prove

A DNA test on a Polish woman claiming to be Madeleine McCann has “conclusively” proved she is not the missing child, a court has heard.

Julia Wandelt, 24, had a sample analysed after she was arrested in February over the alleged stalking of Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry.

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Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cranwell told a court today that when Ms Wandelt’s DNA was compared with Maddie’s the results were clear.

When asked what they proved, Cranwell replied: “A comparison took place and it conclusively proved that Julia Wandelt is not Madeleine McCann.”

The trial over Ms Wandelt’s alleged stalking of the McCann’s is ongoing as a court heard this month she is said to have bombarded Kate and Gerry with calls, letters and messages over almost three years.

Leicester crown court was played clips she left after she got the family’s phone number from Portuguese police records.

In one, Polish national Wandelt, 24, tells Kate: “I know you probably think Madeleine is dead, but she is not. I am her.”

She denies the stalking claims.

All Odafe Oweh had known was Baltimore. The 2021 first-round selection had made a home there as part of the perennial AFC title contender’s edge rush.

A year ago, Oweh posted career highs for sacks (10), tackles for loss (nine) and quarterback hits (23). But a contract extension didn’t come his way, raising uncertainties about his future with the Ravens.

“I was really trying to get an opportunity to be in a new system and prove what I can to people that are really trying to see that,” Oweh said Wednesday, “so I have a little animosity on my back.”

The 6-foot-5, 265-pound outside linebacker got his wish Tuesday when the Chargers acquired him and a 2027 draft pick in exchange for safety Alohi Gilman and 2026 draft selection.

Entering the season in prove-yourself territory after the Ravens picked up his fifth-year option, Oweh has 12 games to show the Chargers he deserves to stay. His season has been mixed so far — he has yet to record a sack despite ranking 42nd in the NFL with 12 pressures.

With Khalil Mack on injured reserve, the Chargers were boasting a one-man show on the edge — Tuli Tuipulotu leading the team in pressures with 27. Odeh likely will slot into the rotation against Miami on Sunday, coach Jim Harbaugh told reporters earlier this week.

“I expect him to be a really good player who gets the run and a really good player who gets the pass, and super excited about, you know, his pass rush ability,” defensive coordinator Jesse Minter said. “The ability to run people down, run quarterbacks down. It’s something that, you know, we’ve struggled with at times.”

Minter pointed to Oweh’s higher pressure rate — which ranks second on the Chargers behind Tuipulotu — as a reason to be excited, even comparing him to Tuipulout as a player who could “all of a sudden” strike for multiple sacks.

Oweh said he believes that the results will come, especially with increased playing opportunities in Los Angeles.

“I don’t attribute it to me not having the moves — [or] me not winning. I was winning,” Oweh said. “I know that the fact that I have a lot of pressures, that’s going to translate at some point. … Production is going to come.”

Oweh said the Chargers have a reputation for being the “L.A. Ravens,” and he’s not far off.

Harbaugh’s brother, John Harbaugh, leads the operation in Baltimore. Greg Roman, the Chargers’ offensive coordinator, held the same position with the Ravens from 2019 to 2022. Minter spent time in Charm City, holding numerous coaching roles from 2017 to 2020.

Chargers general manager Joe Hortiz was involved in the Ravens’ decision to draft Oweh during his time as Baltimore’s director of player personnel. Hortiz even attended Oweh’s pro day at Penn State.

Safety Derwin James Jr., who had the same agent as Oweh, got the chance to train with him during the offseason.

“A lot of speed,” James said when asked about what Oweh adds to the defense. “I know what he can bring to the table.”

His familiarity with multiple people in the Chargers’ organization, Oweh said, makes the “fresh start” easier to handle despite the “shocking” end to his tenure with the Ravens.

“This is a perfect place for me to have a different experience but at the same time have some similarities,” Oweh said.

In the push to expand as quickly as possible, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is aggressively wooing recruits with experience slapping handcuffs on suspects: sheriff’s deputies, state troopers and local cops.

The agency even shelled out for airtime during an NFL game with an ad explicitly targeting officers.

“In sanctuary cities, dangerous illegals walk free as police are forced to stand down,” the August recruitment ad warned over a sunset panorama of the Los Angeles skyline. “Join ICE and help us catch the worst of the worst.”

To meet its hiring goal, the Trump administration is offering hefty signing bonuses, student loan forgiveness and six-figure salaries to would-be deportation officers.

ICE has also broadened its pool of potential applicants by dropping age requirements, eliminating Spanish-language proficiency requirements and cutting back on training for new hires with law enforcement experience.

Along the way, the agency has walked a delicate line, seeking to maintain cordial relations with local department leaders while also trying to poach their officers.

“We’re not trying to pillage a bunch of officers from other agencies,” said Tim Oberle, an ICE spokesman. “If you see opportunities to move up, make more money to take care of your family, of course you’re going to want it.”

But despite the generous new compensation packages, experts said ICE is still coming up short in some of the places it needs agents the most.

“The pay in California is incredible,” said Jason Litchney of All-Star Talent, a recruiting firm. “Some of these Bay Area agencies are $200,000 a year without overtime.”

Even entry level base pay for a Los Angeles Police Department officer is more than $90,000 year. In San Francisco, it’s close to $120,000. While ICE pays far more in California than in most other states, cash alone is less likely to induce many local cops to swap their dress blues for fatigues and a neck gaiter.

“If you were a state police officer who’s harbored a desire to become a federal agent, I don’t know if you want to join ICE at this time,” said John Sandweg, who headed ICE under President Obama.

Police agencies nationwide have struggled for years to recruit and retain qualified officers. The LAPD has only graduated an average of 31 recruits in its past 10 academy classes, about half the number needed to keep pace with the city’s plan to grow the force to 9,500 officers.

“That is a tremendous issue for us,” said Brian Marvel, president of the Peace Officers Research Assn. of California, a professional advocacy organization.

A person walks near the stage during a hiring fair by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Aug. 26 in Arlington, Texas.

(Julio Cortez / Associated Press)

ICE, too, has long failed to meet its staffing targets. As of a year ago, the agency’s Enforcement and Removal Operations — it’s dedicated deportation force — had 6,050 officers, barely more than in 2021.

As of Sep. 16, the Department of Homeland Security said it has sent out more than 18,000 tentative job offers after a summer recruitment campaign that drew more than 150,000 applications.

It did not specify how many applicants were working cops.

At an ICE career expo in Texas last month, the agency at times turned away anyone who didn’t already have authorization to carry a badge or an honorable discharge from the military.

“We have so many people who are current police officers who are trying to get on the job right now and that’s who we’ve been prioritizing,” one ICE official at the event said.

But the spirited pursuit of rank-and-file officers has sparked anger and resentment among top cops around the country.

“Agencies are short-staffed,” said David J. Bier, an immigration expert at the Cato Institute. “They are complaining constantly about recruitment and retention and looking every which way to maintain their workforce — and here comes along ICE — trying to pull those officers away.”

Law enforcement experts say that outside of California, especially in lower income states, many young officers take home about as much as public school teachers, making the opportunity for newer hires to jump ship for a federal gig even more enticing.

Some fear the ICE hiring spree will attract problematic candidates.

“The scariest part keeping me up at night is you hear agencies say we’re lowering standards because we can’t hire,” said Justin Biedinger, head of Guardian Alliance Technologies, which streamlines background checks, applicant testing and other qualifications for law enforcement agencies.

At the same time, the Trump administration is finding ways to deputize local cops without actually hiring them.

The Department of Homeland Security has dramatically overhauled a controversial cooperation program called 287(g) that enlists local police officers and sheriff’s deputies to do the work of ICE agents.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks at a news conference at the Wilshire Federal Building in June in Los Angeles.

(Luke Johnson/Los Angeles Times)

As of early September, according to the program website, 474 agencies in 32 states were participating, up from 141 agencies in March.

Some states such as Georgia and Florida require their agencies to apply for the program. Others, including California, forbid it.

But that, too, could soon change.

The administration is exploring ways to force holdouts to comply, including by conditioning millions of dollars of funding for domestic violence shelters, rape crisis hotlines and child abuse centers on compliance with its immigration directives. In response, California and several other states have sued.

Even in so-called sanctuary jurisdictions such as Los Angeles, where local laws prohibit cops from participating in civil immigration enforcement, police officers have found themselves tangled up in federal operations. The LAPD has drawn criticism for officers responding to the scenes of ICE arrests where confrontations have erupted.

“We get called a lot to come out and assist in providing security or making sure that it doesn’t turn violent,” said Marvel, the police advocacy organization president.

“The vast majority of peace officers do not want to do immigration enforcement because that’s not the job they signed up for,” Marvel said. “We want to protect the community.”

Among the agency’s most vocal critics, the push to beef up ICE is viewed as both dangerous and counterproductive.

“Punishing violent criminals is the work of local and state law enforcement,” said Ilya Somin, law professor at George Mason University and a constitutional scholar at the Cato Institute. “If we were to abolish ICE and devote the money to those things, we’d have lower violence and crime.”

The cash and perks ICE is dangling will inevitably draw more people, experts said, but some warned that newly minted deportation officers should be careful about mortgaging their future.

The potential $50,000 hiring bonus is paid out in installments over several years — and the role may lack job security.

At the same time Trump is doubling ICE’s headcount, he’s also rewriting the rules to make it far easier to ax federal workers, said Sandweg, the former Obama official.

That could come back to haunt many agency recruits four years from now, he said: “I think there’s a very good chance a future Democratic administration is going to eliminate a lot of these positions.”

Zurie Pope, a Times fellow with the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting, contributed to this report.

On the night Los Angeles police claim he carried out an act of gangland vengeance, Oscar Eagle could barely walk.

In March 1998, Eagle was only 17 and using crutches to get around after he was wounded in a drive-by shooting. The bullet is still in his leg to this day, marked by a coin-shaped indentation on his calf.

At the same time that police allege Eagle opened fire on an 18th Street gang member in an act of retribution, he says he was at an East L.A. hospital because a friend’s cousin was giving birth, according to court records.

Oscar Eagle in his childhood neighborhood of Pico-Union in 1996.

(Courtesy of Megan Baca)

Eagle knew he was innocent. Witnesses placed him at the hospital and he said medical records could prove he wasn’t mobile enough to carry out the crime.

But a combination of dubious legal representation and an arrest made by members of a notoriously corrupt unit in the Los Angeles Police Department saw Eagle sentenced to 25-years-to-life in prison.

In July, a judge granted a joint motion from the California Innocence Project and the L.A. County district attorney’s office to vacate Eagle’s conviction, citing ineffective assistance of counsel and questions about the behavior of LAPD detectives on the case.

For reform advocates, Eagle’s case epitomizes the problem with prosecuting teens as adults, but it also marks a positive sign for the L.A. County district attorney’s office’s conviction review unit under Nathan Hochman, who personally appeared at the hearing where Eagle was set free.

“This is what I’ve been dreaming of every day,” a tearful Eagle, 45, said during an interview in late July.

Pelican Bay State Prison in Crescent City, California is surrounded by razor wire, tall fences and towers manned by guards with rifles.

(Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Formed in 2015 and expanded under former Dist. Atty. George Gascón, Hochman has shown a continued commitment to the conviction review unit. After facing criticism for recording just four exonerations from 2015 to 2020, the unit has been involved in 12 in just the last four years, according to a district attorney’s office spokesperson.

“I think that a D.A. sends a strong message when you appear in court, that it’s both a case of serious concern to the D.A.’s office, and it’s one where you want to see justice done,” Hochman said.

Seeing L.A. County’s top prosecutor personally endorse his release is a stark turnaround for Eagle, who spent most of his life believing police would do anything to keep him behind bars.

After entering California’s adult prison system as a teenager, Eagle said he watched a friend die in a riot at Pelican Bay. He spent years in isolation after he says he was erroneously connected to the Mexican Mafia. Both of his parents died while Eagle was locked up, and he can’t even mention their names without tearing up to this day.

Eagle said he grew up in a section of Pico-Union where all his neighbors were affiliated with a local gang set, the Burlington Locos. A young tagger who went by “Clown,” he too wound up part of the crew.

In the late 1990s, Eagle became a target of detectives with an infamous LAPD unit known as C.R.A.S.H., short for Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums.

At the time, the LAPD’s Rampart division was home to C.R.A.S.H. officers who falsified reports and framed civilians, later triggering a scandal that ended with the U.S. Department of Justice placing the LAPD under a consent decree.

Officers watch from inside the front entrance of the LAPD’s Rampart Station in the Westlake district in 2010 as protesters demonstrate outside against police brutality.

(Reed Saxon / Associated Press)

Eagle says that in 1996 he was wrongfully arrested for gun possession as a juvenile by Rafael Perez, the central figure of the Rampart scandal. Perez later admitted the report that led to Eagle’s first arrest was falsified, according to court records.

But it was Eagle’s next run-in with police that proved far more consequential.

In March 1998, 18th Street Gang member Benjamin Urias was shot twice on Burlington Avenue in what police believed to be retribution for a prior attack on a Burlington Locos member, court records show. Urias, who was hospitalized for two days and released, told police the shooter walked with a limp.

Investigators from a C.R.A.S.H. unit based in Rampart locked onto Eagle, due to his gang connections and the fact that he was said to be walking with a limp after he was injured in a shooting, according to his attorney, Megan Baca, of the California Innocence Project.

Charges against Eagle were initially dismissed after Urias failed to show up for a preliminary hearing. But a month later, LAPD homicide detectives Thomas Murrell and Kenneth Wiseman prodded the shooting victim to pick Eagle out of a photo lineup, according to the motion to vacate his conviction.

Urias initially told police he did not recognize anyone in the lineup, records show.

“OK, circle that guy … Number 4 is the one you were pointing to,” Murrell said to Urias, according to a recording of the interview described in court records.

An LAPD spokesperson declined to comment. The audio recording that called the validity of the identification into question was never raised at Eagle’s trial, according to Baca.

Despite concerns about the behavior of the detectives, Hochman said he was not immediately ordering a review of other cases involving Murrell and Wiseman. Neither Rampart detective was part of a C.R.A.S.H. unit.

Murrell denied any wrongdoing and told The Times he remembered Eagle’s name because the then-teenager was a suspect in multiple gang homicides at the time.

He did not offer specifics, but dismissed Eagle’s medical alibi, contending the teen “wasn’t on crutches” when police arrested him.

“If he made an ID, we didn’t cheat, I can tell you that … I’ve never done that,” said Murrell. “We did everything by the book.”

Attempts to contact Wiseman were unsuccessful.

Eagle said things were only made worse by his former attorney, Patrick Lake, who didn’t make an opening statement at trial or raise any of Eagle’s alibi evidence. When Eagle questioned his lawyer, Lake joked that he was “saving the best for last.”

Oscar Eagle with his defense attorney, Megan Baca of the Innocence Project.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

As Eagle’s family grew frustrated in the gallery, he said his mother passed him a note that simply read “fire him.” Eagle tried to get rid of Lake, but a judge denied his request. Eagle was convicted of murder. And since he was tried as an adult, he faced 25-years-to-life.

Lake did not respond to a request for comment. Baca said she had one conversation with Lake, in which he claimed he didn’t remember Eagle or his case.

At the time, prosecutors in California could directly file charges against teens in adult court, sending hundreds of children every year to adult prisons such as Pelican Bay, where Eagle wound up. That practice has been abolished by a change in state law, but Baca said she’s encountered too many cases where teens had their lives stolen because they were wrongfully convicted and tried as adults.

“It’s egregious, but I think that it happens all the time,” Baca said. “So many of my clients were juveniles and they got adult life.”

Eagle said his stay in prison was long and painful. He spent six years in segregated housing, essentially isolation, after Baca said her client was wrongly labeled as a Mexican Mafia associate. He denied any affiliation with the powerful prison-based syndicate. Eagle said prison officials took a leap in logic to link him to the gang based on a “kite,” or prison note, sent by another inmate.

As he grew older behind bars, Eagle started to read voraciously. His father sent recommended books. Eagle says he gravitated toward the Bible.

Oscar Eagle at an L.A. County juvenile detention camp in 1997.

(Courtesy of Megan Baca)

Even though he knew he hadn’t committed the crime that put him in prison, Eagle said he still realized there were things about his life that needed to change.

“I was 30 years old. My perspective started to change. And I started to see this past life that I was living was nonsense,” he said. “I started to have a conscience.”

In 2023, after repeated failures to get his case overturned on appeal, some of Eagle’s friends got the attention of Baca and the California Innocence Project, which worked to bring the case before the conviction review unit. At the same time, Eagle said, he started exchanging letters with an ex-girlfriend from high school, a woman named Monica.

In July, the two squeezed next to each other on Baca’s couch at the lawyer’s Long Beach home, hands interlocked. They’ve since gotten married and are looking to move to Arizona, away from the city and county that nearly took everything away from Eagle.

There’s still a lot for Eagle to get used too — he’s never driven a car, the concept of Uber is still bizarre to him — but Monica says there’s one silver lining to the prison term Eagle never should have served. She wouldn’t have married the guy who was sent away all those years ago.

“He’s a whole new person from when he went in,” she said.

Towards the end of his spell at Tottenham, Ange Postecoglou was embattled, despite guiding Spurs to the Europa League final.

After beating Bodo/Glimt in Norway in May, he was combative in response to questions about whether winning the competition would save Spurs’ season.

Those who have worked with him feel that was down to the pressure. He dealt with it by firing back to his critics and doubters.

Fast forward to now, and the 60-year-old was relaxed in the City Ground press room, joking about how his birthday celebrations at the weekend were interrupted by negotiations with Forest and how the school run was the best motivator to return to work.

But there was the importance of winning – and winning trophies. It will not have escaped anyone’s attention owner Evangelos Marinakis referenced winning trophies in his statement announcing Postecoglou’s arrival.

So the pressure at Forest will be there – maybe not to the extent it was at Spurs – but he has been brought to the City Ground to progress the team and club.

Forest have not spent £180m this summer and installed Postecoglou in order to go backwards after last season’s seventh-place finish.

While winning the Premier League is out of reach, the Europa League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup will all be seen as legitimate targets.

Forest have not won a major trophy since lifting the League Cup in 1990.

Postecoglou has pedigree. He has won trophies throughout his career, including two Scottish titles with Celtic and the Asian Cup with Australia, and there will be an immediate expectation for Forest to challenge for silverware again.

CHICKENPOX has gained a reputation as a ‘harmless’ childhood illness that it’s best to get over with – but it could result in dangerous complications for some and may even prove fatal.

It was announced that children will be given chickenpox vaccines for free on the NHS for the first time from January 2026.

The jab is already used in the US, Canada, Australia and Germany.

One to three-year-olds in the UK will receive the chickenpox vaccine along with the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) jab.

The combined vaccine will now be dubbed MMRV, as it will protect against the varicella zoster virus.

Responding to news of the chickenpox vaccine rollout in the UK, Dr Gayatri Amirthalingam, from the UK Health Security Agency, said: “For some babies, young children and even adults, chickenpox can be very serious.

“It is excellent news that we will be introducing a vaccine. It could be a lifesaver.”

The news was coupled with warnings from experts that nearly one in five school-starters are not fully protected against preventable diseases – with uptake for the four-in-one diphtheria, tetanus, polio and whooping cough booster and MMR jabs having dropped again.

Chickenpox is a highly contagious infection known for its telltale itchy, spotty rash that blisters and scabs over.

But before these spots appear, the virus can also cause a high temperature, aches and pains, and loss of appetite.

Though it’s mostly known to infect children, adults can also catch chickenpox if they didn’t pick it up in childhood.

These infections tend to be more severe and adults with a varicella infection are more likely to be admitted to hospital.

Most people will recover on their own within a week or two, but the infection can be serious, even life-threatening, for some – especially if they’re very young or old, pregnant or have a weakened immune system.

The illness can result in bacterial skin infections and in rare cases, pneumonia, brain swelling and stroke.

For some, these complications can be fatal.

An average of around 20 people die of chickenpox per year, according to the Vaccine Knowledge Project at the University of Oxford.

This ranges from 17 deaths in 2017, to four in 2020, according to Office for National Statistics data.

Eighty per cent of deaths from chickenpox infections in England and Wales occur in adults, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) states.

1. Bacterial infections

Chickenpox spots can appear anywhere on the body – including inside the mouth and around the genitals.

They tend to develop into fluid-filled blisters, before bursting and scabbing over, which can take a few days.

The spots tend to be maddeningly itchy, so it can be hard to resist the temptation of scratching them – though soothing creams and cool baths can help.

Sometimes the chickenpox spots can get infected with bacteria – probably from scratching, according to healthcare provider Bupa.

Signs of a bacterial infection include a high temperature and redness and pain around the chickenpox spots.

You should seek urgent medical help if you or your child develop these symptoms.

2. Dehydration

Young children do run the risk of becoming dehydrated due to chickenpox.

For babies and kids, fewer wet nappies and peeing less can be telltale signs of dehydration.

Other signs may include:

• Feeling thirsty
• Dark yellow, strong-smelling pee
• Feeling dizzy or lightheaded
• Feeling tired
• A dry mouth, lips and tongue
• Sunken eyes

Call NHS 111 if you suspect you or your little one are dehydrated from chickenpox.

3. Pneumonia

Some people – especially adults – can develop pneumonia, inflammation of the lungs, after being infected with chickenpox.

Pneumonia is the most common chickenpox complication in adults, according to NICE.

Smokers are particularly at risk.

Symptoms of pneumonia can include:

• A cough with yellow or green mucus
• Shortness of breath
• A high temperature
• Chest pain
• An aching body
• Feeling very tired
• Loss of appetite
• Making wheezing noises when you breathe
• Feeling confused

4. Brain swelling

Infection or swelling of the brain, known as encephalitis, is a rare complication of the chickenpox infection.

Professor Benedict Michael, Institute of Infection, University of Liverpool, said: “Varicella-zoster virus is the second leading cause of brain infection (or ‘encephalitis’) in the UK, which can be life-threatening.

“Early diagnosis and treatment are essential, but prevention through vaccination is the most effective way to protect children and families from this serious complication.”

Dr Ava Easton, Chief Executive of Encephalitis International, added: “By making [the chickenpox vaccine] available to every child, we’re not only reducing the spread of chickenpox but also helping to stop some families from ever facing the devastating impact of encephalitis.

“That’s a powerful step forward for children’s health and for awareness of a condition too few people know about.”

Encephalitis usually starts off with flu-like symptoms, such as a high temperature and headache.

More serious symptoms develop in the next few hours, days or weeks, including:

• Confusion or disorientation
• Seizures or fits
• Changes in personality and behaviour
• Difficulty speaking
• Weakness or loss of movement in some parts of the body
• Loss of consciousness

Dial 999 for an ambulance immediately if you or someone else has these serious symptoms.

5. Stroke

According to the Stroke Association, children who develop chickenpox may have a four times higher risk of stroke in the six months following infection.

“However, stroke in children is still rare and the finding translates into a very small actual increase in their stroke risk,” it noted.

Studies by the organisation also found that adults with shingles – also caused by the varicella zoster virus – may also have an increased risk of stroke up until six months afterwards.

“This is particularly within the first few weeks, and for individuals with shingles around the eye,” Stroke Association said.

“Oral antiviral drugs used to treat shingles may be able to reduce this risk.”

6. Sepsis

In rare cases, chickenpox can result in sepsis – when the body’s immune system overreacts to an infection, attacking its own tissues and organs.

Sepsis can be life threatening and requires immediate medical help.

It can also be hard to spot, as there are lots of possible symptoms.

In adults, remember the SEPSIS acronym:

• Slurred speech or confusion
• Extreme shivering or muscle pain
• Passing no urine (in a day)
• Severe breathlessness
• It feels like you’re going to die
• Skin mottled, discoloured, or cold

Other signs include:

• High or very low body temperature
• Rapid heart rate
• Low blood pressure
• Rapid breathing

In children, look out for: 

• Fast breathing
• Lethargy or difficulty waking up
• Mottled, pale, or bluish skin
• Very cold hands and feet
• Seizures
• A rash that doesn’t fade when pressed ,which is a sign of meningococcal sepsis
• Babies not feeding or vomiting 

DESPITE being the only pair in an official relationship, Love Island’s Dejon Noel-Williams and Meg Moore found themselves brutally dumped at the end of last night’s instalment.

The former islanders returned to cast their votes about which couple was the least compatible between Dejon and Meg and Ty Isherwood and Angel Swift.

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After receiving the most votes, the OG pair were forced to pack their bags and leave the villa – just a day before the all-important final.

Now that they’re out, the two have broken their silence and revealed their plan to “prove everyone wrong”.

When asked what was next for the pair, Meg, who recently sparked outrage, responded: “Proving to everyone we are actually going to stay together! Spending time together and introducing one another to family and friends.”

Dejon echoed these sentiments by adding: “I definitely want to have a conversation with her family, get to know them and have her meet my family so they can see the real us.

“A lot of the Islanders saw how genuine we were and I have no doubt it will be like that with our families.

“After that hopefully we can move in together as I can’t imagine not living with her.”

Dejon and Meg, who hit the rocks this week, have been the subject of plenty of criticism from their fellow islanders and viewers alike, with many questioning if Dejon was playing a game.

The two paired up from day one but found themselves at loggerheads due to Dejon’s flirty antics with numerous bombshells.

In last night’s episode, Maya Jama returned to the villa and revealed one couple would be dumped from the island and the decision was in the hand of some familiar faces.

One by one the ex-Islanders had their say, leaving the couples at risk less than impressed by their comments.

After much back and forth, Meg and Dejon received 10 votes, while Angel and Ty received 8 votes.

Fans were left elated at home as they flocked to X to share their excitement about Dejon and Meg leaving the ITV2 show.

One viewer wrote: “The timing for Megan and Dejon being dumped is so perfect.”

Another person gushed: “Finally Meg and Dejon are gone, I prayed for times like this! And that was such an epic way to dump them too, love a good revenge vote.”

Somebody else expressed: “Meg and Dejon finally off my screen and out of the villa! I love to see it.”

A fourth commented: “It’s been a long time coming, thank you ex-islanders for getting rid of Meg and Dejon.”

While a fifth added: “Meg and Dejon being dumped makes me feel like I’m going to have a great week.”

The savage dumping means there are four couples that are vying to win the series – Jamie and Yasmin, Cach and Toni, Harry and Shakira and Ty and Angel.

Maya will return to the villa in Majorca one last time to reveal the outcome of the public’s vote, with one pair being crowned champions of series 12 and walking away with £50,000.

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CRUCIAL evidence used to prosecute Britain’s worst child serial killer Lucy Letby has been ripped apart by experts who claim “grossly misleading” methods were used to secure the nurse’s conviction.

Now, The Sun’s chief feature writer Oliver Harvey – who has studied the trial intently and is convinced of the nurse’s innocence – delivers his damning verdict, picking out four key claims that will further growing calls to reexamine the case.

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After two trials, Letby was found guilty of killing seven newborns and attempting to kill eight others in one of the most shocking murder cases in the nation’s history. 

She was handed 15 whole life sentences, meaning she will never be released from prison.

Described as a cold-blooded, calculating killer, Letby was said to have used her trusted role on a neonatal intensive care unit to cause catastrophic harm to the most vulnerable newborn babies – without leaving a trace. 

But even as authorities consider more charges against her, a growing number of expert voices are now questioning the evidence used to convict the former nurse.

A new ITV documentary explores the views of a team of international scientists who claim the prosecution case simply doesn’t stand up to scrutiny, including crucial statistic evidence and claims over the methods used to kill newborn babies.

Between 2015-2016 something was going terribly wrong at the neo-natal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital. Nearly three times as many newborn babies had died in that period than normal.

Doctors raised suspicions that Lucy Letby had been present at a number of these baby deaths, so she was moved off the unit and into a desk job.

A team from the Royal College of Paediatrics was invited in to investigate. It identified a shortage of nurses and a lack of consultant cover risking patient safety – but could find no definitive reason for the rise in mortality.

However, the unit’s senior doctors were unhappy with the outcome of the reviews and wrote to hospital bosses doubting that the deaths and collapses could be explained by natural causes.

In March 2017 the police were called, and in November 2020 Letby was charged with seven counts of murder and 15 counts of attempted murder, relating to 17 babies. She pleaded not guilty.

The prosecution’s case centred on a few central pillars; a shift chart, which showed Letby was always there when something terrible happened, hand-written notes presented as confessions, blood tests suggesting babies had been poisoned, and medical evidence taken from the babies’ notes to support theories that Letby had attacked them.

The person who came up with most of those theories was a retired paediatrician, Dr Dewi Evans.

During the trial there was eight months of prosecution evidence and a series of prosecution witnesses.

But Letby’s legal team presented not a single expert medical witness in her defence.

She was found guilty of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder six others.

As the country started to reflect on the horror of Letby’s crimes, concerns were already being raised about the evidence that was used.

Mark McDonald, Letby’s new barrister, was instructed last September after two failed attempts to appeal her convictions.

He says: “People started contacting me, medically qualified people, scientifically qualified people, statisticians saying ‘we think something has gone wrong here’.”

In the weeks after Letby was convicted, professor of statistics Richard Gill was among a handful of professionals who were questioning the verdict.

He is known to be controversial and outspoken but his work has led to two nurses in Italy and the Netherlands who were convicted of similar crimes having their convictions overturned. 

Professor Gill believed the shift chart which helped convict Letby was misleading.

Leading medical statistician Professor Jane Hutton agrees, saying: “It has influenced a lot of people into thinking she must’ve done it because she was always there and nobody else was.

“It has a very strong visual impact but it doesn’t tell you how the data has been selected. You know it is clear that this is aimed to present a conclusion.”

Their main concern was the left hand column of the chart. Each entry presents a death or life-threatening event.

But these were not all the deaths or life-threatening events in that period. The prosecution made a selection.

Dewi Evans’ early reports for the police identified other events which he said were attacks on babies. But these happened when Letby wasn’t on duty and those events don’t appear on the chart.

“This is a summary that is so crude it can only be described as grossly misleading,” says Jane Hutton.

According to the prosecution, Letby used various methods to try to kill. The most simple was by dislodging a baby’s breathing tube.

This is a summary that is so crude it can only be described as grossly misleading

Jane Hutton

Countess of Chester paediatrician Dr Ravi Jayaram told the court he had never known of the breathing tube of a baby born at 25 weeks to become accidentally dislodged.

But Dr Richard Taylor, a neonatologist with over 30 years experience, and some of his colleagues disagree.

He explains: “The prosecution allege that the tube was intentionally dislodged and the first thing I would say is accidental dislodgement is distinctly common.

“It can be dislodged by the operator and it can also be dislodged by the baby themselves just by moving their head or thrusting their tongue.”

Convictions ‘unsafe’

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The jury couldn’t decide if Letby was guilty of attempting to murder one of the babies, Baby K, by dislodging its breathing tube. That single case went to a retrial and Dr Ravi Jayaram gave evidence.

He told the court he went into the room and saw the baby’s blood oxygen levels dropping dangerously low while Letby stood by and did nothing. He also said Letby had not called for help.

But an email has come to light from Jayaram detailing the event in which he said Letby herself had called him in because the baby was collapsing. The jury was never told about this email.

The documentary claims that Dr Jayaram isn’t the only medic who appears to have contradicted his own testimony. Lucy Letby was convicted of murdering baby C by forcing air into its stomach.

ITV’s documentary will only add to the increasing groundswell of opinion that an innocent woman now languishes behind bars

The Sun’s Oliver Harvey

Dr Dewi Evans based this theory on an X-ray taken on June 12, 2015 which showed air in the baby’s stomach. But Letby had been off work that day and she hadn’t met Baby C when the X-ray was taken.

When challenged on this at trial, Dr Evans couldn’t rule out that air had been injected into the veins, but the prosecution maintained that Letby must have injected air into the baby’s stomach.

Now Dr Evans has committed to another theory. He says Letby killed Baby C a day later by injecting air into the veins, causing something called an air embolism.

Mark McDonald claims the fact that Dr Evans has changed his mind, and was the lead expert for the prosecution, makes all the convictions unsafe.

Mental anguish

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Police investigated Letby for three-and-a-half years before she was charged. During searches of her home, some notes were found which appeared incriminating, with one noting: “I’m evil, I did this.”

In court Letby admitted writing the notes, but said she did so at a time of mental anguish and she was just scribbling down thoughts as a form of therapy.

The hospital had provided a therapist to support Letby during the investigations. Her name appears several times on the notes.

The jury was never told it was this therapist who suggested Letby express her feelings in this way as part of her treatment.

Nearly a year after the police began investigating Letby they made a breakthrough: blood tests which showed high levels of insulin and low c-peptide. The prosecution said this was proof that insulin had been given to the babies externally and was therefore an attempt to poison them.

The prosecution told the jury that two of the babies had been poisoned with insulin and they had test results that proved it.

But a leading forensic scientist says those results cannot be relied on as they will have been done quickly in a medical setting for diagnostic purposes and were not retested to forensic standards.

Over the last six months a team of scientists have been instructed by Letby’s legal team.

They have been given access to the babies’ medical notes and asked to look again at the insulin test results.

Chemical engineer Helen Shannon says: “We have spent hundreds of hours investigating every facet of the science and there is a completely obvious solution that does not involve poisoning.”

We have spent hundreds of hours investigating every facet of the science and there is a completely obvious solution that does not involve poisoning

Helen Shannon

“The insulin case has applied basic clinical guidance for healthy adults to tiny, compromised neonates,” adds Helen.

Many newborn babies are born with proteins in their blood called antibodies. The team says that insulin in the blood stream can stick to these antibodies, giving a higher reading, while c-peptide continues to be cleared, giving a low reading.

Helen says: “It doesn’t have any effect on the child at all, it just floats around. So as a result it gives a very high reading on the test that was done at the time.

“We can’t see any justification at all for the prosecution statement that it can only be poisoning.”

Earlier this year a panel of international medical experts, who reviewed Letby’s case, told a press conference that they did not find any evidence of murder. 

Chairman Dr Shoo Lee provided what he said were highly detailed grounds baby-by-baby for concluding that none of the murders occurred.

He added: “We did not find any murders. In all cases, death or injury were due to natural causes or just bad medical care.

“Lucy was charged with seven murders and seven attempted murders. In our opinion, the medical opinion, the medical evidence doesn’t support murder in any of these babies.”

‘Deeply distressing’

The expert panel report has been delivered to the Criminal Cases Review Commission and her case can only be returned to the Court of Appeal if there is new evidence.

To reexamine the cause of the babies’ deaths, the expert panel was given access to all the babies’ medical records to compile their report. For Professor Neena Modi those records tell a story of failure by the hospital and the doctors.

She says: “On reading through the detailed medical notes, what was harrowing was seeing a story unfold where possibly things could have been recognised earlier and interventions put in place and possibly for some of the babies the outcomes might not have been what they were. This was deeply distressing.”

The increase in deaths coincided with the unit having to take babies who were more unwell than they were equipped or staffed for, it is claimed.

Professor Modi says: “The babies we are referring to were all extremely vulnerable. Some of them were demonstrably and recognisably on a knife edge.

“Others could have been recognised to be on a knife edge but they were not monitored appropriately or treated appropriately.

“Problems went unrecognised until the point at which a baby deteriorated very abruptly. The babies might not have died had their difficulties been addressed earlier.”

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In a statement to ITV, the Crown Prosecution Service said: “Lucy Letby was convicted of 15 separate counts following two jury trials. In May 2024, the Court of Appeal dismissed Letby’s leave to appeal on all grounds rejecting her argument that expert prosecution evidence was flawed.”

They confirmed they are considering a file of evidence from the police relating to further deaths and non-fatal collapses of babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital and Liverpool Women’s Hospital.

The Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said: “Due to the Thirlwall Inquiry and ongoing police investigations it would not be appropriate to comment further at this time.”

Dr Dewi Evans told ITV that his evidence was subject to cross examination agreed by a jury after thorough review from a judge and subsequently agreed by the Court of Appeal.

He added: “None of the evidence presented by Shoo Lee’s expert panel has been subject to any such scrutiny and it contains factual errors. It is trial by speculation.”

Dr Ravi Jayaram declined to comment.

Lucy Letby: Beyond all Reasonable Doubt? Is on ITV1 on Sunday 3 August.

Additional reporting by Amanda Killelea

Frankie Muniz may be the only actor who has been nominated for an Emmy award and driven in a NASCAR event at Daytona. But if Muniz had been old enough to get a driver’s license before he moved to Hollywood, there may never have been a “Malcolm in the Middle.”

“When I’m in that race car and I put my visor down and I drive out of that pit lane, I feel like I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be,” he said. “That’s what I’m supposed to do and that’s what I’m doing.”

And acting?

“I don’t feel like I’m a good actor,” he said. “I know I can act. But when I look at good acting, I go ‘dang, I could never do that’.”

That’s not true, of course. Muniz, who started acting when he was 12, has been credited in 26 films and 37 TV shows, including the title role in “Malcolm in the Middle,” which earned him two Golden Globe nominations and one Emmy nod during its seven-year run on Fox.

But acting was a profession. Racing is a passion.

“Excitement and all the emotions. That’s what I love about racing,” he said. “The highs are so high and the lows are unbelievably low. It’s awesome.”

Muniz placed 28th in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Indianapolis Raceway Park on Friday. He is 23rd among the 64 drivers listed in the series points standings, with his one top-10 finish coming in the season opener at Daytona.

Muniz, 39, isn’t the first actor to try racing. Paul Newman was a four-time SCCA national champion who finished second in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1979 while Patrick Dempsey (“Grey’s Anatomy,” “Can’t Buy Me Love”) has driven sports cars at Le Mans and in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, in addition to other series.

Frankie Muniz qualifies at Daytona International Speedway in February.

(Phelan M. Ebenhack / Associated Press)

But driving isn’t a side hustle for Muniz, who last October signed with North Carolina-based Reaume Brothers Racing to be the full-time driver of the team’s No. 33 Ford in the truck series. Muniz also raced twice last year in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

“When I originally started racing, I was kind of at the height of my [acting] career. I had tons of offers to do movies and shows and all that,” said Muniz, who made his stock-car debut in the fall of 2021 in Bakersfield, then accepted an offer to drive full time in the ARCA Menards Series in 2023. “Very easily could have stayed in that business. But I wanted to give racing a try. And to compete at the top level, you have to put in the time and effort that professional race car drivers are doing, right? You can’t do it halfway.”

Muniz was into racing before he even thought about acting. Growing up in North Carolina, he remembers waking early on the weekend to watch IndyCar and NASCAR races on TV. No one else in his family shared his interest in motorsports, so when his parents divorced shortly after Muniz was discovered acting in a talent show at age 8, his mother moved to Burbank, where he made his film debut alongside Louis Gossett Jr. in 1997’s “To Dance With Olivia.”

Two years later he was cast as the gifted middle child of a dysfunctional working-class family in the successful sitcom “Malcolm in the Middle.” Motorsports continued to tug at him so after running in a few celebrity events, Muniz twice put his acting career on hold to race, first in 2007 — shortly after “Malcolm” ended after seven seasons and 151 episodes — when he started a three-season run in the open-wheel Atlantic Championship series.

Still, Muniz, who lives with his wife Paige and 4-year-old son Mauz in Scottsdale, Ariz., is dogged by criticism he is little more than a weekend warrior who is using his substantial Hollywood reputation and earnings to live out his racing fantasies.

“I don’t spend any of my money going racing,” he said. “I made a promise to my wife that I would not do that. So I can kill that rumor right there.”

But those whispers persist partly because Muniz hasn’t completely cut ties with acting. Because the truck series doesn’t run every weekend, racing 25 times between Valentine’s Day and Halloween, Muniz had time to tape a “Malcolm in the Middle” reunion miniseries that is scheduled to air on Disney+ in December.

He has also appeared in two other TV projects and two films since turning to racing full time. But his focus, he insists, is on driving.

“If I wanted to go racing for fun,” he said, “I would not be racing in the truck series. I’d be racing at my local track or I’d be racing some SCCA club events. I want to be one of the top drivers there are. I want to make it as high up in NASCAR as I can. And I’m doing everything I can to do that.”

Fame outside of racing can be a double-edged sword in the high-cost world of NASCAR. It can open doors to a ride and sponsorships others can’t get, but it can also cause jealousy in the garage, with drivers crediting that fame and not talent for a rival’s success. And Muniz isn’t the only rookie driver who has had to deal with that.

Toni Breidinger, who finished 27th in Friday’s race and is one place and eight points ahead of Muniz in the season standings with nine races left, is a model who has posed for Victoria’s Secret and been featured in the pages of Glamour, GQ and Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit edition. She’s also a good driver who has been going fast on a racetrack far longer than she’s been walking slowly down a catwalk.

Toni Breidinger prepares for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series practice at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park on Friday.

(Justin Casterline / Getty Images)

“I was definitely a racer before anything. That was definitely my passion,” said Breidinger, who started driving go-karts in Northern California when she was 9. “I’ve been lucky enough to be able to do modeling to help support that passion. But at the end of the day, I definitely consider myself a racer. That’s what I grew up doing and that’s the career I’ve always wanted do to.”

Still, she sees the two pursuits as being complementary. When Breidinger appears on a red carpet, as she did before this month’s ESPY Awards in Los Angeles, it helps her modeling career while at the same time giving the sponsors of her racing team — which includes 818 Tequila, Dave & Buster’s and the fashion brand Coach — added value.

“It’s all part of the business. It all goes back into my racing,” said Breidinger, 26, who is of German and Lebanese descent. “The side hustles, I like to call them. I don’t think that takes away from me being a race car driver.”

Breidinger, who won the USAC western asphalt midget series title as a teenager, raced in the ARCA Menards Series for five years before stepping up to truck series in 2021, making NASCAR history in 2023 when she finished 15th in her first race, the best-ever debut by a female driver. That helped her land a full-time ride this season with Tricon Garage, Toyota’s flagship team in the truck series.

Like Muniz, Breidinger sees the truck series, the third tier of NASCAR’s national racing series, as a steppingstone to a seat in a Cup car.

“I want to climb the national ladder. That’s what I’m here to do,” she said. “I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t have long-term plans and long-term goals. I’m a very competitive person, especially with myself.”

Kyle Larson, who climbed to the top of that ladder, running his first NASCAR national series race in a truck in 2012, then winning the 2021 Cup championship nine years later, said the path he took — and the one Muniz and Breidinger are following — is a well-worn one.

“Anybody racing in any of the three series has talent and ability enough to be there,” he said.

Funding, Larson said, and not talent and ability, often determines how fast a driver can make that climb and that might be a problem for Muniz since Josh Reaume, the owner of the small three-truck team Muniz drives for, has complained about the price of racing. It can cost more than $3.5 million a year to field one competitive truck in the 25-race series — and that cost is rising, threatening to price many out of the sport.

But having drivers like Muniz and Breidinger in NASCAR will help everyone in the series, Larson said, because it will bring in fans and sponsors that might not have been attracted to the sport otherwise.

“I just hope that he can get into a situation someday where you can really see his talent from being in a car or a truck that is better equipped to go run towards the front,” Larson said of Muniz. “You want to see him succeed because if he does succeed, it’s only going to do good things for our sport.”

And if it works out the way Muniz hopes, perhaps he’ll someday be the answer to another trivia question: Name the NASCAR champion who once worked in Hollywood.

Brit tourists flocking to a popular Spanish city this summer have been warned over a little-known rule that could result in huge fines of almost £7,000 – especially if you’re staying with friends

UK holidaymakers have been urged to avoid eye-watering fines exceeding £6,000 when holidaying in Spain this year.

Despite the string of anti-tourist protests that have erupted across the country in recent weeks – it’s clear nothing will deter Brits from enjoying a week in the sun. In fact, Spain received a staggering 17 million international visitors during the first three months of 2025, a 5.7 per cent spike compared to the same duration last year.

It means hotspots like Benidorm, Barcelona, and Madrid could see record-breaking numbers of tourists during the summer holidays – even if fed-up locals continue to cause commotion on the streets. However, sun-worshipping Brits have been warned that a simple error may end up wrecking their finances.

Since the UK left the European Union, those who don’t hold an EU passport now need to carry proof they have accommodation when they visit Spain as a tourist for 90 days or less. If you’ve booked a hotel or rental through a site such as Airbnb or Booking.com – this is pretty straightforward.

Simply printing out your booking reference and handing it over to passport control when touching down in Spain should be enough to prove you have already booked accommodation for your stay. However, if you’re staying with friends or family – this is a little trickier.

As previously reported, you may need to obtain a ‘letter of invitation’ (aka carta de invitacion) from your host, which is an official statement that has to be issued by the police. It is your responsibility to get the letter, and your host needs to be either a Spanish national, an EU citizen living in Spain or a non-EU citizen with legal residence in the country.

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Failure to oblige could result in hefty fines of €8,000 (approximately £6,900). “Accommodation hosts now also have a legal obligation to collect quite a bit of personal data,” explains EuroWeekly.

“Expect to hand over your full name, gender, nationality, passport details, birth date, home address, and even your mobile and landline numbers. Don’t be surprised if you’re also asked how you paid for your stay—this is now the norm, not a scam.”

In a statement sent to the Mirror, Last Night of Freedom, the UK’s leading stag and hen do organiser, also warned of other crackdowns in Barcelona. This includes €300 (£258) fines for illegal gatherings (including pub crawls), and €5,000 (£4,310) fines for those found violating short-term rental restrictions – which mainly applies to local landlords rather than tourists.

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LOVE Island fans claim they’ve spotted ‘clues’ that ‘prove’ producers are trying to keep a villa beauty on the show.

Last night, original villa girl Alima and new bombshell Ryan were dumped from the show, prompting some to claim it’s the latest twist designed to save Toni.

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Though there’s no evidence of any producer meddling, one armchair sleuth took to Reddit last night to share their theory with other viewers.

They outlined five points which they felt backed up their viewpoint.

The first of which focused on Harrison’s arrival and his opening dates with Malisha and Toni.

Footballer Harrison is based in Miami, while Toni works in Vegas, and the viewer felt the US link gave her an unfair advantage when she was ultimately picked to partner him.

Next, they highlighted Harrison and Toni being sent on the only date of the series so far before a public vote, claiming it was a method of boosting interest in them.

Thirdly, they pointed out a change to the dumping process after the public voted for their least favourite Islanders.

They wrote: “We know Love Island loves making the islanders decide the bottom 3 and if they did Toni would likely have been dumped, instead they go by straight votes and Megan is dumped despite having a strong connection in there.”

The fan alluded to more ‘meddling’ in their fourth point, claiming that by choosing Ben to go first in Sunday’s recoupling it prevented Harrison from picking Helena and leaving Toni single and at risk.

Finally, they flagged last night’s dumping and the fact Islanders weren’t given the chance to stand up for the remaining singletons, which would likely have seen Ben couple with Alima, potentially leading to a reshuffle that would’ve put Toni at risk.

Last night’s scenes played out with newbies Ryan and Billykiss being told to stand in front of their co-stars

The boys were told to stand up if they’d like to recouple with Billykiss.

Conor stood up and said their date went really well and he’d be doing himself a disservice to not explore their connection.

Alima, left uncoupled, then took Billykiss’s place at the front.

The girls then had to stand up if they’d like to recouple with new bombshell Ryan, but none did so.

Due to them both being single, Alima and Ryan were eliminated.

Other fans bought into the theory.

One said: “honestly i can’t argue with this even though i like toni.”

Another wrote: “I wholeheartedly agree. I am sure Toni is a nice girl, but it’s becoming very exhausting.”

The Sun has contacted Love Island for comment.

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Tarheeb Still said his farewells and was ready to leave for a three-day weekend. On a Thursday this offseason, the second-year cornerback told Ben Herbert, the Chargers’ executive director of player personnel, that he would “see him Monday.”

A deep voice in the background suddenly changed Still’s schedule.

“Why aren’t you coming in tomorrow?” Khalil Mack asked the 22-year-old.

Motivated by Mack’s example, Still is poised for a breakout season as he competes for a larger role in a stacked secondary group. The former fifth-round pick who started 12 games as a rookie has been working with the 34-year-old, nine-time Pro Bowl selection every Friday, picking Mack’s brain on football and life.

No wonder why Still “seems like he’s a different person,” defensive backs coach Steve Clinkscale said.

“I love when you see young players run towards great players, greatness and not the other direction,” Clinkscale said. “It’s awesome to mimic their habits and what they do, especially their good habits, and Tarheeb has really done that. He’s really grown up and matured.”

Still was already working with Herbert from Monday through Thursday, but soon added Fridays with Mack. They begin their strength training around 9 a.m. together, but Still knows Mack gets to the facility earlier in the training room. There’s no way Mack could have built his Hall of Fame-worthy career without putting in every ounce of extra work.

“Khalil is just showing me how to be intentional,” Still said. “Every day, taking advantage of small incremental gains every day to get to where I want to be.”

The Chargers progressed to the next step of their offseason program Tuesday, opening organized team activities. The sight of offense and defense lining up against each other for the first time during the offseason brought excitement to the facility, but frustration for Cam Hart. The second-year cornerback, who, like Still, was drafted in the fifth round last year, is not yet fully cleared after undergoing shoulder surgery in January.

Hart sustained a torn labrum against the Houston Texans in the playoffs, but said he expects to be cleared to return around mandatory minicamp, which begins June 10.

The shoulder injury was a punctuation mark on a promising, but injury-riddled rookie year for Hart. Despite making six starts in 14 appearances with 37 tackles, Hart also battled two concussions and an ankle injury. The injuries tormented Hart as he went through the offseason program, rehabbing twice a day since the shoulder injury.

Chargers cornerback Cam Hart speaks during a news conference in El Segundo on Tuesday.

(Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Associated Press)

“I showed a small percentage of who Cam can be in the NFL last year,” Hart said. “With 17 healthy games, I think I got a lot more to show.”

Although they return most of their top performers from last year’s secondary that ranked seventh in the NFL in passing yards allowed per game compared to 30th in 2023, the Chargers have renewed competition at cornerback without Kristian Fulton and Asante Samuel Jr. Fulton parlayed a resurgent season with the Chargers into a multi-year deal with the Kansas City Chiefs as a free agent, and Samuel remains a free agent after a shoulder injury limited the former second-round pick to just four games last year.

Wanting to bolster the secondary with more size and speed, the Chargers brought in free agents Benjamin St-Juste and Donte Jackson. The 6-foot-3 St-Juste started in 42 of his 45 appearances for the Washington Commanders in the last three seasons, and Jackson, an eight-year NFL veteran, is coming off a career-best five interceptions with the Pittsburgh Steelers last year. Still and Hart, who were rookies hoping to make any positive impact a year ago, are now “the cream of the crop,” Clinkscale said.

The newest crop of rookies even flashed their potential Tuesday as seventh-round selection Trikweze Bridges and undrafted free agent Jaylen Jones each got an interception during the no-contact 11-on-11 periods.

The secondary depth could cause headaches for Clinkscale. He wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Nobody has a spot,” Clinkscale said. “We want to see who’s going to earn it.”

With more than three months remaining until the Chargers open their season in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Still knew he had to dial back the competition Tuesday during practice. The drills are still meant to be non-contact during the voluntary sessions. Keeping everyone on their feet and healthy was more important than breaking up a pass or grabbing an interception, Still said.

Still was attached to receiver Ladd McConkey’s hip on a deep route down the sideline, but didn’t dive or reach for the ball to breakup a slightly underthrown pass from quarterback Justin Herbert. McConkey’s tightrope catch drew cheers from his teammates.

Still said the no-contact periods were perfect opportunities to hone his technique, but when asked if he would have picked off the pass intended for McConkey, Still covered his face.

“No comment,” he said, trying to hide his smile.

The confident look on his face was comment enough.

Welcome to the Riley Tiernan Revenge Tour.

Oh, sure, the Angel City forward is far too nice to call it that, but that’s what her first NWSL season has become.

“Everybody loves an underdog story,” she said. “It kind of added fuel to my fire. When people doubt you, it makes you want to prove it that much more.”

Tiernan was definitely being doubted about six months ago when she finished her college career at Rutgers as the school’s all-time leader in assists, yet didn’t get a call from 12 of the 14 NWSL teams. In the first winter without a league draft, every player was a free agent, available to the highest bidder. Only no one bid on Tiernan.

So she accepted an invitation to training camp with Angel City and now she’s showing the others what they missed, with her five goals leading all NWSL rookies and ranking second in the league overall heading into Saturday night’s home match with Racing Louisville.

“A fair shot,” said the 22-year-old. “All I wanted, literally, was just a chance to prove myself. Without the draft it was kind of like you get what you get and you’ve got to hope for the best.

“Once I got this invitation it was ‘let’s go big or go home.’ I got to show out. And pretty much did.”

Four of her five goals have given her team a lead; two were game-winners. Without her, Angel City (4-3-2) would not be in playoff position a third of the way into the season.

If Tiernan gets credit for passing her preseason test with the team, then technical director Mark Wilson and the rest of Angel City’s staff deserve praise for doing their homework. They identified Tiernan as a player worth watching last summer and nothing they saw — even the lack of interest from other clubs — swayed their thinking.

“We decided Riley was a top, top target once we’d kind of curated all of her stuff,” Wilson said. “You have to trust your process.”

So in November, Wilson had a Zoom call with Tiernan and found that he liked the person even better than he liked the player.

“That was the final piece of the puzzle,” he said. “We believed she had a big ceiling after watching her and we wanted to at least invite Riley in to spend some time with us.

“We really liked her character after the interview.”

Angel City forward Riley Tiernan heads the ball downfield during a game against the Washington Spirit on May 2.

(Roger Wimmer/ ISI Photos via Getty Images)

Tiernan said the only other offer she received came from Gotham FC, which trains 35 miles from Rutgers. But after spending her entire life in South Jersey, she felt Southern California offered a different sort of challenge.

“It just felt like it was time for me to spread my wings and step out of my comfort zone,” she said. “I had nothing to lose. After the first couple of training sessions, I started feeling comfortable and I started feeling like it was a place that I should be, an environment where I belonged.”

She’s certainly fit in, starting all nine Angel City matches and ranking second among outfield players in minutes played. Plus her five goals are just two shy of the franchise single-season record with 17 games left.

“She’s a big presence, but she turns on a sixpence,” Wilson said. “She has the ability to send players into the stands with a little check and her balance and mobility for a big presence is deceiving.

“She exhibited all of those qualities and more in all the work we did.”

She’s continued to prove she belongs despite playing as an attacker on a team that has seven forwards with World Cup experience.

“Isn’t it funny how that worked out?” Wilson said with a wry grin. “While we had quality attacking players, we want you looking over your shoulder. When you’re looking over your shoulder, you’re not comfortable. When you’re not comfortable, you’re pushing yourself. That level of competition for places drives standards and performance.

“Riley exhibited that from Day 1 and it hasn’t stopped. I don’t see her ever taking her foot off the gas.”

At least not until she’s finished proving herself to all those who doubted her. If she was once unwanted she’s now in high demand, having earned her first callup to the U-23 national team earlier this week. She’ll leave after Saturday’s game for Europe and two games against Germany, which constitute another new challenge.

“I think it’s good to have a sense of humbleness and be intimidated by such a high level in a new environment,” she said. “But I also think it’s important to turn that intimidation into motivation.”

It wouldn’t be the first time Tiernan has used others’ opinion of her to fuel her fire.

“I love this game because it does reward talent that works hard,” Wilson said. “Riley’s a talent, she is working hard, and eventually that value will be recognized.”

BEIRUT, Lebanon, May 16 (UPI) — U.S. President Donald Trump‘s unexpected approach to Syria has presented a significant opportunity for the country’s interim president, Ahmad Sharaa, to prove that he can overcome the enormous challenges he faces and lead the war-torn nation toward recovery and stabilization, political analysts and experts said.

Trump’s announcement of the cessation of U.S. sanctions, along with his meeting with Sharaa — a former jihadist who, until recently, was on the U.S. most-wanted list with a $10 million bounty on his head — marked a turning point and the beginning of a new chapter for Syria nearly six months after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad and his Baathist regime.

With Assad gone, the sanctions were increasingly seen as only prolonging the suffering of the Syrian people and worsening the already catastrophic humanitarian conditions.

Had the sanctions remained in place, Syria would have become a failed state, as it was just weeks away from financial collapse, according to Mouaz Mustafa of the Syrian Emergency Task Force. In an interview with PBS NewsHour, Mustafa warned that continued sanctions would have led to disastrous consequences for both the region and the world.

With layers of sanctions in place since 1979, the process of lifting them remains unclear, and experts say it will take time.

“There is a huge difference between deciding to lift sanctions and actually lifting them,” Nanar Hawach, a senior Syria analyst for the International Crisis Group, told UPI.

However, he said it would be “a game-changer” for the economy, giving the green light for the private sector and other stakeholders involved in Syria to step in and “be more bold.”

Since taking over after Assad’s ouster, Sharaa has repeatedly called for the lifting of U.S. and other international sanctions to allow his country to breathe again. He understands that without funding and financial support, there is little he can do to put Syria back on track.

Mona Yacoubian, director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that the continuation of sanctions was hindering the country’s ability to recover and move forward.

Yacoubian noted that removing the sanctions would open the way for Gulf countries in particular to “do more” and channel more resources toward Syria’s early recovery and stabilization, and eventually, reconstruction — provided it is done “transparently and in a responsible way.”

However, Syria’s problems will not be resolved simply by ending the sanctions.

Sharaa is facing “very significant issues,” including sectarian tensions, the need for transitional justice, and how to manage the more extreme elements of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS — the group he led before becoming president — as well as affiliated factions on which he continues to rely while trying to consolidate control.

“So how will he use this newfound breathing space and the anticipated resources to consolidate his personal power, or rather to put Syria on a more sustainable path toward stability and, ultimately, peace?” Yacoubian asked rhetorically.

She added that he will have to demonstrate a willingness to undertake complex processes related to transitional justice, inclusive governance, and national reconciliation.

According to Hawach, Trump has given Sharaa “the benefit of the doubt,” and the new leadership in Damascus will need to seize this opportunity to meet internal and external expectations.

“How willing are they to take bold, risky steps such as distancing themselves from their radical base and expanding to include a broader range of constituencies?” he asked. “Are they prepared to take courageous actions to rein in or address the presence of foreign fighters? Would they focus on other issues, such as building institutional capacity or strengthening military capabilities?”

Trump, who described Sharaa as an “attractive, tough guy,” urged him to join the Abraham Accords and normalize relations with Israel, expel foreign fighters from Syria, deport Palestinian militants, assist the U.S. in preventing an ISIS resurgence and take responsibility for ISIS detention centers in northeast Syria.

What Syrians want most is a more inclusive national dialogue and political process, the formation of a national army and measures to address the fears of minority groups.

Anas Joudeh, a political researcher and founder of the Nation Building Movement in Syria, said the first step would be for Sharaa to seriously engage with all of the country’s constituencies, restart the national dialogue, adopt a new constitution, and form a more inclusive government.

“We can’t expect things to be perfect right now,” Joudeh told UPI. “We will strongly support any move toward greater inclusivity, as the country is heading toward total economic and social collapse.”

He said the key to Syria’s successful transition is the formation of a national army, which poses a “big challenge” for Sharaa. This includes absorbing the armed factions, addressing the foreign fighters who still maintain control in several areas and convincing the Druze, Alawites and Kurds to lay down their weapons.

“But that would be very difficult if Sharaa keeps on [running the country] with the same mentality,” Joudeh said.

Sharaa will, therefore, need to address the concerns of the Druze, Alawites and Kurds, find solutions to mitigate feelings of existential threat, impose security and, ultimately, act not as a faction leader, but as the leader of the entire country, Hawach said.

“If they decide to make positive steps towards these communities, this is the perfect time to do so,” he added.

He explained that with the possibility of accessing much-needed funds, the country can recruit for the army, establish better command control and gain more leverage to deal with armed factions that are not yet fully under the new authorities’ control.

Makram Rabah, a political activist and history professor at the American University of Beirut, said Trump’s meeting with Sharaa will put more pressures on him to act as a political leader.

“Lifting the sanctions sent a message not only to Sharaa but also to the Druze, Kurds and Alawites: that there is political cover, a form of settlement, and a need to work together,” Rabah told UPI. “However, this is far from easy.”