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ACTRESS Sydney Sweeney scores a hat-trick in a selection of outfits in one day.

The 28-year-old was spotted switching up her style in New York City while promoting her boxing biopic Christy.

As well as the three outfits pictured, Sydney changed into three more throughout the day for a total of six.

Actress Sydney described her latest role as “one of the most inspiring” experiences of her life.

Talking of the female boxer she said: “Christy’s strength isn’t in all of her punches it’s in her heart.”

Sydney became emotional as she detailed how Christy was shot and stabbed in the chest and left for dead after threatening to leave her abusive spouse.

She added: “Every one of us has our own fight.

“Christy reminds us strength doesn’t have to look loud sometimes, it’s just about getting up again and again no matter who is watching.

“Playing her taught me it isn’t the end of the story, it’s about re-claiming it.

“And to every young girl out there I hope that you know your power is already within you.”

In her latest film, Christy, she learned to box to play US pro fighter Christy Martin — the first female boxer to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

She won a world title before her husband tried to murder her.

Liverpool manager Arne Slot says he has “no regrets” after making 10 changes to his team for their Carabao Cup fixture against Crystal Palace, a match they went on to lose 3-0 at Anfield.

READ MORE: Slot ‘making excuses’ – but should he have rested key players?

The TWZ Newsletter

Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.

The U.S. Department of Defense may finally be ready to choose which company will develop and build the U.S. Navy’s F/A-XX next-generation carrier-based fighter. A report from Reuters today states that U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth personally gave the green light for the selection last Friday. However, this is not the first time that there have been reports that this decision was imminent, as you can read about here, but these came to nothing.

The Reuters report publishes details provided by “a U.S. official and two people familiar with the decision.” Similar comments provided to Breaking Defense were attributed to “two sources.” The upshot is that the Pentagon could choose its preferred F/A-XX design this week. The program has long been even more secretive than the U.S. Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance jet, which emerged earlier this year as the Boeing F-47. What is clear, however, is that the F/A-XX decision is now months later than planned.

Also interesting is the timing of this apparent move, coming so soon after President Donald Trump’s visit to the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush over the weekend. He went aboard the carrier as the Navy celebrated its 250th anniversary and witnessed a firepower demonstration. While aboard the warship, Trump also met with senior Navy officials and saw the hardware of the current carrier air wing at close quarters — including the F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and E/A-18 Growlers that the F/A-XX will eventually replace.

If the report is true, and F/A-XX is moving forward, it’s right on cue. Trump just spent the day on carrier with a full capabilities demo from the flotilla & spoke with key players. All the tech was on display & the pitch was clearly made for what is needed. The services are keen… https://t.co/ruyH0ASGzA

— Tyler Rogoway (@Aviation_Intel) October 7, 2025

At this point, the F/A-XX contest is understood to have narrowed to two companies.

Northrop Grumman is one of them. When it exited the USAF’s NGAD program around 2023, Northrop Grumman said it would focus on other priorities, including the F/A-XX, as well as the B-21 Raider stealth bomber. Earlier this summer, the company presented a conceptual rendering for its submission for F/A-XX.

The other F/A-XX contender is thought to be Boeing, the prime contractor for the F-47.

Meanwhile, Lockheed Martin was reportedly eliminated from the competition in March. It now seems they were about to get cut from the program prior to the choice to leave it on their own accord.

TWZ approached the Navy and the Office of the Secretary of Defense for comment on the apparent new development. Both declined to comment.

Notably, the Reuters story also includes the caveat, which it attributes to one or more of the sources, that “last-minute snags have delayed progress on the Navy jet in the past and could do so again.”

This points to the fact that, for many months now, the future of the F/A-XX program has been under scrutiny, with growing signs that it was at best in limbo. Boeing pushed back on that assertion back in June of this year.

Notably, like this report, it was Reuters that, in March of this year, published a story suggesting that the Navy was set to confirm the choice of F/A-XX that same week, something that never materialized.

In June, the Pentagon’s proposed budget for the 2026 Fiscal Year included enough funding to complete initial development work but didn’t include any further funds to actually start buying the aircraft. U.S. military officials said that this decision was made to avoid competition for resources with the Air Force’s F-47 and amid concerns about whether the U.S. industrial base would be able to handle work on both programs simultaneously.

At the same time, there have been questions, too, about whether Northrop Grumman would be able to support work on the F/A-XX while also grappling with the demands of the Air Force’s Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) program, which is behind schedule and over-budget.

In July, however, the Senate Appropriations Committee advanced a draft defense spending bill that would reverse the Pentagon’s plan to freeze the F/A-XX program, as you can read about here. Approved by the committee in July, that version of the 2026 Fiscal Year Defense Appropriations Bill included $1.4 billion for F/A-XX.

The figure of $1.4 billion had also appeared in a call for additional F/A-XX funding that the Navy had reportedly included in its annual Unfunded Priority List (UPL) sent to Congress earlier in July.

While there has apparently been something of a dispute between the Navy and Pentagon leadership over the direction the program should take, the Navy has long spoken about its centrality to its future carrier aviation plans.

“The Navy has a validated requirement for carrier-based sixth-generation aircraft, and it is critical that we field that capability as quickly as possible to give our warfighters the capabilities they need to win against a myriad of emerging threats,” Adm. Daryl Caudle, the nominee to become the next Chief of Naval Operations, wrote in response to a question about F/A-XX ahead of his confirmation hearing in July.

Caudle was also present at the Navy’s 250th birthday in Norfolk, Virginia, wearing a flight suit alongside President Trump.

Not lost on Navy officials is the rapid pace of development that China is currently making in terms of carrier aviation.

The latest evidence suggests that China’s Shenyang J-35, its next-generation carrier-based fighter, may have entered limited series production and could even be in service with the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN).

In a standout development last month, the PLAN demonstrated a new ability to launch and recover aircraft from a catapult-equipped aircraft carrier, its first of this kind, the Fujian. As well as the J-35, the J-15T single-seat carrier-based fighter and the KJ-600 airborne early warning and control aircraft have undertaken carrier trials on the new flattop.

With China rapidly developing even more advanced combat aircraft designs, and especially 6th generation stealth fighter-like aircraft, some variants of which will likely migrate to the carrier environment eventually, the pressure is on for the U.S. Navy to not fall behind. Calls have been growing to now move on F/A-XX in light of these developments.

China also has an expanding repertoire of advanced drones, broadly equivalent to the U.S. military’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA), some of which would be suitable for adaptation for carrier operations. This could mirror U.S. Navy plans, in which the F/A-XX should eventually be a central part of a new-look carrier air wing that could feature as much as two-thirds uncrewed aircraft.

Once again, if we’ve learnt anything from the secretive F/A-XX program, it’s that it doesn’t always take the course that might be expected. But the appearance of Trump and Hegseth very much in the spotlight as the Navy marked its 250th anniversary, and China continuing to develop its carrier aviation capabilities at an impressive rate, might indicate that a decision on who will make the Navy’s next carrier-based fighter is finally due.

Contact the author: [email protected]

SWEET-TOOTHED fans can now get their hands on a new Penguin selection box.

McVitie’s has revealed its first ever Penguin Selection Box as part of its festive lineup of products.

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The box (RRP £3) includes six Penguin treats across a variety of flavours.

There are two original Penguin milk chocolate biscuit bars, one Penguin Mint, one Penguin Orange, in addition to two bags of mini biscuits.

The biscuit bags are in the Cocoa and Cocoa & Orange flavours.

McVitie’s says that the box “comes in bright seasonal packaging featuring the iconic Penguin jokes, along with a maze and word search on the back.”

While savvy shoppers have spotted the box on Asda shelves, it has yet to be listed online.

The new product does feature on the Tesco website, where it is currently marked as “out of stock”.

Other festive finds

McVitie’s festive range also includes the Chocolate Digestives Anniversary Tin, celebrating 100 years since the inception of these beloved biscuits.

The 340g tin contains milk, dark chocolate and white digestives.

You can find this exclusively in Sainsbury’s for £7.50.

This winter you can also try the Flipz Gingerbread Flavour Coated Pretzels Share Bag (RRP £2).

And McVitie’s are adding a seasonal spin to a much-loved favourite, giving their White Digestives a festive makeover with playful snowflakes and snowmen packaging.

McVitie’s isn’t the only brand to have revealed new festive products.

The M&S Christmas range for 2025 includes new products such as the Original Peanut Butter & Jelly Munch, as well as a Peanut Butter & Jelly Spread.

The iconic Munch tins first launched in 2021, but this year’s version has been given an American twist, with the treats now available as a peanut butter and jelly flavour.

Last year, the M&S Very Merry Munch tin was advertised as “perfect for movie nights”, with fans calling it “heaven”.

Marmite fans may also like to try the Pecan & Salted Caramel Blondies with a hint of marmite, as well as the new M&S marmite caramel sauce.

Mars have also revealed new Christmas chocolate treats, including a Milky Way Advent Calendar released for the first time and sold exclusively in Asda.

If you’re a Tesco shopper, you’ll be able to get hold of the new Galaxy Miniatures Pouch.

Shoppers were quick to spot the new pouches on the supermarket shelves, with some taking to the Snack Reviews Facebook group to comment: “This bag is perfect,” said one user.

“I need some of these,” added another.

The 260g pouches contain a mix of individually wrapped Galaxy chocolates in the original Smooth Milk and Caramel flavours.

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IF you’re already planning ahead for the festive season, you can nab a huge saving on Christmas chocolate right now.

A bargain UK supermarket is selling 25p Cadbury’s selection boxes for £2.50 cheaper than a rival store.

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The bargain comes after news that struggling Poundland is going back to basics, with plans to increase the number of products sold in store for just a quid.

The Cadbury’s 25p selection box weighs in at 125g and includes a selection of favourite treats.

This includes Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Freddo Caramel, Fudge, Crunchie,, Dairy Milk Little Bar, Treatsize Buttons and a Wispa.

An identical selection box is on sale at Iceland‘s for £2,50.

But you will have to pop into your local Poundland to pick up the bargain as Poundland‘s website is now for browsing only.

A statement on the site reads: “We’re currently working very hard behind the scenes to simplify and refocus our stores.

“And that means very soon there’ll be even more ranges at £1 and new items to choose from each week.

“Unfortunately, we will no longer be providing an online delivery service from the 16th September 2025.

“While we know most of our online shoppers also visit us regularly in stores (thank you!), we know this will be disappointing to all who’ve been using our online ordering service.”

Cheapest UK supermarket to buy Christmas chocolate tubs

Whether you’re indulging in the festive treats ahead of time or you’re stocking up for your friends, family, and co-workers, this deal offers impressive savings.

The offer comes after Morrisons slashed the price of a variety of chocolate tubs from £7 to just £4.50.

Now, Tesco is giving shoppers a chance match this price, with some tubs reduced right now.

Clubcard holders can avail of significant savings with tubs of Cadbury’s Heroes and Roses reduced to just £5.25.

Nestle Celebrations and Quality Street are also available for just £4.50.

Sainsbury’s slashes the price of Cadbury favourites starting today

Supermarkets often watch each other’s sales and try to price match especially in the lead up to Christmas.

And Sainsbury’s is slashing the price of Cadbury favourites for five days only starting today.

The promotion will take the price of Heroes and Roses tubs down from £7 to £4.50 – perfect for anyone looking to stock up ahead of the festive season.

A large box of Milk Tray will see its cost halve from £11 to £5.50

And pouches including Cadbury giant buttons, crunchie rocks, oreo bites, twirl bites, will fall from £1.95 to 97p.

Large 90g bars of Cadbury Dairy Milk will drop from £2.20 to £1.50.

The discounted prices take effect from Wednesday September 17 and will last until Sunday September 21.

However, they are only available to Nectar account holders, so you’ll need to sign up for the loyalty scheme if you are not already a member.

Match Of The Day pundit Danny Murphy believes Manchester United do not have the personnel needed to play Ruben Amorim’s 3-4-3 system, highlighting the performances of Bruno Fernandes and Luke Shaw in their 3-0 loss to rivals Manchester City.

MATCH REPORT: Premier League – Manchester City 3-0 Manchester United

Available to UK users only.

Ryan Routh (seen September 15 of last year after the attempted assassination of then-former U.S. President Donald Trump) entered a federal courthouse on Monday in Fort Pierce, Fla., for the start of his criminal trial in what’s likely to be a 3-day jury selection process. Photo via Martin County Sheriff’s Office/UPI | License Photo

Sept. 8 (UPI) — Jury selection got underway Monday in the trial for Ryan Routh, over his alleged assassination attempt against President Donald Trump in September 2024.

Routh, now 59, entered a federal courthouse in Fort Pierce, Fla., for the start of his criminal trial in what’s likely to be a three-day jury selection process.

He pleaded not guilty to charges of attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, assaulting a federal officer and multiple gun violations after he allegedly waited for then-candidate Trump nearly 12 hours around the perimeter of Trump’s golf club in West Palm Beach on Sept. 15 before later caught by Martin County Sheriff’s deputies.

In addition, Routh has pleaded not guilty to separate charges filed by the state on terrorism and attempted murder.

The trial is expected to last around a month and Routh will be representing himself during court processings.

In December, U.S. Southern District Judge Aileen Cannon set the trial date to begin.

Routh, a construction worker who was from Hawaii and North Carolina, was found when a Secret Service agent discovered the barrel of an SKS-style rifle protruding through the tree line near the golf course’s sixth green.

The agent shot at Routh, who fled the scene but was arrested on a nearby highway after a chase with sheriff’s deputies.

Meanwhile, Routh is facing the possibility of life in prison.

Opening statements in Routh’s trial are expected to be heard on Thursday.

The TWZ Newsletter

Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.

U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Daniel Cheever, commonly referred to as the service’s “Air Boss,” is still “eagerly awaiting” a new F/A-XX next-generation carrier-based fighter despite the uncertainty now swirling around that program. Cheever already sees a key boost in capability for the Navy’s carrier air wings on the horizon in the form of the MQ-25 Stingray tanker drone, which could leverage its very long range to perform other missions in the future, as TWZ has previously explored in detail.

Cheever, whose formal title is commander of Naval Air Forces, talked to TWZ‘s Jamie Hunter about F/A-XX and MQ-25 on the sidelines of the Tailhook Association’s annual symposium last Friday.

F/A-XX is “ready for down-select, to which of the vendors you would go with, and we’re just excited,” Cheever said. For “Naval Aviation, fourth, fifth, and sixth-generation on an aircraft carrier is a phenomenal capability and absolutely needed for air superiority, which allows [for] sea control.”

The Navy was reportedly close to announcing the winner of the F/A-XX competition in March, hot on the heels of the U.S. Air Force choosing Boeing’s F-47 as the sixth-generation fighter component of its Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) effort. Boeing and Northrop Grumman are understood to be the remaining contenders for F/A-XX.

However, in June, the Pentagon announced as part of the rollout of its Fiscal Year 2026 budget proposal that it was moving to complete initial development work related to F/A-XX, but then freeze the program indefinitely. The stated reason for this decision was to avoid competition for resources that could hurt the USAF’s F-47. There has been pushback on the concerns that America’s aviation industry can support two sixth-generation fighter programs simultaneously, including from Boeing.

“They [the Navy] haven’t made a decision yet. So that’s what the down-select is. We’re waiting for the decision, and I’m not the decision maker. I’m just eagerly awaiting,” Vice Adm. Cheever told TWZ last week.

Cheever’s comments add to the murkiness that currently surrounds F/A-XX. In recent months, other senior Navy officials have voiced support publicly for continuing with the next-generation carrier-based fighter program. Members of Congress have also been making moves to keep F/A-XX moving ahead as planned in the upcoming Fiscal Year 2026 budget.

“Nothing in the Joint Force projects combat power from the sea as a Carrier Strike Group, which at the heart has a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier (CVN). To maintain this striking power, the CVN must have an air wing that is comprised of the most advanced strike fighters,” Adm. Daryl Caudle, Chief of Naval Operations, the Navy’s top officer, wrote in response to a question about F/A-XX ahead of his confirmation hearing in July. “Therefore, the ability to maintain air superiority against peer competitors will be put at risk if the Navy is unable to field a 6th Generation strike fighter on a relevant timeline. Without a replacement for the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and E/A-18G Growler, the Navy will be forced to retrofit 4th generation aircraft and increase procurement of 5th generation aircraft to attempt to compete with the new 6th generation aircraft that the threat is already flying.”

“The Navy has a validated requirement for carrier-based 6th generation aircraft, and it is critical that we field that capability as quickly as possible to give our warfighters the capabilities they need to win against a myriad of emerging threats,” he added.

The Navy has now long presented F/A-XX as critical to ensuring its carrier air wings can continue to project power in the face of ever-growing threats, especially in any future high-end fight, such as one against China in the Pacific. The aforementioned MQ-25 Stingray also remains a top priority in this regard.

“To me, it [MQ-25] is the key that unlocks manned-unmanned teaming on the aircraft carrier. So once we get MQ-25 flying, and it’s supposed to fly in 2025, that is the big thing,” Vice Adm. Cheever told TWZ at Tailhook. “Now, I unlock all of the manned-unmanned teaming that can happen on the aircraft carrier in the future.”

“If you think about it, I have all these strike fighters that are configured as tankers, and I can free them all up to be strike fighters again, instead of tankers,” Cheever added. “And that is just that is an exponential increase in our strike and fighting capability and capacity.”

What the Air Boss is referring to here is the current use of F/A-18E/F Super Hornets with buddy refueling stores to provide organic tanker capacity to the Navy’s carrier air wings. The Navy has estimated in the past that 20 to 30 percent of carrier-based Super Hornet sorties are taken up by aerial refueling. In addition to eliminating the need for Super Hornets to perform this function, the MQ-25 also offers additional benefits in terms of its own range and on-station time, which will significantly extend the air wing’s operational reach.

As noted, the goal now is for the MQ-25 to fly for the first time this year, a key milestone for a program that has suffered delays and cost growth. The current hope is to reach initial operational capability (IOC) with the Stingray sometime in Fiscal Year 2027, around three years later than originally expected.

On top of being tankers, the baseline MQ-25s are set to be delivered with a secondary intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capability. The Stingray’s baked-in capabilities, especially its range, open doors to the drones, or future variants or derivatives thereof, taking on a host of other missions, including kinetic strike and airborne early warning, as TWZ has laid out in-depth in this past feature.

“It’s got a lot of potential,” Vice Adm. told TWZ last week. “[It’s got] huge range.”

“Absolutely,” Cheever said when asked specifically about the MQ-25 taking on additional roles in the future, though he did not elaborate.

In terms of MQ-25 as a springboard to adding more uncrewed capabilities in the Navy carrier air wings, “the future of Collaborative Combat Aircraft, and that kind of thing, is TBD [to be decided], still to come. That work’s still to be done, and there’s a lot of folks in that space,” Cheever added.

By the Navy’s own admission, it is following the lead of the Air Force, and the U.S. Marine Corps to a lesser extent, when it comes to plans for future Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) ‘loyal wingman’ type drones, and is looking to leverage the work those services are doing now. The Navy has previously outlined one vision for future CCAs that are low-cost enough to be “consumable,” and expended as one-way attack munitions or targets for use in training or test evaluation activities at the end of relatively short service lives. The service has also expressed a “strong interest” in the MQ-28 Ghost Bat, originally developed by Boeing’s subsidiary in Australia for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). You can read more about the current state of the Navy’s CCA plans in TWZ‘s earlier reporting from this year’s Tailhook symposium.

Overall, Cheever’s comments at Tailhook underscore that the Navy is still pressing to proceed with F/A-XX as a critical part of its larger plans to modernize its carrier air wings.

Contact the author: [email protected]