recovers

A flat tyre meant Mitchell Mann was docked a frame after starting his British Open match against Gao Yang late – but he rallied to win 4-3.

The 33-year-old had to abandon his car and started 10 minutes late and already 1-0 down before fighting his way into the third round.

“I was on the hard shoulder and had no spare tyre, I was completely stranded,” said the world number 91.

“Luckily my friends answered my call and they came to pick me up. One of them drove me to Cheltenham and the other waited with my car for the RAC.

“I should have driven down last night, it’s a lesson learned. I have no idea where my car is now!”

Mark Allen is through to the third round with a 4-1 win against Hungary’s Bulcsu Revesz.

The Antrim man made it two wins in as many days, following his victory over Jiang Jun on Tuesday.

Allen made an excellent start by banking the opening two frames, including a break of 60 in the second.

Revesz, who shocked Ali Carter in the same tournament last year, recovered well in the third to pull a frame back.

However, the English Open winner hit back in the fourth and sealed his passage into the third round with a 69 break in the fifth.

He will now face Wales’ Mark Williams on Thursday, while fellow Antrim man Robbie McGuigan faces Ben Mertens in his third-round match following the Belgian’s 4-0 win against England’s Reanne Evans.

Judd Trump beat Leone Crowley 4-1, Shaun Murphy beat Scott Donaldson 4-1 and defending champion Mark Selby hit a 115 break in a 4-3 win over Liu Hongyu.

MARRIED At First Sight star JJ Slater has revealed who he still speaks to from his series’ cast.

Currently recovering from his and hers surgeries with his girlfriend Katie Price after they jetted out to Turkey together, JJ has lifted the lid on his MAFS experience and unveiled the two people he still speaks to.

4

4

4

Speaking to The Sun on behalf of Casino.org, JJ opened up about whether or not he speaks to people from his series of MAFS.

JJ appeared on Married At First Sight UK in 2023, firstly marrying Bianca Petronzi before striking up a romance with co-star Ella Morgan.

When asked if he is still in touch with anyone, he said: “Not on a basis where we would message and check in with each other, apart from with Luke and with Terence.

“There is a boys’ group chat with all the boys in there. It’s pretty quiet now.

“It was lively at first, but now it’s just like, happy birthdays.

“Or if someone’s going out, they’ll be like, I’m here, if anyone fancies a beer, stuff like that. But on a day-to-day basis, no.”

JJ’s comments on Married At First Sight UK come after he and his girlfriend Katie Price underwent his and hers surgeries.

The former glamour model, 47, and JJ had planned to go under the knife together, but he was banned from having an op.

JJ was forced to change his plans due to his Type 1 diabetes.

Last month, Katie revealed that JJ had gotten a “hair transplant” in Turkey.

She filmed her beau and shared the video on Snapchat as he underwent a Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) procedure.

He had the work done at the last minute after his plan to have his eye bags removed couldn’t go ahead.

“I went to Turkey to have the bags under my eyes done, but I couldn’t have it done,” he explained in our exclusive earlier this week.

JJ went on: “I was all in the gown, wearing the knee-high socks, ready to go down. But my blood sugars were flagged.

“I got diagnosed with type 1 diabetes after the show, actually.

“So yeah, my blood sugars, there was a reading in my blood that they weren’t happy with, so they didn’t do the procedure. So recovery was fine, as it didn’t happen.”

Speaking about his diabetes diagnosis, JJ said it “was definitely one of the biggest life-changing things since the show”.

He went on: “Type 1 is an autoimmune disease, so I’ve done a lot of research into it.

“One of the potential triggers can be stress – not scientifically proven, but it does make you wonder, given everything going on around that time.”

He added: “I was 31, had never had any issues before, and suddenly I was really ill for about two months. But being a typical bloke, I just ignored it, thinking it would go away.

“But then, when I did get really ill, my dad was like, mate, you’ve got to get yourself to the hospital.”

Recalling when he was diagnosed, JJ said that he lost nearly two stone and was really thirsty.

“It’s a bit disgusting, but I was also passing blood in my urine,” he explained.

“That was the biggest trigger for me – that was when I told myself I had to get myself to get checked out.

“But since then, it has helped me. Now I’m more focused on what I eat because I have to, and I try to be a lot healthier.”

4

Israeli forces say they have recovered the bodies of three captives held in the Gaza Strip since Hamas’s 2023 attack, the military said, as its bombardment and attacks in the besieged enclave have killed more than 30 Palestinians, according to hospital officials.

The military on Sunday said the bodies of Ofra Keidar, Yonatan Samerano, and soldier Shay Levinson were recovered from Gaza “in a special operation”.

Samerano’s father had announced earlier on Sunday that his 21-year-old son’s body, which was taken into Gaza after he was murdered on October 7, 2023, had been recovered by the Israeli army.

Keidar, a 71-year-old mother of three, was also killed on the day, while 19-year-old tank commander Levinson “engaged and fought terrorists on the morning of October 7 and fell in combat”, a statement from the military said.

More than 1,100 people were killed and about 250 taken captive during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, according to Israeli authorities. At least 50 of those captives remain in Gaza, with 20 reportedly still alive, Israeli media say.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that the country’s ongoing conflict with Iran would help it win its war in Gaza and return the captives.

“We are getting closer, step by step, to our objectives: defeating Hamas and bringing our hostages home… I am convinced that the operation in Iran is helping us achieve our objective in Gaza,” said Netanyahu.

Hamas has repeatedly said it is ready to release all Israeli captives in exchange for a permanent end to the war on Gaza, the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the enclave, and the release of all Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

But Netanyahu has rejected the terms and continued his war on the Gaza Strip, which has killed about 56,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children – a brutal offensive that the United Nations, most governments, and rights groups call a genocide.

More recently, starving Palestinians desperate for food and other essential items are being shot, with more than 400 people killed and nearly 2,000 wounded since the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a controversial group backed by the United States and Israel, began distributing aid last month.

Israeli forces killed at least 33 Palestinians since dawn on Sunday, six of them while seeking aid, hospital sources in Gaza told Al Jazeera. Gaza’s Ministry of Health said at least 51 Palestinians were killed in the last 24 hours.

Since March 18, when Israel broke a fragile two-month ceasefire and launched a massive assault on Gaza, at least 5,647 Palestinians have been killed and 19,201 wounded, according to the ministry.

‘The situation is collapsing and deteriorating’

Reporting from Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary said Israeli forces continue to target different residential areas across the enclave and aid distribution points.

“Israeli forces continue to attack aid seekers who have been very close to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution points, where at least seven Palestinians have been killed since this morning,” Khoudary said.

“In hospitals here across the Gaza Strip, the situation is collapsing and deteriorating as Gaza’s hospitals are running out of fuel and also medical supplies.”

Medical services in Gaza say ambulances have completely stopped operating in Gaza City due to Israel’s ban on fuel entering the enclave.

The Israeli blockade of food and medicines has pushed its entire population of more than two million to the brink of starvation.

Another Al Jazeera correspondent in Gaza on Sunday said at least six people were killed overnight during an Israel-imposed internet blackout that lasted five hours and was accompanied by heavy Israeli artillery firing targeting areas in eastern and central Gaza.

Three of them were killed after a rocket hit a tent housing displaced Palestinians in al-Mawasi to the west of Khan Younis city. A man and his wife were killed in another strike targeting an apartment to the north of Nuseirat.

On Sunday, the Catholic Church’s Pope Leo XIV called on the world not to forget the humanitarian crisis in Gaza as the conflict in the Middle East broadened with overnight US strikes on Iran.

“In this context that includes Israel and Palestine, there is a risk that the daily suffering of peoples is forgotten, in particular in Gaza and other territories, where there is an ever greater urgency for adequate humanitarian aid,” he said.

June 6 (UPI) — A pair of stolen paintings have been returned to a museum in New Mexico after they were missing for more than 40 years, the FBI confirmed on Friday.

The FBI credited its free Stolen Art App launched in 2023 for helping to identify and recover the paintings by artists Victor Higgins and Joseph Henry Sharp.

The two works of art were stolen in March 1985 from the University of New Mexico’s Harwood Museum of Art, located in Taos. The town of approximately 6,400 people is located in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and known for its historic buildings.

The FBI did not say if anyone has been charged in relation to the stolen paintings, only that “cooperation of multiple individuals and other entities contacted during the investigation was critical to the recovery of these paintings,” and that “all investigative leads have been exhausted at this time.”

The museum is holding a special unveiling Friday night for Higgins’ oil painting titled “Aspens,” and Sharp’s “Oklahoma Cheyenne.” Both men were members of the Taos Society of Artists.

“We are thrilled to announce a historic moment for Harwood Museum of Art. After 40 years, two paintings stolen during the infamous 1985 Harwood Heist — works by Victor Higgins and Joseph Henry Sharp — have been officially returned to the museum,” the museum wrote on Facebook.

“The FBI has delivered the recovered artworks to our Collections and Curatorial Departments, marking a major moment of closure and celebration for our community and the legacy of Taos art.”

“We are grateful for the cooperation of all parties involved,” Acting Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office Margaret Girard said in the agency’s statement.

“The recovery of these stolen paintings is a powerful reminder that the FBI continues to commit investigative resources to recover cultural property and return these stolen items to their rightful owners.”

Friday’s event also includes a screening of a documentary about the thefts.

“The evening will feature a special panel of individuals who have been part of this story since the 1980s and a screening of The Thief Collector at 5:30 pm, the riveting documentary that dives into the couple responsible for the 1985 Harwood heist,” reads the museum’s Facebook post.

In addition to the FBI, museum officials credit amateur historical crime researcher Lou Schachter with uncovering the location of the paintings, in the estate of New Mexico school teachers Jerry and Rita Alter.

“Without his sleuthing, this artwork would never be back where it belongs,” Harwood Marketing and Development Associate Sylvia Tawse told the Taos News in an interview.