New York — It was a quiet, while not quite silent, morning for the“Table of Silence Project” Thursday, on the plaza of Lincoln Center and in front of David Geffen Hall, home of the New York Philharmonic. Commemorating the 24th anniversary of 9/11, white-robed members of the Buglisi Dance Theatre circled the plaza, a few with megaphones for chants, an occasional violin joining in, mellowing even the sounds of background traffic roaring down busy Broadway.
On this solemn but beautiful New York day and after more than two years in waiting, Gustavo Dudamel took charge, at least in practice, of the New York Philharmonic. Six decades ago, during the Leonard Bernstein era, America’s oldest and most celebrated orchestra had the city’s (and much of the nation’s) full attention in a way it hasn’t since. Could that happen again?
When Dudamelannounced in early February 2023 that he would leave the Los Angeles Philharmonic to become music and artistic director of the New York Philharmonic in the fall of 2026, he became instant celebrity news here. A New York Philharmonic player gives Dudamel a cheesecake, and the New York Times writes a story.
This season Dudamel gains his first official title: music and artistic director designate. But the orchestra is basically his baby now. His photo is plastered on the orchestra’s posters and publicity. And on Thursday night, Dudamel, for the first time, opened the New York Philharmonic’s new season. After two weeks this month, he will have a sizable presence later winter and in spring, while also closing out his last L.A. Phil season with major programs.
Dudamel arrived in New York on Tuesday, having spent two weeks conducting the Simon Bolivar Orchestra of Venezuela, his homeland orchestra, to open Coldplay’s concerts at Glastonbury in England, just as the newly named U.S. Department of War immediately began to live up to its name by sending warships to Dudamel’s native Venezuela and threatening regime change.
But here in New York, Dudamel paid tribute to a new city in his life with Bartók’s Piano Concerto No. 3 and Charles Ives’ Symphony No. 2. In 1945, Bartók, having fled Nazi-invaded Hungary, wrote his final piano concerto in a New York apartment on 57th Street, a block west of Carnegie Hall. Bernstein led the New York Philharmonic premiere of Ives’ Second — the first great American symphony — at Carnegie, then the New York Philharmonic’s home, six years later.
Still, the first orchestral sounds that emanated from the Dudamel designated directorship turned out to be barely heard, while not silent, percussion stirrings. Following a season-opening tradition he began when he became music director of the L.A. Phil, Dudamel began the program with a world premiere.
For this, he directed New Yorkers’ attention westward. In “of light and stone,” Leilehua Lanzilotti sets the sonic stage for an evocation of Hawaii, where she resides, before statehood. She makes references to King Kalakaua, Queen Lili’uokalani and other Hawaiian nobility few in a mainland audience are likely to know. There are fragments of Hawaiian song, a dance of the wind.
Nothing settles in this four-part, 15-minute song of a land, a score that falls somewhere between history lesson and color-field sonic landscape. A whisp of a canorous clarinet or a rumbling rattle is all it takes for a kind of instant transport to a far-off time and place. New York Philharmonic audiences can be cool, but they’ve demonstratively taken to Dudamel at Geffen, and an ethereal performance appeared to open ears.
The young Korean pianist, Yunchan Lim, who became instantly hot after winning the Van Cliburn competition three years ago, was soloist in Bartók’s Third Piano Concerto. Lim will be a soloist with Dudamel and the L.A. Phil this season as well as give a solo recital in Walt Disney Concert Hall. He is an exceptional pianist. He too opens ears and can transport a listener to a distant land. And Lim’s case is far more distant or far less knowable than Hawaii.
Lim’s Bartók exists in a world of the pianist’s own. Every phrase is for him an oddity, as if he had found some weird object in an imaginary world and was figuring out what he might do with it. His tools were rhythm, accents and dynamics, each a quirky new toy. The New York Philharmonic produced beauty and excitement, but Lim went his own way that wasn’t quite imaginative enough to improve on Bartók. Here we go again with an exceptional young soloist being pushed into the limelight too soon.
The New York Philharmonic owns Ives’ Second. Written in the first decade of the 20th century, the symphony offered a whole new way of thinking about American and European music and it sat dormant for some four decades before Bernstein premiered it. But that 1951 performance had a huge effect on how to transform folk music, popular music, Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and what-not, twisted, transformed and tacked together. Bernstein later recorded it twice with the New York Philharmonic. The first time full of beans that revived it for good. The second time in 1987 as a glorious spiritual exercise. Hearing that performance live left me in a state of rapture.
Dudamel has made a specialty of the symphony himself, conducting it with the Vienna Philharmonic, recording it with the L.A. Phil and now going to the source. His performance Thursday night did not try to follow in Bernstein’s footsteps or necessarily Dudamel’s own. The performance flowed with exquisite lyricism and mustered a thrilling finale.
In Vienna, Dudamel was more robust. At Disney, Dudamel found exceptional expression in every little detail. That was the Dudamel that we last saw at the Hollywood Bowl this summer when he conducted Mahler’s First more vividly than ever.
That is not, quite yet, the Dudamel for New York. Here his Ives seemed to be laying the groundwork, letting his new orchestra show him what it can do before he begins, as he surely will, digging deeper.
It took a once controversial effort for Bernstein to transform an uptight virtuosic New York Philharmonic into a tight but electric one. Now it’s Dudamel’s turn for transmogrification, and he’s made a promising beginning.
Ethiopia has inaugurated the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, Africa’s largest hydro power project. Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith says the dam is a source of national pride but remains contentious among downstream nations including Egypt and Sudan.
Kony faces charges for the Lord’s Resistance Army campaign of torture and abuse in Uganda in the early 2000s.
Published On 9 Sep 20259 Sep 2025
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is slated to hear evidence against fugitive Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony two decades after his Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) gained international infamy for atrocities in northern Uganda.
The Tuesday hearing, known as a “confirmation of charges”, is the Hague-based court’s first-ever held in absentia.
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Kony faces 39 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection to the LRA’s campaign against the Ugandan government between 2002 and 2005, which prosecutors allege was rife with rape, torture, and abductions of children.
Kony has eluded law enforcement since the ICC first issued an indictment in 2005, making the hearing a litmus test for others in which arresting the suspect is considered a far-off prospect, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The hearing is expected to last three days and will allow prosecutors to outline their case in court, after which judges will decide whether to confirm the charges. Kony cannot be tried unless he is in ICC custody, however.
“Everything that happens at the ICC is precedent for the next case,” Michael Scharf, an international law professor at Case Western Reserve University, told The Associated Press news agency.
Kony was born in 1961 in northern Uganda’s village of Odek, where he was a Catholic altar boy and took up an interest in spirituality. He later claimed to be a spirit medium and used religious rituals – alongside violence and torture – to maintain control of followers.
The LRA’s attacks against the Ugandan government date back to the 1980s, but the group was not thrust into the international spotlight until 2012, when a #Kony2012 campaign went viral on social media.
By then, the LRA had been forced out of Uganda and was operating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic and South Sudan, where it continued its violent crusade. The LRA’s activities killed at least 100,000 people and displaced about 2.5 million in Africa, according to the United Nations, along with the kidnapping of children.
Survivors in Uganda plan to follow the ICC proceedings, including Everlyn Ayo, a 39-year-old whose school was first attacked by LRA fighters when she was five years old.
“The rebels raided the school, killed and cooked our teachers in big drums and we were forced to eat their remains,” Ayo told the AFP news agency. “Many times, on our return to the village, we would find blood-soaked bodies. Seeing all that blood as a child traumatised my eyes.”
The ICC has been under heavy pressure from Washington for its pursuit of cases surrounding Israel’s war on Gaza.
United States President Donald Trump’s administration had previously sanctioned the ICC in response to its investigation and subsequent arrest warrants issued for Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes committed in Gaza.
Last month, the US announced a new round of sanctions targeting members of the ICC, the latest instance of a pressure campaign against the court.
Midsomer Murders star Daniel Casey has opened up about his decision to leave the ITV series after seven years on the show alongside John Nettles
Midsomer Murders favourite Daniel Casey has lifted the lid on his choice to depart the ITV drama.
Daniel and John Nettles starred together on the programme from its launch in 1996 until Daniel’s exit in 2003.
In a fresh chat on BBC Breakfast, Daniel reflected on his departure, confessing it wasn’t a tough choice.
Presenter Sarah Campbell grilled Daniel about leaving Midsomer Murders and whether it proved a “difficult decision”.
“It was fairly easy, actually,” the actor revealed before continuing, “I started when I was 24, and left when I was 30. Funnily enough, I was thinking about it, and I was watching a rugby match, and there was commentary,” reports the Express.
Daniel Casey on BBC Breakfast(Image: BBC)
“It was last-minute, and it was South Africa versus New Zealand, and New Zealand were three points behind, and they had a penalty, and I said, ‘Oh, you should have kicked the goal’. They said, ‘No, they kicked to the corner’.”
He went on, “And I said, ‘Well, that’s a risk’. And the commentator said, ‘Oh, the only risk in life is never to take a risk’.
“It felt like he was talking to me, and I thought I didn’t come into this job to do the same thing year on year on year. So I thought, it’s a nice time to just step off the cliff and see what else is out there.”
The performer, who initially portrayed DS Gavin Troy opposite John Nettles’ Detective Tom Barnaby in the beloved ITV series, is preparing to take on DCI Tom Barnaby in a fresh theatrical adaptation of the programme.
John Nettles with Daniel Casey in Midsomer Murders(Image: ITV)
When discussing his comeback, Daniel grinned: “It’s really exciting, really exciting. It’s lovely to come back. I never thought that I would revisit this amazing, weird, wonderful, strange, old world again, but, but yeah, it’s lovely to be embarking on a tour and bringing it to the stage.
“It’s the original episode, The Killings of Badgers Drift. It’s very faithful to that original, and that kind of the actuality that you have in the television series. It lends itself beautifully to the stage.”
BBC host Jon Kay then quizzed the actor about his “big promotion” and taking on the role previously occupied by John Nettles.
“John is such a lovely man, and it was such an important part of my early career, and he said it himself. He said, ‘I learned at the feet of the master,’ and actually, I did.
“He was incredible, and I stood beside him for what, seven years, so a lot of that has influenced me, I hope.”
Sept. 3 (UPI) — The federal government is opening a new immigration detention facility at Louisiana State Penitentiary, which Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem dubbed “Louisiana Lockup” in an announcement Wednesday.
She said the federal partnership with the state of Louisiana will include up to 416 beds at the facility also known as Angola Prison.
“If you come into this country and you victimize someone, if you take away their child forever, if you traffic drugs and kill our next generation of Americans, and if you traffic our children and men and women, absolutely there’s consequences,” Noem said during a news conference at the prison. “You’re going to end up here.”
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said the prison was designed to hold “the worst of the worst.”
“Louisiana Lockup will give [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] the space it needs to lock up some of the worst criminal illegal aliens — murderers, rapists, pedophiles, drug traffickers and gang members — so they can no longer threaten our families and communities,” he said in a news release.
The DHS release said the funding for the facility comes from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 4.
The Louisiana immigration detention facility is one of multiple prisons opened by the Trump administration in recent months as part of the president’s pledge to mass deport immigrants.
The South Florida Detention Facility, nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz,” opened at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in the Cypress National Preserve was opened July 1, but last month a federal judge ordered the government to wind down operations within 60 days.
The order came in response to a lawsuit by Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity accusing the Trump administration of building the facility in violation of environmental laws, which require an environmental review before construction at the preserve.
No. 1-ranked Mater Dei opened its high school football season on Saturday in Florida looking every bit as good as last season when the Monarchs went unbeaten despite lots of mistakes in the second half.
New quarterback Ryan Hopkins threw three touchdown passes in the second quarter en route to a 26-23 victory over Ft. Lauderdale Aquinas, which has won six straight Florida state titles. Chris Henry Jr. caught two of them, covering 22 and 82 yards. Gavin Honore had a 62-yard touchdown reception.
Mater Dei scored 26 consecutive points after falling behind 3-0 in the first quarter. They led 26-3 at halftime. But the Monarchs went scoreless in the second half.
The Monarchs were hardly perfect, leaving coach Raul Lara plenty to work on. They had two interceptions in the first half that ended with turnovers on fumbles during the returns. Twice the Monarchs botched point-after attempts. There were numerous 15-yard personal foul penalties for taunting, late hits, grabbing the face mask and a horse collar. They had 13 penalties for 140 yards through three quarters.
The defense did what it has been doing well for years — stopping the run. USC commit Tomuhini Topui had a sack and Shaun Scott, another USC commit, was adding pressure at the linebacker position. Danny Lang led the secondary with two pass breakups.
Aquinas had fourth and goal from the one-yard line to start the fourth quarter and failed on a fumble trying to run up the middle to cut a 26-10 deficit. But Hopkins was soon intercepted. Aquinas scored on a quarterback option play by Mason Mallory to close to within 26-16 with 9:44 left. Then it was 26-23 on a touchdown pass with 1:36 left until Mater Dei ran out the clock.
Hopkins finished with 272 yards passing. Henry had four catches for 134 yards.
The Monarchs next make their home debut on Friday in a game that will likely result in a running clock. They face Bishop Montgomery, which lost five transfers to ineligibility.
Mater Dei was one of three Trinity League teams opening in Florida. St. John Bosco won 31-0 on Friday night in a game halted at halftime because of lightning. There was also lightning for Mater Dei’s game that delayed the start by one hour. Orange Lutheran was playing Saturday night against Miami Northwestern.
Three other Trinity League teams — Santa Margarita, JSerra and Servite — all lost nonleague openers on Friday.
Snugbury’s Ice Cream Farm in Cheshire has been welcoming visitors in their thousands for its array of 55 different and fun flavoured ice creams on their farmland
The huge straw sculptures are available throughout the summer(Image: MEN)
A beloved ice cream farm renowned for its massive straw creations has unveiled fresh attractions to entertain families during the closing weeks of the summer break.
Snugbury’s, situated near Nantwich in Cheshire, has been drawing thousands of guests in recent years with their selection of flavoured ice creams, whilst installing towering 45ft wooden and straw sculptures across their farmland featuring everything from daleks to Peter Rabbit and an enormous bee.
Paddington Bear currently serves as the signature landmark towering over the farm, and this year he’s been accompanied by a fresh trail of wooden dinosaurs, located in a field that’s completely free to access.
There are 55 different ice cream flavours available at the farm(Image: MEN)
This week, the farm also revealed that its sunflower field has now reached full bloom – allowing guests to wander through, capture photographs and marvel at the stunning bright yellow flowers, reports the Manchester Evening News.
At the trail’s conclusion you can also purchase a single stem for £1.50 or a bundle of five sunflowers for £5, with £2.50 from each bundle donated to their chosen charity.
The “Snug-o-Saurus” dinosaur trail has already proved popular with younger guests and families, where you can stroll through a wildflower meadow and discover an assortment of wooden versions of the prehistoric creatures.
The dinosaur trail and the sunflower field is available throughout the summer(Image: MEN)
You can spot a triceratops, stegosaurus, a baby dinosaur and its enormous egg alongside the terrifying T-Rex which is sure to be the biggest draw for dinosaur enthusiasts. After a stroll through the dinosaur trails, visitors are greeted by an enormous Paddington Bear – Snugbury’s largest sculpture to date.
The beloved bear is donned in his iconic blue jacket, tipping his hat and carrying a suitcase. Visitors can wander around Paddington at the ice cream farm before returning to the starting point where a pop-up cafe serves coffees, milkshakes for £5, small tubs of ice cream for £3.70 and soft serve cones for £3.30.
You can also go and visit the huge 45ft Paddington Bear sculpture(Image: Tim Jervis)
For those wanting to sample the full range of tantalising flavours that Snugbury’s offers, they can continue on to the main ice cream parlour on site.
Here, a daily rotation of some 55 flavours awaits, with options ranging from marmalade, lavender and honey, raspberry pavlova, caramelised banana, snugtella, battenburg, pistachio, turkish delight, as well as more traditional flavours like strawberry, chocolate, vanilla and mango and lemon sorbet.
The family-run farm also contributes to charitable causes throughout the summer, with half the proceeds from every sunflower bunch sold going to Freddie’s Army charity this year, which raises funds for research into children with the genetic disorder MPS, with donations encouraged.
Snugbury’s ice cream business was established in 1986 at Park Farm by Chris and Cheryl Sadler, who began making ice cream with a mixer in their kitchen.
Spotting dinosaurs along the trail is all part of the fun(Image: MEN)
The business was taken over by the Sadler’s daughters, Kitty, Cleo and Hannah, eight years ago, who have since expanded the business by an impressive 60-70%. The shop proudly displays a ’55 pan display’ of flavours, with their double cone being the most popular item.
Snugburys can be found on the A51 in Hurleston, just outside Nantwich in Cheshire. The snug-o-sauraus dino trail is open every day from 10am to 6pm, and even well-behaved dogs are welcome, provided they’re kept on leads.
Tommy Fury spoke about co-parenting his daughter Bambi with Molly-Mae Hague in the second episode of his new BBC Three series Tommy: The Good. The Bad. The Fury
23:35, 19 Aug 2025Updated 23:35, 19 Aug 2025
Former Love Island star Tommy Fury has revealed that he has a different approach to parenting compared to Molly-Mae Hague. He’s said that their daughter Bambi “knows she can’t get away” with anything when she’s with her mother.
The boxer, 26, spoke about being a parent in his reality TV show Tommy: The Good. The Bad. The Fury, which launched on BBC Three earlier tonight. In the second episode, filmed towards the end of last year following his split from Molly-Mae, now 26, he opened up about co-parenting whilst living separately from the content creator and Bambi, now two.
Tommy, who has since reconciled with Molly-Mae, said that it had proved “tricky” to co-parent since she moved out of the home they shared with their daughter. He then teased that Molly-Mae offered more discipline as a parent than him.
Tommy Fury spoke about being a parent to toddler Bambi in his new BBC reality TV show(Image: BBC)
Amid scenes of Bambi staying at Tommy’s house with him, he said on the show: “Obviously it’s tricky because Molly’s at her house and I’m here at the minute. When Bambi’s here, it’s all me, and when she’s there, it’s all her, so it is tricky.”
Tommy continued by saying: “I’m wrapped around her little finger ten times so I’ll literally do anything for her. But at least with Molly she knows she can’t get away with it But with me, she definitely can. She can get away with murder.”
She told fans at the time: “I feel like I need to keep my camera running all day so you guys like actually just see … it’s like every single thing is a huge problem. Like [Bambi is] screams and can’t even get like socks and shoes on.”
He teased on Tommy: The Good. The Bad. The Fury that he has a different approach to parenting than Molly-Mae Hague(Image: BBC)
Molly-Mae also addressed the suggestion that she’s “out of touch,” after complaining about struggling with parenting lately, in the same vlog. She said: “I don’t care who tells me I’m out of touch with reality or like all this stuff that’s going on on TikTok at the minute. […] I don’t care like I’m not gonna not talk about it.”
In the second episode of his show, Tommy also spoke about hoping to live with Molly-Mae and Bambi again in the future. He said: “You just dream of one day, y’know, them coming back and the house to be filled with joy again. Y’know, I hope that one day everything can sort itself out and we can live here as a family again.”
Tommy, who has since reconciled with Molly-Mae, had been co-parenting their daughter with her at the time(Image: mollymae/Instagram)
And in the first episode, Tommy spoke about them having moved out as he once again dismissed previous speculation that cheating had led to him splitting up from Molly-Mae. He said: “The reason for our end in the relationship was alcohol.” He said that he had been “drinking a lot” whilst unable to train after injuring one of his hands.
Tommy later said that he didn’t expect Molly-Mae to leave him. He went on to say that he was “drunk” when his fiancée and Bambi left their home, adding: “So I don’t actually remember it that well, which was even more upsetting.”
Tommy: The Good. The Bad. The Fury continues on BBC Three and BBC iPlayer next Tuesday from 9pm. The first six episodes are available through BBC iPlayer now.
If you are struggling with alcohol abuse or addiction, advice and support can be found at alcoholchange.org.uk.
A BRAND new vintage fairground-themed playpark has just opened its doors in the UK.
The new Adventure Play Fair in Norfolk is “one of East Anglia’s largest themed play areas,” according to the attraction’s Instagram account.
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A new vintage fairground-themed playpark has opened near NorfolkCredit: Instagram/thursford_
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It features many different areas with climbing structures, slides and interactive elementsCredit: Instagram/thursford_
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Sprawled across the 30,000-square-foot park, wooden huts have been converted into all the things you would expect to find at a funfair.
A towering red and yellow Helter Skelter stands out in the play area and has a small climbing wall and exit to a bridge walkway on the side as well.
Then there is a wooden shed standing as a ‘Popcorn Hut’, with a rope bridge leading it to the ‘Hook a Duck’ hut with a slide and another exit to the ‘Hall of Mirrors’.
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Another spot is ‘Tin Can Alley’, where kids can bang on long metal tubes that vary in length to create differently pitched sounds.
The Ferris Wheel, dubbed ‘The Big Wheel’ has a network of tunnels, bridges and different wooden ‘pods’.
While the giant play structure doesn’t move like a Ferris Wheel does, the different cabins have a variety of things to do, including one with a slide out of it.
The carousel also stands stationary, with wooden horses and a long rope bridge coming from its roof and stretching to another part of the park.
And scattered across the park are a number of multicoloured teacups.
Adding to the vintage steam rally theme, there is a train that kids can crawl through, and on hot days, they can have a splash in the UK’s first water fountain organ.
New seafront playground with unreal view and incredible theme opens minutes from busy city
Classic playground elements are in the ‘funfair’ too, such as swings, pedal quadracycles and trampolines in the ground.
For the parents, there are plenty of picnic benches with parasols to perch on and a cafe to grab refreshments or a light bite at.
One visitor, who headed to the open day yesterday, said: “[T]his is outdoor play on a whole new level.”
Tickets cost £4 per adult and £8 per child and the Adventure Play Fair is open Sunday to Thursday, 10am to 5pm.
While there, families can also explore the museum that has the world’s largest collection of steam engines.
For half price adult admission and free tickets for kids under 12, you can show your Adventure Play Fair tickets.
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And there is also a water fountain area that kids can play inCredit: Thursford
Thursford is also popular in the festive season for its Christmas Spectacular, which includes a three-hour show with over 130 performers.
There is also Santa’s Magical Journey, which includes a meet-and-greet with Father Christmas.
From November, visitors can head on The Enchanted Journey of Light – an immersive light trail with fairytale characters, lanterns and lit-up seesaws and swings.
And if you are looking for something else to do nearby, head down the road to Pumpkin House which has a maize maze, minigolf, tractor sand pits and pumpkin picking in October.
Or you could discover Hindringham Hall – a moated Tudor manor house with fishponds and historic walled garden.
There are holiday cottages at the house too, if you wanted to extend your stay in the area.
The Chelsea legend, 44, told SunSport: “I really liked the honesty from the manager because the message is clear to the players. We’re not there yet.
“If you’re the manager now coming into that dressing room and you’re going, ‘We’ve got a chance this year’, the players will think we’ve got a chance. This year I think his message will be different.
“He was spot on because we were young, it was a little bit up and down last year. At the moment, we’re clearly building and moving in the right direction.
Terry also lifted the Champions with ChelseaCredit: Getty
“I’m not sitting here saying I want to wait five years to win another Premier League. We’ve got to go into it 100 per cent with the mindset of going, ‘Yes, we have to try to win the league this year’.
“Without a shadow of a doubt. But there’s other big competitions as well.
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“You fight right to the end until it’s not possible. The Premier League was done last season, Liverpool were very good last year and rightly the winners. We have to compete for that again.”
Key to success will be whether or not the fledgling leaders within Maresca’s squad can find another level.
Reece James, 25, was called out by his manager last season for not doing enough as a captain but has stepped up since.
Centre-back Levi Colwill looked to be following in Terry’s footsteps at the back before his cruel ACL injury last week.
And Chelsea’s 15-time trophy-winning former skipper has long been impressed by Enzo Fernandez.
But James staying fit and leading on the pitch will be vital after missing months at a time with hamstring, knee and thigh problems.
Terry added: “For Reece, concentrate on staying fit and having a fully-fit season for him is the most important thing. He can make such a difference.
“We’ve seen the quality. When Reece is at it, he is the world’s best right-back.
“When you’ve picked up a couple of injuries like Reece has had, it’s difficult to really feel like you belong.
“So when you start demanding from people around you, when you’re the one not playing, that’s also very difficult.
“When you’re in the starting line-up week in, week out, it’s easy to command and run the dressing room — and the standards of the football club.”
Terry made more than 500 appearances as captain and says boss Jose Mourinho always demanded his skipper be robust and a regular.
JT said: “You need to be robust. You need to understand that you can push through little injuries, niggles, and you can kind of come out the other side of it.
“You need to manage your body throughout the week and all of that.”
As well as mentoring players in the Under-18s and U21s, Terry stops in to catch up and offer support to players such as James and Colwill.
He even spoke to the pair of defenders before this interview.
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Captain Reece James has found regular football difficult to come by due to injury troubleCredit: Getty
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Levi Colwill’s brutal ACL injury scuppered what was expected to be a strong seasonCredit: Alamy
Terry added: “We talk generally about football and some situations — but it’s super relaxed.
“Out of pure respect, I don’t get too involved because I fully respect the manager and his role.
“I would never want to say something that goes against what he’s saying to those players.
“But the boys know I’m always there if they need me.
“Not just the defenders but the ones that have just arrived. Always here to help. That’s my role as someone who has been at Chelsea for so long and the club means the world to me.”
And that is the clubman role he wants some of his academy predecessors to take up.
Terry said: “You’ve got Reece and there’s a few other boys that really live and breathe Chelsea.
“But the boys that come in and really buy into the club, this is where the importance of Reece, Levi and the academy graduates really play an important role.
“This is how we do it. This is what we do at Chelsea. We win football trophies and we win cups on a regular basis.
“All the top clubs have that. Man United have that, Liverpool have that, Arsenal. Spurs not so much . . .
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Terry was an assistant under Dean Smith at Aston Villa and LeicesterCredit: Getty
“But all the big football clubs have that — they find a way to win.
“So in terms of where we were last year . . . a little bit inexperienced. Thiago Silva left and all of that. But the team managed to find a way to win.”
Terry also believes recent successes will be transformative for the Blues.
While the Conference League would have been scoffed at during Terry’s era had it existed, now it is viewed as a stepping stone within the camp.
He said: “It gives you belief, back when we won our first one, the 2004-05 Carling Cup at Cardiff, it gives you belief that it can be done within the squad.
“When you’re a young group, it ripples throughout the whole squad of players.”
If this group can match what Terry and his team-mates did after that Carling Cup win 20 years ago, the Blues will be in for one hell of a ride once more.
John Terry is an investor in and ambassador for LEBOM — the low-stakes football betting app where It’s You vs Your Mates. 18+ BeGambleAware
LOOSE Women star Nadia Sawalha revealed she’s been dealing with a “horrendous” health anxiety battle.
The TV personality, 60, said she constantly overthinks that she’s going to get sick and develop a “dreadful” disease.
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Nadia Sawalha opened up about her ‘horrendous’ health anxiety battleCredit: YouTube
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The Loose Women star constantly thinks she’s going to develop a ‘dreadful” disease’Credit: Shutterstock Editorial
Nadia shared the health update with fans on her latest YouTube vlog post as she insisted her “awareness” can become “draining”.
The ITV panellist star said: “I’m always worrying that I’ve got some new and dreadful disease.
“Something will pop up on Instagram or my 17 or 21-year-old will share something with me on TikTok or a magazine and I will just obsess.
“It’s a bit like a hot and cold running buffet and I go from one dish to another and the dishes I choose to nibble on the most is dementia, petrifying, I probably today questioned, I’m really not exaggerating, probably 20 to 35 times today… been to Loose Women, been on the train, been on the bus, talked to all sorts of different people, popped into a shop, there wasn’t anything I did today, any interaction or transaction where I didn’t go ‘that was a bit weird, is that dementia?’
“It’s horrendous.
“That’s one of them. Another one breast cancer, another one bowel cancer, if you think about it those are all diseases or illnesses that there’s been fantastic work done on awareness.
“Don’t get me wrong awareness is good, lives are saved because of awareness.
“But I think I’m too aware because there are so often articles ‘don’t miss the early bloody signs’, everything seems an early sign. “
Nadia revealed she has a fears that she will catch Weil’s disease one day – a bacterial infection contracted from the urine of infected rats.
“Sometimes I allow myself to hover over a really rare thing like Weil’s disease, is caused by rats in the water, I never swim in fresh water where there’s rats, but I can literally convince myself it is something I have,” Nadia continued.
Loose Women’s Nadia Sawalha strips topless to celebrate turning 60 – as fans brand her ‘stunning’
“Skin cancer, constantly looking at moles, constantly convincing myself, oh my god, it’s so draining.”
Nadia admitted it’s “exhausting” and “wears her out” on a daily basis.
She said: “It steals the joy of life, I could be having a good time with family and then I’m like ‘I’m going to have that illness soon and I won’t be here’, and I can’t discuss it with my kids because they get mad, they’re terrified.”
Nadia added: “Another thing I get scared of is asbestos, I had a bit of it in the garden, Mark picked it up and put in the bin and I keep thinking he had a bit on him.”
ITV CUTS
Nadia’s health battle comes after she revealed she’s “devastated” after a friend and co-star was axed from the show amid the brutal ITV budget cuts.
Now Nadia has confirmed the huge change and told how it means one of her friends will no longer have a job on the show.
Speaking in a recent YouTune with husband Mark Adderley, she said: “From next year there will be no Loose Women audience.
“I am totally devastated by this fact, I can’t get over it at all. Not only because the audience is so important for the show, but also my dear friend Lee who I work with every day.”
Comedian Lee Peart has been the Loose Women warm-up act since 2017.
An ITV source said: “While there is a proposal to not have a studio audience for Loose Women from 2026, that doesn’t necessarily mean that we’ll never have a studio audience again, it just won’t be in the same way as it is now.
“At this stage we are still exploring new ways of working and producing the show when we move to a new studio next year.”
The shock move came as part of broader budget reductions across the channel, which also included halving Lorraine’s airtime to 30 minutes and airing it only during school term time.
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Nadia revealed a list of diseases and illnesses she’s terrified of gettingCredit: Rex
CHELSEA boss Enzo Maresca loves to celebrate with a cigar – but more than anything he wishes he could have a smoke with a team-mate who died in horrific circumstances.
Enzo Maresca has opened up on the heartbreaking loss of Antonio PuertaCredit: Getty
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The pair played together at Sevilla and Maresca would love to share a cigar with his palCredit: EPA
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Puerta died after collapsing on the pitch from a cardiac arrestCredit: AFP
After the latter, the Blues boss enjoyed one of his favourite Portagas 2 cigars, the brand he used to smoke with Manchester City head coach Pep Guardiola when they were marking City’s success.
But when Maresca was asked to name the football personality he would most like to one of his favourite Portagas No 2 cigars with, the Italian gave a poignant answer – Antonio Puerta, who died aged 22 after suffering a cardiac arrest on the field.
Maresca told Men in Blazers: “That’s a very good question. I will tell you, when I was 25, 26, I lost a team-mate inside the pitch. So if I could, I would like a cigar with him.”
Midfielder Maresca had four seasons at Sevilla but his third campaign started in tragic fashion.
The Italian was on the field when, just 35 minutes into the opening game of the 2007/8 season – at home against Getafe – Puerta suffered a cardiac arrest.
After the wing-back collapsed and lost consciousness in the penalty area, team-mates and medical staff rushed to his aid.
Puerta recovered enough to walk to the dressing room but collapsed again there.
He was resuscitated and rushed to hospital, where he had to receive more life-saving resuscitation.
But Puerta died three days later, on August 28, because of multiple organ failure and irreversible brain damage.
It emerged that he had an incurable hereditary heart disease called arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy.
Fans spot Liam Delap’s reaction on bench after Joao Pedro goal as Chelsea fans say ‘this guy can’t catch a break’
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Maresca and Puerta shared a close bond at SevillaCredit: AFP
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They won the UEFA Cup together in 2006Credit: Getty
Puerta’s death shocked Spanish football and the wider world.
His girlfriend was expecting their first child at the time of his death.
When Puerta passed away, Maresca and the rest of the Seville squad were already in Greece for a Champions League qualifier against AEK Athens.
Maresca, who played for Greek side Olympiakos later in his career, spoke about the tragedy when Chelsea went to Athens in October 2024 for a Conference League game against Panathinaikos.
Maresca said: “In terms of the season I spent here in Greece, for me it was very good with Olympiakos, a big rival with Panathinaikos. But unfortunately I lost a friend on the pitch when I was at Seville.
“The first game we played after that, we were already in Athens and just on that day, one of our team-mates passed away in Antonio Puerta.
“So it is a mixed feeling. The season in Athens was fantastic. But every time I come back here I am a little bit sad.”
The Champions League game against AEK, which had been scheduled for the evening of the day Puerta died, was postponed.
When Sevilla faced AC Milan in the Uefa Super Cup on August 31, all 22 players had the name Puerta on the back of their shirts.
Sergio Ramos, who had come through the Sevilla academy and into the first team with Puerta, wore T-shirts in memory of Puerta after Spain’s triumphs at Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup.
Jesus Navas, who was on the field on the day Puerta collapse, made the same gesture after the 2010 World Cup final.
In 2010, Sevilla unveiled a statue of Puerta at their training ground.
Watch the full Men in Blazers interview with Enzo Maresca here.
Tommy Fleetwood carded a six-under 64 to open up a four-shot lead before play was suspended in the second round of the St Jude Championship in Memphis due to severe weather.
Having shot 63 in the opening round, the 34-year-old Englishman followed up superbly with seven birdies.
A bogey on the 18th was the only blemish on Fleetwood’s total of 13 under as he put himself in a strong position for a first ever PGA Tour victory.
After hitting a fine 65, two-time major champion Collin Morikawa is at nine under, along with his fellow American Akshay Bhatia in the opening event of the FedExCup play-offs.
England’s Justin Rose was on the 17th tee and among 21 players still yet to finish when play was stopped due to lightning. He was also four shots adrift of Fleetwood.
Las Vegas — I turn a bend and see a figure in a cornfield. The gray sky is foreboding, a storm clearly on the horizon. When I take a step forward, I’m hit with a gust of wind and fog. Suddenly, it’s no longer a silhouette in the haze but a scarecrow, shrouded in hay, lurching toward me.
Only I am not on a Midwestern farm, and there is no threat of severe weather. I‘m in a warehouse in Las Vegas, walking through a maze called “Scarecrow: The Reaping.” I jump back and fixate my phone’s camera on the creature, but that only encourages them to step closer. I‘m hurried out of the farmland and into a hall, where giant stalks now obscure my path.
(Michael Kirschbaum / For The Times)
(Michael Kirschbaum / For The Times)
(Michael Kirschbaum / For The Times)
Welcome to Universal Horror Unleashed, which aims to deliver year-round horrors and further expand theme park-like experiences beyond their hubs of Southern California and Central Florida. Horror Unleashed, opening Aug. 14, is an outgrowth of Universal’s popular fall event, Halloween Horror Nights, which has been running yearly at the company’s Los Angeles park since 2006 and even longer at its larger Florida counterpart.
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Like Halloween Horror Nights, there are maze-like haunted houses — four of them here themed to various properties such as “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and “The Exorcist.” Their more permanent status allows for a greater production factor — think disappearing walls and more elaborate show scenes — and they are surrounded by brooding bars, a pop-up rock-inspired dance show and a host of original walk-around characters. “Hey, sugar,” said a young woman as I near the warehouse’s main bar, a wraparound establishment themed to a large boiler. The actor’s face was scarred with blood, hinting at a backstory I didn’t have time — or perhaps the inclination — to explore.
Horror Unleashed is opening just on the cusp of when theme parks and immersive-focused live experiences are entering one of the busiest times of the year: Halloween. The holiday, of course, essentially starts earlier each year. This year’s Halloween Horror Nights begins Sept. 4, while Halloween season at the Disneyland Resort launches Aug. 22. Horror shows and films are now successful year-round, with the likes of “Sinners” and “The Last of Us” enrapturing audiences long before Oct. 31. Culture has now fully embraced the darker side of fairy tales.
A scene from the “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” maze at Universal Horror Unleashed in Las Vegas.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre at the Universal Horror Unleashed.
A gruesome moment during the “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” maze at Universal Horror Unleashed.
“You can make every month horrific,” says Nate Stevenson, Horror Unleashed’s show director.
That’s been a goal of David Markland, co-founder of Long Beach’s Halloween-focused convention Midsummer Scream, which this year is set for the weekend of Aug. 15. When Midsummer Scream began in 2016, it attracted about 8,000 people, says Markland, but today commands audiences of around 50,000. “Rapidly, over the past 10 or 15 years, Halloween has become a year-round fascination for people,” Markland says. “Halloween is a culture now. Halloween is a lifestyle. It’s a part of people’s lives that they celebrate year-round.”
There will be challenges, a difficult tourism market among them, as visits to Las Vegas were down 11.3% in June 2025 versus a year earlier, according to data from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. And then there’s the question of whether audiences are ready for year-round haunts that extend beyond the fall Halloween season to winter, spring and summer. I entered Horror Unleashed for a media preview on an early August night when it was 105 degrees in the Las Vegas heat. It’s also been tried before, albeit on a smaller scale. Las Vegas was once home to Eli Roth’s Goretorium, a year-round haunted house that leaned on torture-horror and shuttered after about a year in 2013.
But Universal creatives are undaunted.
Frankenstein’s monster comes alive during a Universal monsters maze at Universal Horror Unleashed.
More than a decade, of course, has passed, and Horror Unleashed is more diverse in its horror offerings. A maze themed to Universal’s classic creatures winds through a castle and catacombs with vintage-style horrors and a mid-show scene in which Frankenstein’s monster comes alive. Original tale “Scarecrow: The Reaping,” which began at Universal Studios Florida, mixes in jump scares with more natural-seeming frights, such as the aforementioned simulated dust bowl.
TJ Mannarino, vice president of entertainment, art and design at Universal Orlando, points to cultural happenings outside of the theme parks in broadening the terror scene — the success of shows such as “The Walking Dead” and “American Horror Story,” which found audiences outside of the Halloween season, as well as “Stranger Things,” which he says opened up horror to a younger crowd. Theme parks are simply reflecting our modern culture, which is craving darker fantasies. Universal, for instance, recently opened an entire theme park land focused on its classic monsters at its new Epic Universe in Florida, and even Disney is getting in on the action, as a villains-focused land is in the works for Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom.
An anxiety-ridden actor in “The Exorcist: Believer” maze at Universal Horror Unleashed.
“We think our audience really wants this,” says Mannarino, noting theme park attendance surveys were prodding the company to give horror a permanent home. And at Universal’s Orlando park, Halloween Horror Nights starts earlier, beginning in late August.
“Just a couple years ago, we started in August, and we were selling out August dates,” Stevenson says. “On a micro level, we’re seeing that, boy, it doesn’t matter if you extend past the season or extend out before the season — people are coming. People want it.”
The central bar, themed to a boiler room, at Universal Horror Unleashed.
Universal is betting on it, as the company has already announced that a second Horror Unleashed venue will be heading to Chicago in 2027. Smaller, more regional theme park-like experiences are once again something of a trend, as Netflix has immersive venues planned for the Dallas and Philadelphia regions, and Universal is also bringing a kid-focused park to Frisco, Texas.
There are antecedents for what Universal is attempting. Disney, for instance, tried an indoor interactive theme park with DisneyQuest, for which a Chicago location was short-lived and a Florida outpost closed in 2017. Star Trek: The Experience, a mix of theme park-like simulations and interactive theater, operated for about a decade in Las Vegas before it shuttered in 2008.
“I know there’s horror fans and Halloween fans who are always looking for something to do,” Markland says. “What [Universal is] doing is very ambitious and big, and so I’m nervous along with them. We’ll see how it goes. I’m sure people will go as soon as it opens and through the Halloween season, but after that, I don’t know. … They’ve definitely invested in Halloween and horror fans. They’re all-in.”
Horror, says author Lisa Morton — who has written multiple books on the Oct. 31 holiday, including “Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween” — is thriving in part because today it is taken more seriously by cultural critics. The genre also has metaphorical qualities — the struggle, for instance, that is life, art and creativity in “Sinners” or the underlying themes of PTSD that permeated the latest season of “The Last of Us.” That makes it especially appealing, she says, for today’s stressful times.
“I suspect that’s part of the reason horror is booming right now,” Morton says. “Everything from climate change, that we seem to have no voice in, and our politics, that don’t seem to represent us. Many of us are filled with anxiety about the future. I think horror is the perfect genre to talk about that. When you add a layer of a metaphor to it, it becomes much easier to digest.”
(Michael Kirschbaum / For The Times)
(Michael Kirschbaum / For The Times)
(Michael Kirschbaum / For The Times)
To step into Horror Unleashed is to walk into a demented wonderland, a place that turns standard theme park warmth and joy upside down. Don’t expect fairy tale-like happy endings. The space’s centerpiece performance is twisted, a story centering on Jack the Clown and his female sidekick Chance, who have kidnapped two poor Las Vegas street performers and are forcing them to execute their acts to perfection to avoid murder. The deeper one analyzes it, the more sinister its class dynamics feel, even if it’s an excuse to showcase, say, street dancing and hula hoop acrobatics.
A circus show at Universal Horror Unleashed features various Las Vegas performers.
The space has an underlying narrative. Broadly speaking, the warehouse is said to have been a storage place for Universal Studios’ early monster-focused horror films. That allows it to be littered with props, such as the throne-like chair near its entrance, and for nooks and crannies such as a “film vault” to be renamed a “kill vault.” Somehow — horror loves a good mystery — the space has come alive, and don’t be surprised to be greeted by a vampire or a costumed swampland figure that may or may not be related to the Creature from the Black Lagoon.
The goal, says Universal creatives, is to give Horror Unleashed a bit of an immersive theater feel, something that can’t really be done among the chaotic scare zones and fast-moving mazes of a Halloween Horror Nights event. But here, guests can linger with the actors and probe them to try to uncover the storyline that imbues the venue. One-to-one actor interaction has long been a goal of those in the theme park space but often a tough formula to crack, in part because cast members are costly and in part because of the difficulty to scale such experiences for thousands.
“As we’ve evolved this style of experience, we have given more and more control of the show to the actors,” says Mannarino on what separates Horror Unleashed from Halloween Horror Nights. “It’s less programmed. It’s less technology. I’ve had conversations with tech magazines, and they’ll ask me what is the most critical piece, and I’ll say it’s the actors. … The lifeblood of our all stories — we can build all of this, but it doesn’t go without the actors.
“It’s what really drives this whole animal,” he adds.
A dark moment in “The Exorcist: Believer” maze at Universal Horror Unleashed.
It extends a bit to the mazes as well. Audiences should expect to spend about five to seven minutes in each of the four walk-through attractions, but unlike a Halloween Horror Nights event, where guests are rushed from room to room without stopping, in Las Vegas there will be one dedicated show scene per maze. Here, groups will be held to watch a mini-performance. In the “Exorcist” maze, for instance, that means witnessing a full exorcism, complete with special effects that will have walls give way to demonic specters. In the ‘70s-themed “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” haunt, look out for a bloody scene designed to drench guests.
Universal Horror Unleashed
The mazes are intended to be semi-permanent. Stevenson says there’s no immediate plans to swap them out in the near future but hints that Horror Unleashed will be an evolving venue and, if all goes according to plan, will look a bit different in a few years. Thus, he says the key differentiator between Horror Unleashed and Halloween Horror Nights is not necessarily the tech used in the mazes, but the extended time they can devote to unwrapping a story.
“When Universal builds a haunted house, the level of story that starts that out is enormous,” Stevenson says. “There’s so much story. All of our partners need that because they base every little nuanced thing off of that story. Unfortunately, we don’t always have the chance to tell that story, and all our fans tell us they want to know more story.”
A sampling of food and drinks at Universal Horror Unleashed, including a bread dish with bourbon-laced cheese.
Tacos and a chainsaw-themed flatbread at Universal Horror Unleashed.
Story percolates throughout the venue. Flatbreads, for instance, are shaped like chainsaw blades. Desserts come on plates that are mini-shovels. Salad dressing is delivered in syringes. In the past, says Mannarino, no one wanted their food to be played with. ‘“Don’t do horrible things to my food!’” he says in mock exaggeration. “But now, people really love that.”
Little, it seems, is obscene, when every day can be Halloween.
It was 68 degrees and overcast, a cool coastal breeze wafting across the practice fields, when UCLA commenced its first off-campus football training camp in nearly a decade.
San Bernardino, this was not.
With 55 newcomers dotting a roster of 105, not to mention eight new assistant coaches, the Bruins’ camp that started in Costa Mesa on Wednesday morning was more about togetherness than toughness in the triple-digit temperatures of the Inland Empire.
Every offensive player was matched with a roommate from the defense or special teams. A series of bonding exercises was planned inside and outside the nearby team hotel. Everything the Bruins do over the next 2 ½ weeks will be of the get-to-know-you variety.
UCLA linebacker JonJon Vaughns lines up with his hands on his hips and looks across the field during the first day of the Bruins’ preseason camp in Costa Mesa on Wednesday.
(Nate Donlevy / UCLA Athletics)
“I have a lot of tough guys, but it’s more of the connection,” coach DeShaun Foster said. “There’s a lot of new coaches and players, so I just wanted to find a way to make us be able to connect a little bit more, you know? To be able to eat three meals with each other and just get close.”
Foster said the football facilities at Cal State San Bernardino that the Bruins had last used in 2016 weren’t available, forcing the move to his native Orange County.
After going through the initial two-hour practice, temperatures topping out at 75 degrees, the consensus was that the Jack R. Hammett Sports Complex felt more like a day at the beach than one inside a sauna.
“In the beginning, it was a little humid,” linebacker Isaiah Chisom said, “but the sun came out, it was beautiful out here.”
The facilities included three grass fields, a makeshift locker room under one tent and a makeshift weight room under another. Trainers set up near the field, unfurling folding tables next to carts of supplies. Fences lining the field were adorned with signage reflecting the Bruins mantras — “Discipline, Respect and Enthusiasm” and “Do More.”
There was the usual training-camp cadence. Whistles blew and on cue, players wrapped up foam pads and dragged them to the ground. After another whistle signaled the start of stretching, a roar rang out. Players dropped to their knees to commence a series of body bends, twisting their arms and shoulders one way and then the other.
After a series of leg stretches, new defensive line coach Jethro Franklin offered an opening salvo to a group of nearby players.
“Bruin football,” Franklin said, “should not be for the timid or the weak.”
UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava warms up during the first day of the Bruins’ preseason camp in Costa Mesa on Wednesday.
(Nate Donlevy / UCLA Athletics)
During the 25-minute media viewing period, new quarterback Nico Iamaleava made a couple of handoffs to running backs, including one to Anthony Woods for a short touchdown, and threw one pass into the end zone that fell incomplete.
“He slings it,” tight end Jack Pedersen said of Iamaleava’s throwing style. “It’s a nice, firm spiral, man, and the guy doesn’t miss. Literally, can’t say enough great things.”
Before the training session, Foster said he was confident Iamaleava had sufficiently mastered the offense after enrolling in June.
“He’s pretty much grasped the playbook already,” Foster said of the transfer from Tennessee. “We haven’t had to hold back on anything. And I know at least he has these first two installs down pretty well. So just looking forward to getting out there and just watching him.”
The practice was staged in relative secrecy. Other than a handful of donors and a few city officials from Costa Mesa, fans were not allowed to attend like they had been in San Bernardino, where they sometimes lined multiple practice fields. The six reporters on hand Wednesday were barred from taking photos or videos of even the warmup periods.
Foster said training camp was about preparation, not publicity.
“We’re here to work,” he said. “We’ve got 16 days to come out and really be able to put a good product out there on the field.”
This is a business trip complete with bed checks and a curfew. Chisom is rooming with running back Anthony Frias II and has a connecting door attached to the room of linebacker Ben Perry and running back Troy Leigber, providing ample opportunities to learn about new teammates.
“I think it makes us build brotherhood,” Chisom said. “You’re staying with some people that you may have never talked to before … it kind of forces us to be close.”
The schedule called for an off day Thursday to accommodate players’ final exam schedules, one of four breaks interspersed among the 14 practices before the team breaks camp on Aug. 16. The Bruins hope that by the time they return to campus, the installation of a new 100-yard grass practice field alongside two smaller artificial turf fields will be complete.
If not, they’ll have new friends to commiserate with as they shift practices elsewhere on campus.
“This is a great opportunity to spend 2 1/2 weeks with a guy you don’t really know, right?” said Pedersen, who is rooming with defensive back Croix Stewart. “Being able to branch out, I think it’s really cool that they do this, and this is now getting an opportunity to meet other guys on the team and branch out and make those lifelong connections.”
Etc.
Although a judge denied wide receiver Kaedin Robinson’s request for a temporary restraining order that would have granted him immediate eligibility, Foster said his confidence level remained in the “90s percent” that Robinson could play for the Bruins this season. Robinson, a transfer from Appalachian State, has a preliminary injunction hearing set for Aug. 18 that will decide whether he’ll be cleared to play. … Freshman defensive lineman Robert James III maneuvered the area on a scooter, his lower right leg encased in a protective boot. … Luke Duncan took the snaps as the top backup quarterback. … Foster said linebacker Weston Port had commenced a Mormon mission and was expected to return by the spring of 2027.
UCLA offensive lineman Garrett DiGiorgio takes part in practice in April 2024.
(Meg Oliphant / Los Angeles Times)
Maybe Garrett DiGiorgio & Co. can land an NIL deal with STP oil treatment or the Stone Temple Pilots.
That’s because the offensive line has a new motto — STP, standing for “Something To Prove” — that would fit either brand.
It’s certainly an accurate assessment given the offensive line gave up 34 sacks last season and was part of a running game that averaged just 86.6 yards, ranking No. 131 out of 133 major college football teams.
“I think that’s very true,” DiGiorgio said of the motto, “because we do have something to prove as a unit.”
DiGiorgio split time between right tackle and left guard in spring practice as part of new offensive line coach Andy Kwon’s bid to get his best five players on the field. When DiGiorgio played left guard, Reuben Unije slotted in at right tackle.
Kentucky transfer Courtland Ford appears the front-runner to start at left tackle alongside DiGiorgio or Oluwafunto Akinshilo at left guard, Sam Yoon at center, Julian Armella at right guard and DiGiorgio or Reuben Unije at right tackle.
Armella’s story is similar to many of the new transfers on the roster. A widely heralded prospect who never fulfilled the hype in three seasons at Florida State, Armella is seeking a breakthrough with the Bruins.
Kwon’s strategy for improvement goes beyond catchphrases. DiGiorgio said there’s been a new emphasis on sustaining blocks instead of just making an initial block and releasing the defender.
EDINBURGH, Scotland — Lashed by cold winds and overlooking choppy, steel-gray North Sea waters, the breathtaking sand dunes of Scotland’s northeastern coast rank among President Trump’s favorite spots on Earth.
“At some point, maybe in my very old age, I’ll go there and do the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen,” Trump said in 2023, during his New York civil fraud trial, talking about his plans for future developments on his property in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire.
At 79 and back in the White House, Trump is making at least part of that pledge a reality, landing in Scotland on Friday as his family’s business prepares for the Aug. 13 opening of a golf course bearing his name.
Trump will be in Scotland until Tuesday, and he plans to talk trade with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
The Aberdeen area is already home to another of his courses, Trump International Scotland, and the Republican president is also visiting a Trump course near Turnberry, about 200 miles away on Scotland’s southwest coast. Trump said upon arrival Friday evening that his son is “gonna cut a ribbon” for the new course during his trip. Eric Trump also went with his father to break ground on the project back in 2023.
Using a presidential overseas trip — with its sprawling entourage of advisors, White House and support staffers, Secret Service agents and reporters — to help show off Trump-brand golf destinations demonstrates how the president has become increasingly comfortable intermingling his governing pursuits with promoting his family’s business interests.
The White House has brushed off questions about potential conflicts of interest, arguing that Trump’s business success before he entered politics was a key to his appeal to voters.
White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers called the Scotland swing a “working trip.” She added that Trump “has built the best and most beautiful world-class golf courses anywhere in the world, which is why they continue to be used for prestigious tournaments and by the most elite players in the sport.”
Tee times for sale
Trump went to Scotland to play his Turnberry course during his first term in 2018 while en route to a meeting in Finland with Russian President Vladimir Putin. But this trip comes as the new golf course is already actively selling tee times.
“We’re at a point where the Trump administration is so intertwined with the Trump business that he doesn’t seem to see much of a difference,” said Jordan Libowitz, vice president for the ethics watchdog organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, known as CREW. “It’s as if the White House were almost an arm of the Trump Organization.”
During his first term, the Trump Organization signed an ethics pact barring deals with foreign companies. An ethics framework for Trump’s second term allows them.
Trump’s assets are in a trust run by his children, who are handling day-to-day operations of the Trump Organization while he’s in the White House. The company has inked many recent lucrative foreign agreements involving golf courses, including plans to build luxury developments in Qatar and Vietnam, even as the Trump administration negotiates tariff rates for those countries and others.
Past legal fights
Trump’s existing Aberdeenshire course has a history nearly as rocky as the area’s cliffs.
It has struggled to turn a profit and was found by Scottish conservation authorities to have partially destroyed nearby sand dunes. Trump’s company also was ordered to cover the Scottish government’s legal costs after the course unsuccessfully sued over the construction of a nearby wind farm, arguing in part that it hurt golfers’ views.
The development was part of the massive civil case, which accused Trump of inflating his wealth to secure loans and make business deals.
Trump’s company’s initial plans for his first Aberdeen-area course called for a luxury hotel and nearby housing. His company received permission to build 500 houses, but Trump suggested he’d be allowed to build five times as many and borrowed against their values without actually building any homes, the lawsuit alleged.
Judge Arthur Engoron found Trump liable last year and ordered his company to pay $355 million in fines — a judgment that has grown with interest to more than $510 million as Trump appeals.
Weissert writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Chris Megerian in Washington contributed to this report.
Former Love Island runner-up Siannise Fudge has spoken out against the current series of the ITV2 dating show – as she opens up about her previous relationship abuse
Siannise Fudge has spoken out against the current series of Love Island(Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images for Nasty Gal)
Former Love Island star Siannise Fudge has spoken out and says it’s “disturbing” that toxic behaviours are being “normalised” on the show.
The behaviour from the male contestants during the 12th series of the show has been blasted by some fans. Many called Harrison’s behaviour ‘petrifying’ after his love triangle with Lauren and Toni. Harrison had slept with Lauren twice, and had later asked Toni, who was unaware of the events, to couple up with him – leaving Lauren in tears.
Women’s Aid later shared a statement which, in part, read: “Despite these positive steps, we still see unhealthy patterns of behaviour on these shows, showing just how steeped in misogyny and sexism our society still is. Women are often lied to, slut-shamed and manipulated, as well as laughed at behind their backs.
“Misogyny and sexism lay the foundation for the tolerance of abuse and violence – it reinforces a culture that excuses and trivialises violence against women and girls. More must be done to educate contestants on sexism and misogyny, and it is a great credit to viewers who take to social media, continuing to call out these behaviours as soon as they see them.”
Siannise shared a post detailing her experiences(Image: siannisefudge/Instagram)
Now, Siannise, who finished as runner-up during the 2020 series, has called out the show while referencing an abusive relationship of her own. Siannise did not reveal who the partner was.
The former Love Island star posted a quote from model Bella Hadid, before sharing her own experiences. The quote read: “I constantly went back to men that abused me. I would become silent and cry… [As a] people pleaser… I was putting my worth in the hands of someone else.”
“I have been a victim in my past relationships of this behaviour, which I thought was normal, and that’s the scariest part. It’s so disappointing and very disturbing that this behaviour on national TV, especially on one of the biggest TV shows, is being normalised,” Siannise wrote.
“Those girls deserve so much more, they deserve to be respected and my heart goes out to them. I’m sure they will need a lot of support when they are out as I know the intensity of that environment and having to deal with that behaviour on top is just awful.”
Siannise praised her current boyfriend and said she had been waiting for him her whole life(Image: siannisefudge/Instagram)
“This whole thread speaks volumes and I’m gonna leave it here. Please read and I hope this helps understand why this will never be ok and should never be tolerated,” she concluded.
Later sharing a post from Women’s Aid, titled “What’s going on with the men in Love Island this year?” Siannise wrote alongside the caption: “It’s been so disturbing watching for me this year, especially as a previous islander. The behaviour has been shocking and it really hasn’t been about finding love, it’s been about power, control, and emotional abuse.
“It’s very concerning that this is being normalised on national TV,” she said. The former Love Island star then posted a picture of her boyfriend, footballer George Rigg, as she wrote: “Thank you for being my safety, my peace, and showing me what a real healthy love is. Been waiting for you my whole life.”
Before entering the Love Island villa, which is monitored 24/7, Islanders complete video training and guidance across a range of topics to include mutually respectful behaviour in relationships, behaviour patterns associated with controlling and coercive behaviour and language around disability, sexuality, race and ethnicity, and microaggressions before they meet their fellow Islanders.
Extensive show protocols include suspending social media, training in language and behaviour and ongoing support before, during and after filming.
Programme contributors will be offered a full package of measures to ensure they remain supported prior to, during and after the filming period on the show.
For confidential support, call the 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Freephone Helpline on 0808 2000 247 or visit womensaid.co.uk If you or your family have lost a friend or family member through fatal domestic abuse, AAFDA (Advocacy After Fatal Domestic Abuse) can offer specialist and expert support and advocacy. For more info visit www.aafda.org.uk
PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — Scottie Scheffler moved within one round of claiming the third leg of the Grand Slam on Saturday when he made an eagle and two big par saves for a four-under 67 in the British Open that gave him a four-shot lead at Royal Portrush.
The roars belonged to Rory McIlroy, who had seemingly all of Northern Ireland on his side, the most raucous cheer coming when he made a 55-foot eagle putt.
But this championship is now in the hands of Scheffler, who has won his last 10 times when he had the 54-hole lead and didn’t show anything on a stunning day at Royal Portrush to indicate he was going to come back to his challengers.
“I’m just trying to execute, not overthinking things,” Scheffler said. “I feel like I’ve been doing the right thing so far, and I’m looking forward to the challenge of tomorrow.”
Tied with Matt Fitzpatrick for the lead, Scheffler judged six-iron perfectly and hit it to within 10 feet for eagle on the par-five seventh hole. In deep trouble behind the 11th green, he hacked out to within 10 feet to save par, then saved another par from the deep grass left of the 14th fairway.
Royal Portrush has a nasty par-three hole at No. 16 known as “Calamity Corner.” Scheffler made birdie for the third straight day, this time hitting a three-iron that settled 15 feet below the cup.
Each shot helped him pull away from the field. Each shot moved him closer to the claret jug, to go along with the PGA Championship he won in May and the two Masters green jackets he has won the last four years.
Scheffler was at 14-under 199, four shots clear of Li Haotong of China (69) and five ahead of Fitzpatrick, who missed two short par putts during a round of 71.
McIlroy, who revved up the enormous crowd with three birdies in four holes at the start, had the most bizarre moment of the championship when he went to gouge out a shot from the rough right of the 11th fairway and a second ball emerged from the turf.
“It’s never happened to me before,” McIlroy said after his 66. “It could never on any other course but a links course.”
It led to his lone bogey. He responded with that eagle putt that elicited a roar that rocked Royal Portrush. But he was six shots behind, and likely needing a round even better on Sunday.
“Scottie is … it’s inevitable,” McIlroy said. “Even when he doesn’t have his best stuff, he’s become a complete player. Yeah, it’s going to be tough to catch him tomorrow if he keeps playing the way he does. But if I can get out tomorrow and get off to a similar start to what I did today, get the crowd going … you never know.”
This is what McIlroy noticed last year, when Scheffler won nine times around the world. What impressed him was that Scheffler played so many bogey-free rounds.
Scheffler picked a great time for another one. He led by one shot to start the day and couldn’t seem to get anything going — his first three-putt of the championship on the par-five second to settle for par and a 10-foot par save on the par-three third.
Fitzpatrick, who missed a short par putt on the first hole and made bogey, atoned for that quickly by chipping in for eagle on the next hole. He did his best to keep pace even after Scheffler went eagle-birdie toward the end of the back nine.
But Fitzpatrick missed a four-foot par putt on the 13th, got a bad bounce on the 17th that led to another bogey and wound up five shots behind.
“Just didn’t make any putts. I didn’t hit it close enough,” Fitzpatrick said. “Drove it well enough, didn’t hit it close enough. Just made way less putts than Scottie.”
Scheffler will be paired in the last group with Li, who made history in 2020 at the PGA Championship when he held the 36-hole lead, the first player from China to lead in a major. Li didn’t make his first bogey Saturday until the 13th hole, and he dropped another shot on the 18th after driving into a pot bunker.
Scottish Open champion Chris Gotterup, in his first appearance in the British Open, had a 68 and joined the group at eight-under 205 that included McIlroy, Harris English (68) and Tyrrell Hatton (68).
This is Scheffler’s largest 54-hole lead in a major — he was up by three shots at the PGA Championship and three shots in the 2022 Masters.
July 18 (UPI) — The Justice Department has launched a new investigation into George Mason University, over alleged illegal hiring practices, making it the third federal probe the Trump administration has opened into the school this month.
Federal prosecutors informed George Mason of the civil rights investigation in a letter dated Thursday, stating the probe stems from diversity goal policies that make race and sex factors in faculty hiring.
The letter states the Department of Justice is in possession of emails from 2020 in which the school’s president, Gregory Washington, states he intends to develop a renewal, promotion and tenure process to benefit faculty of color and professional women.
It also mentions a November 2020 recorded discussion in which Washington states he will advance an anti-racism agenda while perceiving anti-racism as a verb, meaning “conscious efforts and actions to provide equitable opportunities.”
It also points to a June 2022 post on Twitter, now called X, in which Washington celebrated a university employee who “helped incorporate” diversity, equity, and inclusion in their curriculum and hiring process.
“It is unlawful and un-American to deny equal access to employment opportunities on the basis of race and sex,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement.
“When employers screen out qualified candidates from the hiring process, they not only erode trust in our public institutions — they violate the law, and the Justice Department will investigate accordingly.”
Diversity, equity and inclusion, known as DEI, is a conceptual framework that promotes fair treatment and full participation of all people, and it has been a target of conservatives over the last few years who claim it is racist against White individuals.
The Trump administration has sought to remove DEI from the federal government through executive orders and has threatened to revoke federal funding from several universities, including Harvard, over their alleged DEI programs.
The investigation announced Thursday is the third launched this month into George Mason University.
On July 10, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights opened an investigation into the school for violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color and national origin in programs and activities that receive federal funding.
It said the investigation stems from a complaint filed with the civil rights office of the Justice Department by “multiple professors” at the school who allege it uses race and other characteristics in policies, including hiring and promotion.
It similarly pointed to the same examples cited by the Justice Department.
“This kind of pernicious and widespread discrimination — packaged as ‘anti-racism’ — was allowed to flourish under the Biden administration, but it will not be tolerated by this one,” Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor said in a statement.
George Mason refutes the accusations.
“No academic units mandate outcomes based on race, color national origin, sex or any other characteristic protected by law,” Washington said in a statement.
“There are no mechanisms in Mason’s promotion and tenure policies that give preferential treatment based on race, color, national origin, sex or any other characteristic protected by law.”
He said Title VI was enacted to dismantle explicit and systemic racial discrimination that denied access to education, employment, housing and public services.
However, he said they are now seeing “a profound shift” in how it is being applied.
“Broad terms like ‘illegal DEI’ are now used without definition, allowing virtually any initiative that touches on identity or inclusion to be painted as discriminatory,” he said.
“This shift represents a stark departure from the spirit in which civil rights law was written: not to erase difference, but to protect individuals from exclusion and to enable equal opportunity for all.”
Earlier this month, the Department of Education launched an investigation into George Mason University over allegations it failed to respond effectively to a “pervasively hostile environment for Jewish students and faculty” during pro-Palestine protests that erupted in schools against Israel’s war in Gaza.
