back. Now Jessica and Luke are back. Are we going to see all of the Netflix era heroes assembled?

The best way I can answer that question is that we take comic book runs, fan desires and unfinished business. On “Punisher,” we were planning for a Season 3. I know [“Daredevil” showrunner] Erik Oleson was getting ready to work on a Season 4. That all ended very abruptly. None of the shows really got an ending that brought it all together. I wouldn’t say that “Defenders” was an ending that brought it all together. There’s so much unfinished business in those Netflix shows. We definitely, definitely knew from way back, how the ending of the Mayor Fisk rise and fall, where that was going to go next. And it’s funny because I’m talking to you as we’re trying to end where it goes next, and we’re thinking about, “OK, now what happens after that?”

I’m just going to throw it out there that I’d like to see Misty Knight and Colleen Wing back also.

[Jessica Henwick, who plays] Colleen has already said that she is not in Season 3, and that’s a real sad thing for us. It was not for lack of trying. I want to do Daughters of the Dragon, come on! That was teed up in “The Defenders.”

I wish I could be more forthright, but I have to save some some secrets for Season 3. But I do believe that we set a launching pad at the end of Season 2 that takes us into some pretty fun places that we’re in right now, and I gotta go finish that.

MATT GOSS has revealed how he bravely stood up to muggers who tried to steal his gold Rolex watch.

The former Bros singer sat down with Biz On Sunday’s Emily to speak about the scary incident, which occurred while he was walking his dog Reggie with fiancée Chantal Brown.

Matt, who is back in the studio at London’s famous Abbey Road, said: “We were approached by two people asking for directions.

“We were friendly and tried to help them, but when I pointed the way, they noticed the watch on my wrist.

“One of them immediately became aggressive, trying to distract me by dancing while also grabbing at my wrist.

“I reacted instinctively and, feeling threatened, pushed my head into his before telling him firmly: ‘Don’t you dare’.

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“Chantal and I then went straight into a nearby hotel and called the police.”

Matt, who was born in Lewisham, South East London, where he grew up with twin brother and fellow Bros star Luke Goss, said he would like to see more police on the streets.

He added: “I do feel safe in London overall, but I find it sad that, in such a beautiful city, you can’t always wear something nice without concern.

“I truly wish we still had more bobbies on the beat, with that sense of community, presence and understanding of the local area.”

Matt is back in the UK after spending 25 years in America, where he had a highly successful residency in Las Vegas for 11 years.

His new track, Thank You For The Pain, is out now and will form part of his upcoming album scheduled for September 29.

Matt said: “It’s back to commercial music. I love performing live and I loved the Vegas show and I am super proud of that.

“But there is something about going in the doors at Abbey Road that gives you a sense of occasion and, ‘you better bring your A-game’. It really makes you step up more because of the history.”

He added: “You are going into your church and you are baring all and being extremely truthful. Thank You For The Pain is about turning your pain into something that makes you a better person.

“We have all been hurt by people and that song really helps you recognise what hurts makes you stronger.”

Matt sold 17million records in the Eighties boyband Bros, with the brothers making their big breakthrough in 1988 with Top Ten single When Will I Be Famous?

But after the boyband split up in 1992, the pair went their separate ways until reforming in 2017 to play two dates at London’s O2 Arena.

The lead-up to the comeback was filmed for documentary Bros: After The Screaming Stops, which also showed the ongoing tension between the twins.

Matt revealed in 2024 that they were “completely estranged”.

But he is hopeful that they may manage to sort out their differences and step out on stage together once again.

He said: “I would love nothing more than to jump on stage with my brother again, I’m pretty sure we don’t hate each other but we have stuff to sort out.

“I believe there is respect for each other. I’d love to do Glastonbury with my brother.”

MATT GOSS has given Biz On Sunday readers the first full clip of his new video, Thank You For The Pain. It is Matt’s first animated video and is created by Nobody Asked Studios.

A source said: “Matt is a huge fan of Nobody Asked Studios and the track worked perfectly with the animated style.”

Millie’s book Taylor made

NEWLY single heiress Millie Mackintosh plans to put pen to paper following her recent split from Hugo Taylor.

The ex-Made In Chelsea star is working with publisher Little, Brown Group on a new book.

A source said: “Millie’s been through a lot in the last year and she’s writing it all down.

“Her first book was about her sobriety, but this one will look at motherhood, her ADHD diagnosis and the changes in her personal life, including her split from Hugo.

“Writing is very cathartic for Millie, so it’s also helping her process what’s been going on in her life. She will reveal a lot about the breakdown of her marriage and there will likely be a few surprises.

“Millie really wants to be honest and relatable.”

The book comes after Millie’s first husband, rapper Professor Green, gushed about her recently . . . 

Zara’s Shak for more

ZARA LARSSON and Shakira look summer ready after collaborating on a new song.

The Swedish pop star has remixed her track Eurosummer with the Hips Don’t Lie hitmaker.

It comes as Zara releases remix album Midnight Sun: Girls Trip featuring Pinkpantheress, Tyla and Robyn.

Shakira posted on Instagram: “Happy release day, Zara Larsson. Can’t wait for our video to come out.

“In the meantime, starting my Euro summer from Rio.”

Dean’s back on market

HE is known for being a ladies’ man, but it looks like former EastEnders star Dean Gaffney is single once again.

I can reveal that he has split from Harvard graduate Kate Black after dating for a year.

A source said: “Dean and Kate have agreed to go their separate ways.
“They enjoyed a whirlwind romance, but decided that their relationship was more friendly.

“Kate wasn’t Dean’s usual type, but he learned a lot from her.”

Kate studied international relations at the top US university and artificial intelligence at the University of York.

A mutual pal introduced them and they started dating in April last year, a month after she split from her long-term boyfriend.

Last June, Dean, who played market sweeper Robbie Jackson in the BBC One soap, was spotted on holiday in Ibiza with Kate.

Stones face music for album launch

THE ROLLING STONES have teased the cover for their much-anticipated new album as they prepared for its press launch this week.

A poster appeared on social media yesterday showing Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood imagined as one face. The eyecatching design was dreamt up by American painter Nathaniel Mary Quinn.

On Tuesday, the band will hold the press launch of the new record, Foreign Tongues, in New York. Then, on Wednesday, Mick Jagger will appear on The Tonight Show, hosted by Jimmy Fallon.

The US TV star presented a global press conference in 2023 in East London for the band’s last album, Hackney Diamonds.

A countdown clock for the new record, out on July 10, has now appeared outside the group’s merchandise store on London’s Carnaby Street. It also shows the album’s title written in a variety of different languages.

One staff member claimed everyone was sworn to secrecy, adding: “I plead the Fifth Amendment.”

Another said: “They have not told us anything in case it backfires on them.”

And, yet again, the band have also updated their famous tongue logo, originally created by British art student John Pasche in 1970.

Last month, The Stones released a vinyl-only single, Rough & Twisted, under the pseudonym The Cockroaches. Meanwhile, I revealed that PAUL McCARTNEY will also feature on a new album track following his cameo on Hackney Diamonds.

Sounds like this is going to be the album of the year.

FORMER X Factor winner Matt Cardle is set to come face to face with Simon Cowell on live TV again – 16 years after winning the ITV talent show.

I can reveal that Matt is being lined up to perform at one of the Britain’s Got Talent live finals in the coming weeks.

Rather than performing new solo music, Matt will take to the stage as part of a special performance of West End hit Kinky Boots.

He is starring in the musical at the London Coliseum alongside Strictly Come Dancing’s Johannes Radebe.

A source said: “Simon is a huge fan of musicals and the bosses at Britain’s Got Talent are keen to push the arts as much as possible.

“With that in mind, a number of the live acts booked for the finals this year come from West End shows.

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“Matt and the Kinky Boots cast are set to perform in a few weeks’ time – it really will be a full circle moment for him.”

This weekend, former BGT winner Sydnie Christmas will perform her new single – Run.

Bizarre’s Jack hung out on the set of her music video earlier this year, so we can’t wait to see that one live.

Zara‘s feeling f-Lush

Zara Larsson has me counting down the days to my summer holiday after hopping on this float to promote her Main Rose swimwear brand.

She was living her own Lush Life as she soaked up some rays ahead of headlining Radio 1’s Big Weekend in Sunderland next month.

This Friday she will release the deluxe version of her fifth album, Midnight Sun: Girls Trip, packed with collaborations, including Tyla and Shakira.

And it’s testament to Zara trusting herself.

On writing and recording the track, which came out last year, she said: “I stopped focusing so much on what I thought other people would want from me or what I thought radio would want, and just started focusing on what I wanted to do.

“Ironically that’s when people start caring.”

Liam family praise for Louis’s heartfelt concert

Liam Payne’s loved ones made a lowkey trip to his One Direction bandmate Louis Tomlinson’s tour.

Some of Liam’s relatives including sister Nicola were in a VIP box to see Louis perform at Birmingham’s Utilita Arena last weekend.

During the show, Louis was visibly emotional when singing Dark To Light – a track he wrote about Liam’s death.

Taking to Instagram, Nicola said: “Thank you Louis Tomlinson for last night.

“It was extremely emotional, but really beautiful, and it meant a lot to be there.

“Your staging and your songs are beautiful. A truly special night.”

Louis has previously spoken warmly about Liam.

He said: “I could talk all day about how amazing he was.

“We all looked up to him, he was vastly experienced before any of us had done anything.

“If he could just for five minutes live in my head or your head and see how we perceive him, he would be so shocked.

“He was pure.”

The wait for Madonna and Sabrina Carpenter’s collaboration is almost over, as it’s being released this Friday.

The superstars recently performed Bring Your Love at Coachella and now they are putting out the official audio.

The pair made the announcement yesterday when they shared a new photo of themselves with the caption: “We’ve got something to say about it,” which is a reference to Madonna’s 1989 song Express Yourself.

It will be the first official single from the Queen of Pop’s forthcoming album Confessions On A Dancefloor: Part II, after she released a teaser track, I Feel So Free, earlier this month.

Humanize 102 words

Pink girl’s a leg-end

Pink has sold out stadiums and had No1s across the globe, but as far as daughter Willow is concerned she’s top of the charts as an embarrassing mum.

At the opening night of The Lost Boys musical in New York they posed for photots on the red carpet.

But while standing in front of the snappers, Pink gestured at the slit in Willow’s skirt and said, “Show off your legs,” to which the youngster snapped: “No!”

Alan’s tequila stunrise

Alan Carr once fell in the Serpentine in London’s Hyde Park after drinking “hallucinogenic tequila” on his Chatty Man TV show.

The comedian said he was still feeling the effects the next day as he walked his dogs and suffered a mishap.

He explained he’d had a tequila the night before but was given a hallucinogenic one by mistake.

He added: “I couldn’t sober up and I fell in the Serpentine, p***ed.

“My old dog Bev, bless her, she dropped the ball in the Serpentine and I went forward to pick it up. And I think all the tequila rushed to the front of my head and I just fell in.”

Speaking on his Life’s A Beach podcast, he added: “In films, the dogs are meant to jump in and save you, but they were just wagging their tails, like, ‘What’s this p***head done again?’

“So I was just soaking wet and I had to walk . . . You know, when people are pulling their kids away, ‘Come away from the strange man,’ and all that.”

Capital’s Summertime Ball is returning to London, taking over Wembley Stadium to entertain 80,000 fans on June 6.

The line-up will be revealed by Jordan North, Chris Stark and Sian Welby on Capital Breakfast this morning and tomorrow, before tickets go on sale through the Global Player app at 9am on Thursday.

Gracie has secret follow-up

Gracie Abrams is back, two years after her album The Secret Of Us topped the charts.

The American singer released a teaser on Instagram yesterday, and it appears to be a snippet from the lead single for her upcoming third album.

The record is rumoured to be all about falling for Normal People actor Paul Mescal, although it doesn’t sound like it’s been smooth sailing.

They were reported to have briefly split in early 2025, and the song will do little to shut down that speculation.

Gracie sings: “I used to see clearly but it’s bloodshot. And I want you so badly but I closed off.

“I used to think we’d get married. But I guess not.”

Last summer we revealed Paul was at Gracie’s Glastonbury set, singing along to every word.

In February, they made their red-carpet debut at the Baftas in London.

And last month I told how Gracie had moved from LA into Paul’s London home, while he films the upcoming Beatles biopics.

Her last album was all about heartbreak, but I’m expecting some sunnier moments this time around.

LeBron James was exhausted. Marcus Smart was drained. Luke Kennard was invisible.

The Lakers were cooked, the playoff magic finally drained from a team without its two leading scorers, a team in the process of making every conceivable mistake, reality bouncing off their feet and ricocheting off their hips and falling out of their hands.

On a jarring Friday night at Houston’s Toyota Center, the Rockets led by six with 30 seconds remaining and had possession of the ball. They just needed to get it upcourt. They just needed to play catch.

The Lakers were done.

And if you believe that, then you don’t believe what they believe.

They believed Smart would steal a terrible backcourt pass, absorb a terrible shooting foul and make three free throws.

They believed James would knock away a dribble on the next possession, run to beyond the three-point line, take a pass from Kennard and sink a game-tying trey.

They believed in the miracle of forcing this game into overtime, then believed in the destiny of a 112-108 victory to take an historically insurmountable three-games-to-none lead in a first-round playoff series they should have lost.

How frantic was that finish? In the postseason over the last 29 years, NBA teams that led by six or more points in the last 30 seconds are now 1,713-2.

“It was just a gutty win for us,” James said.

Gutty, gritty, growling, great, great win.

“Everything that we needed to do, even when it wasn’t pretty, we just kind of found a way to do it,” said coach JJ Redick. “And … we’re playing hard. I mean, that’s what you have to do to put yourself in a position to win.”

Lakers center Deandre Ayton, right, and guard Marcus Smart slap hands as they celebrate in overtime during their win Friday.

(Kenneth Richmond / Getty Images)

They are true believers, this bunch, as much as any Laker team has believed since the 2020 championship run, perhaps more than any other Lakers team in history.

They believe in their legendary leader, LeBron. They believe in the playoff-tough Smart. They believe in their connectivity, in their desperation, in their destiny.

They believe this is a special team. Once they get their two injured scorers back — and Austin Reaves and Luka Doncic are apparently returning faster than anyone imagined — they believe this could be a championship-contending team.

They will find out in the next round, when their opponent will be either the defending champions from Oklahoma City or the the Phoenix Suns.

Even if they finish off the Rockets in a sweep — and this series is already over considering NBA teams are 159-0 with a 3-0 lead — they will be considerable underdogs moving forward.

Surely they were lucky that star Kevin Durant didn’t play in two of these three games, including missing Friday’s Game 3 with a sprained ankle.

Surely they can’t keep winning games with 21 turnovers and half as many offensive rebounds and blown 15-point leads.

Surely that even if Reaves and Doncic return, they will revert to being the same team that lost to Oklahoma City by 43 points and lost to San Antonio by 16 in their most recent meetings while at full strength.

Surely they’re not this deep and committed and inspired as they’ve shown in these first three games.

Right? Wrong. Were you watching?

The Rockets used numerous Lakers mistakes and defensive mistakes to take the lead in the final five minutes and seemingly hold it for a series-changing victory. The dagger appeared to be a fastbreak dunk by Alperen Sengun to give the Rockets a 101-95 lead and eventually the ball with the crowd roaring and barely 30 seconds left.

Little did they know the Lakers had them right where they wanted them.

“We’ve talked … about elevating everything,” said Redick, later adding, “You have to elevate your poise, you have to elevate your composure, recognizing that there’s going to be moments where the crowd’s going crazy or you get down, they make a run, whatever it may be. We weathered a lot tonight. … And then, in that moment, just to have the poise to just keep playing.”

The Lakers had that poise. The Rockets lost their cool.

In that moment… what was Jabari Smith Jr. doing throwing a looping backcourt pass to apparently nobody? And after Smart grabbed it and threw up a desperate three… what was Jae’Sean Tate doing fouling him?

“I see Tate running really fast and I’m like, ‘OK, he probably not going to be able to stop in time,’” explained Smart. “So, I just pulled up right away and he ran right under me, exactly what happened. So, it was a smart play. That’s part of my vet, being a vet and my vet savvy. Been in the league for 12 years. I picked up some tricks from some guys.”

Even after the vet’s three free throws, the Rockets still could have easily won this, but… what was Reed Sheppard doing casually dribbling the ball upcourt without noticing James behind him? James knocked the ball away for the steal, eventually got it back, and drained a trey with 13 seconds remaining for the eventual overtime-sending gut punch.

“We don’t have the luxury of being passive or being complacent,” James said. “Our whole mindset is we have to do everything it takes in that particular game and that particular moment in that particular possession in order for us to win basketball games, because we don’t have a long leash of error. We don’t have a lot [of room] for error.”

Once they reached the extra period, well, it was over the moment an angrily stunned Sengun threw a towel to the floor in front of the Rockets’ bench moments after the end of regulation.

The Rockets were unnerved and eventually undone.

Smart started the extra period by hitting a three, then kept the Lakers’ mojo going with a flying save of a rebound that became a Rui Hachimura layup.

Soon thereafter James went to the floor fighting for a ball, then missed a shot that Smart came out of nowhere to grab the offensive rebound, leading to two free throws that eventually put the game out of reach.

Even on a night when James scored 29 points, had 13 rebounds, and threw an ally-oop pass to son Bronny for a reverse layup — so cool! — the hero here was Smart.

He was signed by the Lakers last summer for his postseason toughness and savvy, and he showed every bit of it Friday, with 21 points, 10 assists and five steals. Not to mention, eight points in overtime.

“You got to leave it all on the court, because you never know,” Smart said. ”Because you never know. It can be taken away at any moment, right? And with two of our best players down, we got to play desperate. We got to be the most desperate team and that’s how we have been playing and that’s how we are winning, right? The chemistry has been built because of that.”

It’s a chemistry that works. It’s a chemistry that has built a faith even amid Friday night’s immeasurably high hurdle, a faith that should persist beyond the framework of this finished first-round series.

Down six. Thirty seconds left. Steal the game. Steal the series.

Believe.

A group of hikers were forced to flee as Guatemala’s Santiaguito Volcano erupted, throwing rocks into the air around them. Santiaguito is one of the world’s most active volcanoes, featuring frequent, often daily, explosive eruptions and pyroclastic flows.

Defender Callum Doyle has been a key member of the Wrexham team bidding for the Championship play-offs.

The 22-year-old has played in 36 games in all competitions this season, including 26 successive matches.

His performances have been recognised with a spot in the Championship team of the season, one he describes as a “massive honour”.

But Doyle acknowledges that life at the Stok Cae Ras did not get off to the best of starts.

Back in October the 22-year-old former Manchester City youngster was featuring in only his eighth game for his new club following a late summer move.

In the second half at home to Oxford – a game Wrexham won 1-0 – he was shown a straight red card during the second half of the match.

“It’s one of those moments that it’s a bad moment,” Doyle said.

“But, in the grand scheme of things it’s not so bad of how I’ve changed my attitude towards training.

“And it’s been good for me since that point.”

The sending off proved to be a blessing and a turning point for Doyle’s season.

Doyle’s enforced absence was an opportunity that manager Phil Parkinson and his coaching team used to work with the Manchester-born defender.

“He came in and missed a lot of pre-season, so it took us a while to get him up to speed,” said Parkinson.

“When he got sent off, it was a chance for us to pull him away and do work with him and almost give him a mini pre-season and get him to where he needed to be.

“But I think everybody can see what a class player Callum is.

“He’s got a lot of experience for someone so young and the aim is for him now to finish his season strongly.”

For disputed reasons, April 20, abbreviated to 420, has become a day to celebrate marijuana; even if this is nothing you mark on your calendar, the collective culture is bound to remind you.

Weed is not what it used to be, which is to say illegal everywhere. (State laws may differ, but the federal government still disapproves.) Stoners are no longer useful as a comedy device, while pot’s countercultural meaning has dissipated as it’s been absorbed into the mainstream. According to the CDC, some 60 million American reported using it in 2022. Snoop Dogg is a beloved media figure (and, somehow, an Olympics commentator). Seth Rogen co-owns a cannabis company, Houseplant, that also sells coffee, furniture and incense. The paper you are reading has published weed-themed gift guides.

Now, Hulu, wholly owned by the Walt Disney Company, is marking the day (Monday) with “4×20: Quick Hits,” a frisky anthology comprising four 20-minute documentaries on pot-related subjects, with family-friendly figure Jimmy Kimmel as an executive producer. It’s less about the drug itself than the arts, crafts and enterprises it has inspired. Given where we are now, it’s not surprising that there’s a historical bent to the films, a look back to earlier times — certainly worse for some of the people profiled, who were targeted by and battled with the law in pursuit of their businesses and dreams — but one they regard with a kind of amused nostalgia.

All the films are affectionate, most are light-hearted and often comical. One, Todd Kapostasy’s “Bong Voyage,” about the rise and fall and rise of artisanal glassblower Jason Harris, is narrated by one of his creations and includes such dumb puns as “fine piece of glass.” Directed by Brent Hodge, “Highly Unlikely” is an entertaining, straightforward reminiscence of the making of “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle,” though it is less about the stoner themes than how the film broke stereotypes in making two little-known Asian actors, John Cho and Kal Penn, the film’s stars. The adorable “The Legend of Ganjasaurus Rex,” directed by Alex Ross Perry, and nearly the premise for a Christopher Guest movie, recounts an act of community filmmaking in the late ‘80s in pot-growing Humboldt County, wherein locals created a monster movie in a proxy war with the authorities, and its inspirational afterlife.

More serious in tone is Kyle Thrash‘s “High Times,” which looks at the history of the pot-centric magazine, its drug smuggling founder Tom Forçade and his suicide. More compelling perhaps is his friend, Yippie co-founder and lifelong cannabis activist Dana Beal, who frames the film; we see him in the nearly present day on trial for drug trafficking, having been stopped in Idaho with 56 pounds of raw marijuana, and also on the streets of New York leafleting passersby with his daughter to “help us legalize weed worldwide.”

Whether or not cannabis itself interests you, each of these mini-docs is capable of holding your attention for 20 minutes — assuming you’re capable from your end — and, being as brief as they are, may well send you to learn more. (I don’t imagine they will send you to smoke pot if you don’t — they didn’t work on me, anyway — and, who knows, might even make one less inclined.) You might finally watch “Harold & Kumar,” or find Garberville on a map, or look to see how things are going for Beal, or discover whether the same John Holmstrom who once edited High Times is the same person who founded Punk magazine and drew covers for the Ramones’ “Rocket to Russia” and “Road to Ruin” albums. (He is.) “Ganjasaurus Rex,” in its 90-minute full length, is itself online to see, and, for those who celebrate, I don’t suppose there’s a better day to watch it.

JUSTIN Bieber superfan Billie Eilish dramatically dropped to the floor on at Coachella when he brought her out on stage.

At weekend 2 of the desert festival, Billie could be seen crawling up the stage before sitting on a chair in front of her idol, Justin, who she has long been a fan of.

Justin then sang the song One Less Lonely Girl to her midway through his Coachella set.

Billie, who has long been a fan of the Baby singer, looked so emotional as she was serenaded by the star.

On X, fans have reacted to the moment.

One person penned: “THE FACT that it wasn’t planned, literally it was Hailey Bieber herself who pushed Billie Eilish to get on stage and be the OLLG.”

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A second wrote: “No way that Billie Eilish became one less lonely girl in 2026.”

“This is so cute I love how Billie still stays in her fangirl zone around Justin,” said a third.

“Will go down as one of the most iconic Coachella performances ever,” added a fourth.

“She’s such a fan lmao,” penned a fifth.

While a sixth said: “Justin pulling Billie on stage for ‘One Less Lonely Girl’ and holding her like that?? Coachella 2026 just healed my 2015 heart. This is the collab we NEVER knew we needed.”

Billie has long credited Justin as an inspiration, and even grew up as a Belieber.

“He’s amazing. He’s so sweet and, like, I feel – just, honestly, I feel for him, man. He’s been through a lot, dude,” Billie told Ellen DeGeneres previously.

The pair met at Coachella in 2019 and went on to collaborate on the remix to her song Bad Guy.

When the remix came out, Billie shared a photo of her as a teen in her bedroom which had posters of Justin plastered all of the walls.

Alongside the snap, she penned: “BAD GUY FEAT. JUSTIN BIEBER OUT NOWWW OMGFFFFGGG ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE MAN.”

This weekend’s set from Justin marked his second weekend headlining at Coachella this year.

Following his headline set last weekend, the star hosted a blowout bash with wife Hailey and A-list friends.

A source told The U.S. Sun that the party was ultra-exclusive and hosted by Justin’s new fashion brand, Skylrk, which also had a pop-up at the festival.

“Many people were turned down who had previously been invited,” they claimed.

“Promoters also had a lot of girls on their guest lists and I heard Hailey was turning them away.”

Influencer Zach Clayton echoed this by sharing a video on his TikTok showing a guy complaining, “They cut all my guest list off.”

He explained he invited 20 girls and they were all denied, joking that Hailey is a “boss,” and she was likely the reason they were not given access to the private event.

Corrie star Craig Charles took on the Retching Ball challenge with fellow campmate David Haye in a bid to earn food for camp in the latest bushtucker trial

The latest bushtucker trial left I’m A Celeb star Craig Charles throwing up a mouthful of maggots.

The 61-year-old Corrie star took on the Retching Ball challenge with fellow campmate David Haye in a bid to earn food for camp. The duo were strapped into a revolving ball while having to answer questions directed at them by Ant and Dec.

But of course in true I’m A Celeb style they were not alone in the ball cage, as creepy crawlies were dumped on them to add to their distress. Following a dumping of maggots on the duo, David Haye cried out ‘I’ve got maggots in my mouth’ and it wasn’t long before co-star Craig began throwing up.

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David and Craig carried on for another round but the momentum seemed to catch up with Craig. As he threw up Ant quipped “Oh I think we’ve had a vomit. Now Craig you’ve just worked out why it’s called the wretching ball,” he added.

Despite his sickness, he kept going but he ended up being sick again in the final round where they were asked to name Adele songs. Craig looked delighted when time was up and he and David were removed from the retching ball to learn they had secured seven out of a possible 11 stars in total.

In a sneak peek at tomorrow evening’s episode Gemma Collins appears to quit again. She told the cameras: “I’m A Celebrity get me out of here. I am done.”

She looked to be in tears again as a stunned Scarlett watched on. It left fans pondering if she had actually walked again, or if it was another low moment for the reality TV star.

On X, formerly known as Twitter, one user said: “Hope Gemma doesn’t go from that clip! I need misery guts David gone before anyone else in camp!”

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