staff

Chelsea have warned staff to be careful about inadvertently revealing team news through Fantasy Premier League after Joao Pedro’s injury appeared to have been disclosed through team selections.

An email was sent to staff reminding them of the potential consequences of using inside information when playing Fantasy Premier League or other public gaming platforms, where team selection choices could reveal which players are unavailable or close to returning.

It followed leaks before the 2-0 home defeat by Tottenham, when Pedro was a surprise absentee because of what has since emerged to be a quad injury.

Several influential Fantasy Premier League content creators claimed to have seen evidence that forward Morgan Rogers, along with several members of Chelsea staff, had removed Pedro from their Fantasy Premier League teams before kick-off at Stamford Bridge, despite no club announcement having been made about his injury.

Asked about the matter by BBC Sport after the defeat, Xabi Alonso said he was unaware of the situation. He replied: “I am not into the fantasy team thing, so I didn’t know that.”

Since joining Chelsea in the summer, Alonso, 44, has generally been guarded when discussing injury issues in media conferences.

Chelsea have also previously experienced problems with leaks.

During former manager Liam Rosenior’s four-month spell in charge last season, team selections were leaked before both legs of the club’s Champions League defeat by Paris St-Germain.

It also later emerged former defender Marc Cucurella’s barber had revealed on social media that Pedro and Cole Palmer would miss a trip to Brighton last season after discussing the matter with his client.

With regard to Fantasy Premier League, no further restrictions are expected because Chelsea regard the incident as an isolated case that can be managed through greater awareness among players and staff.

There have been many further examples, claiming to suggest players from clubs like Arsenal, Liverpool, Leicester and Newcastle made revealing changes to their teams, while BBC Sport has identified accounts believed by Fantasy Premier League trackers to be linked to high-profile players and figures at clubs across the division.

The highest-profile example was arguably the revelation of then Aston Villa forward Jack Grealish’s omission from the squad before a match against Leicester City in February 2021.

Then Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers later said he had been aware of rumours surrounding Grealish’s injury absence before the match, which his side won.

More than 11 million people are said to play Fantasy Premier League, which has become an increasingly prominent part of the wider football ecosystem.

Although there are strict rules prohibiting gambling, the Premier League offers no specific guidance to clubs on how, or whether, those involved in the game should participate in Fantasy Premier League.

Instead, it is generally treated as a matter for individual clubs to manage themselves.

President Trump’s appointment of Stephen Miller — the architect of the administration’s extreme crackdown on immigration — to White House chief of staff is sparking alarm among immigrant advocates and politicians across California.

But this week’s sweeping Democratic victories are giving immigrant communities hope that control of Congress will give them more tools to fight Miller’s policies.

Miller grew up in Santa Monica but has become a relentless critic of California, specifically its immigration policies, protections and, in many ways, identity. Southern California was the first city targeted by widespread immigration raids last year, upending the region in ways that continue to reverberate, particularly for immigrant communities.

Miller’s promotion, announced Friday, is seen by many as an indication that the president has no intention of backing away from some of his most polarizing policies during his last two years in office, despite devastating midterm losses for Republicans across the country. Many viewed the nationwide Democratic swing — in South Carolina, Texas, California’s Central Valley and across the Midwest — as a rebuke of the administration’s first two years, particularly the major immigration crackdown that went far beyond Trump’s promise to focus on the “worst of the worst,” instead arresting thousands without criminal convictions, many of whom had lived in the country for decades.

“We’re concerned that this means the president may be doubling down on his domestic agenda of ICE crackdowns and on deportations if Stephen Miller is at the helm,” said Jamal Abdi, the president of the National Iranian American Council. “He thinks that every problem starts with the immigrant community — and that getting rid of them is the solution.”

Abdi worries that Miller’s latest promotion will further anti-immigrant policies, which have long painted Iranians and other immigrant communities as threats. He is hopeful Miller will help end the military’s war in Iran but fears that may mean more focus domestically on immigrants, especially Iranians, who have been demonized amid hostilities. The diaspora is highly concentrated in Los Angeles, which is home to the largest group of people of Iranian descent outside of Iran.

“We are definitely not out of the woods, and it seems like maybe the president might do less damage abroad but will really focus energy domestically,” Abdi said.

Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights in Los Angeles, said seeing more power in the hands of Miller — who she said was behind the Trump administration’s strategies that included “warrantless arrest, racial profiling, excessive use of force, medical neglect in detention centers, people deported illegally” — is threatening.

“Now he’s the chief of staff, and so that means that he has access to every single Cabinet secretary to unleash his reign of terror on our people,” Salas said. During the midterm elections, she said her team was aware of an influx of Department of Homeland Security sightings and activity in the Southland.

“We saw people arrested the day after the election in a massive way and it almost feels very vengeful,” she said. “Almost [like saying], ‘You know you can’t stop us.’”

Now, she and other immigration advocates are preparing themselves for “even more abuse from this administration,” Salas said.

But Ahilan Arulanantham, faculty co-director of UCLA’s Miñana Family Center for Immigration Law and Policy, said Miller’s promotion doesn’t change anything for him.

“He’s been adopting the most extreme authoritarian and racist views and espousing it publicly … for the entire two years of this administration,” Arulanantham said. “Whether he does it as the deputy chief of staff or chief of staff … I don’t have a view of the difference.”

Despite widespread backlash to the immigration raids last year, particularly after federal agents killed two civilians in Minnesota, the administration did pull back some of its most aggressive tactics. But Miller has remained intensely focused on his goal to limit immigration dramatically and deport undocumented migrants.

Miller’s new role will come as the administration prepares to face a Democratic-led House of Representatives and Senate, which could provide the strongest check yet on the executive branch since Trump began his second term.

“Congress has tremendous opportunity to constrain what the federal government can do in the form of abusive immigration practices,” Arulanantham said. “Congress has a huge amount of leverage that it could choose to use to force the administration to change its conduct — in the way that voters have clearly demanded.”

He hopes Congress will pass laws that limit how the Department of Homeland Security enforces immigration laws, including how agents use warrants — or don’t, what they wear while on duty and what factors they can consider when stopping someone.

Members of Congress appeared to agree with that approach.

“Stephen Miller should lawyer up,” U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach), who is set to lead the House Oversight Committee once the next Congress is sworn in, wrote in a statement Friday. He and his colleagues are committed to fighting “against his hateful policies in Congress and the courts.”

“Just days after the American people rejected his corrupt and lawless presidency, Donald Trump is doubling down,” Garcia said. “Stephen Miller is the architect of the unconstitutional ICE raids that have terrorized our communities and kidnapped and killed American citizens and immigrant families.”

Sen. Alex Padilla (D-California) characterized Miller as the man most responsible for “the cruelest immigration policies this country has seen in modern times: family separations, detainment of babies and children, militarized raids, arbitrary arrest quotas, and the horror unleashed in communities across the country,” Padilla said.

“We will use every tool at our disposal — oversight, investigations, subpoenas, and our leverage over federal funding — to expose this Administration’s abuse of power and hold those responsible accountable.”

Standing up to the administration was a similar response for lawmakers in Los Angeles. City Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, whose district was targeted by some of the most extreme immigration sweeps last year, called Miller’s appointment an act of desperation by Trump.

The councilmember said it won’t deter her office or the community from resisting harsh immigration policies and continued activity in L.A.

“We’re going to fight back,” Hernandez said. “Even when we were on the losing side, when we didn’t have the majority in the Senate or the House, many of us were still fighting against those raids, fighting for our communities, fighting to make sure people are fed and housed.”

WASHINGTON — Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut said on Friday that he has been discharged from the hospital after suffering a stroke last weekend and will miss “several weeks” of votes in the Senate as he recovers in a rehabilitation facility.

Murphy, 53, said in a statement that doctors are “very encouraged by the progress I’ve made so far” and that the stay at the rehabilitation center will get him back to work on the quickest timeline possible.

Murphy said doctors diagnosed him with a small hemorrhagic stroke, which is a bleed in the brain. He said he called 911 on Oct. 31 out of an abundance of caution after feeling that “something was not right” with his body.

“This has been a scary experience for me and my family, and I appreciate the continued respect for our privacy,” he said.

The press release updating Murphy’s condition included a statement from Dr. Jose Suarez, chief of neurosciences critical care at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Suarez said the senator has shown tremendous progress and “we expect that he will make a full recovery following rehabilitation.”

In the Senate, Murphy serves on the Appropriations Committee and is a leading voice on immigration and gun policy. He is considered a contender for more senior leadership positions in the Senate and among the many Democrats seen as potential 2028 candidates for the White House.

Murphy said he has been staying engaged with his team and colleagues remotely and that his staff ensures the work of his office continues uninterrupted.

“I want to extend my deepest thanks to the excellent doctors and staff at Johns Hopkins who have treated me and cared for my family,” Murphy said.

Murphy had been traveling the country in support of House and Senate candidates as his party raced for majority control, which it secured in Tuesday’s midterm elections. A day before the stroke, he posted that he had been campaigning in his home state for Gov. Ned Lamont. The week before, he posted from Minnesota campaigning with Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, the Democratic nominee for the Senate.

Lamont won reelection Tuesday, and Flanagan won her race, becoming the first Native American female U.S. senator.

The final sprint before election day capped Murphy’s whirlwind trip to the Middle East at the start of October for meetings with several leaders, including Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. In early September, Murphy completed his annual “walk across Connecticut,” covering about 70 miles over four days, talking with residents about their concerns along the way.

Three other Senate Democrats had strokes in recent years. Sens. Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland had strokes in 2022 and have recovered. Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman had a stroke while campaigning for his seat that year and now uses adaptive technology in the Senate, including live captioning on a phone or tablet that transcribes words as people speak to him and helps him process the conversation.

Fetterman said on social media the day after Murphy’s stroke that his family was “rooting for Chris and his family for a full and speedy recovery.”

Freking writes for the Associated Press.

President Trump on Friday announced his appointment of Stephen Miller as his chief of staff, to replace Susie Wiles.

Miller, the current deputy chief of staff, has helped design Trump’s immigration policies and spearhead his mass deportation campaign.

His appointment as chief of staff, a powerful position for driving the president’s policy agenda, managing his staff and twisting the arms of allies and opponents alike to bend to the executive’s will, ends speculation that Trump might ease back from his less popular policies or moderate following devastating losses for his party in the midterms. The losses were driven in part to losing Latino voters and many congressional seats along the southern border.

Miller is widely seen as among Trump’s more extreme advisors. But Trump on Friday called Miller one of his “most trusted advisors,” and said he would take over as chief of staff Monday.

Trump said Wiles “has done an outstanding job,” and will be moving to his political operation.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

United States President Donald Trump has said he is making Stephen Miller his new White House chief of staff.

Trump made the announcement on his Truth Social account on Friday, calling Miller “one of my most trusted advisors”. He said Miller would become chief of staff starting Monday, replacing Susie Wiles.

“Susie Wiles, who has done an outstanding job, will be moving over to the Trump Political Operation. I want to thank her for her service as Chief of Staff — She has done a great job!”

Miller has been one of Trump’s closest confidants and advisers across both his presidential terms, after joining then-candidate Trump as a campaign adviser in 2016.

He has been the main architect behind the president’s hardline border and deportation policies, a rallying issue in the US midterm elections.

Democrats are widely expected to launch investigations into Miller upon taking control of the US House of Representatives and Senate in January.

Trump had been widely expected to shake up his staff following the midterm drubbing, which saw Democrats net seven US Senate seats, with two states, Alaska and Mississippi, still counting their results. Democrats have also won 253 seats in the 435-member US House, with 27 races still set to be counted.

Despite the vote largely seen as a referendum on Trump, Miller’s appointment largely represents a doubling down on his most controversial policies.

Miller has not yet commented on the election results, but in a post on X on election day, he urged Trump supporters to vote.

“Send a message to the corrupt media, corrupt Democrats and corrupt leftwing politicians who want to steal your future and destroy the inheritance of your children,” he wrote. “Get to the polls and protect the ones you love.”

For her part, Wiles, who has been credited with orchestrating Trump’s election comeback in the 2024 race, said serving as a chief of staff was “the honor of a lifetime”.

“I’m so proud to have been a part of what we’ve accomplished together from securing our border and cutting taxes to strengthening our economy and putting America First,” she said.

In a surprise shakeup of the Dodgers coaching staff, hitting coach Aaron Bates and the team are parting ways, as confirmed by a person with knowledge of the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly.

Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said after the season that he expected “status quo” for the coaching staff. But, as MLB Trade Rumors first reported, negotiations on a new contract for Bates eventually reached an impasse.

The rest of the Dodgers coaching staff, including co-hitting coach Robert Van Scoyoc, is expected to return next year, according to people with knowledge of the matter but not authorized to speak publicly.

Bates spent 12 years in the Dodgers organization, including four as a co-hitting coach with Van Scoyoc, and four as an assistant hitting coach. Before joining the major-league staff, Bates served as a minor-league hitting director and coach.

This past season, the Dodgers’ star-studded but aging offense ranked No.2 in weighted runs created-plus (111) — a comprehensive offensive stat that adjusts for ballpark factors — behind only the Cubs. But the Dodgers are working to diagnose two straight years of a July and August dip in offensive production.

Their search to replace Bates begins in a unique offseason. When the current CBA expires on Dec. 1, MLB team owners are expected to impose a lockout, during which teams will be restricted from communicating with players. So, if the Dodgers want their new hitting coach to meet with hitters or contribute to their offseason hitting plans, they will have to finalize the hire or promotion in the next few weeks.

WASHINGTON — Sen. Chris Murphy is in the hospital after having a stroke, according to the Connecticut Democrat’s office.

In a statement Sunday, Murphy’s chief of staff, Allison Herwitt, said the senator “started experiencing numbness in his arm while at his son’s hockey game” on Saturday.

“He was taken to a local hospital, where it was discovered he had experienced a stroke,” she said. “He was transferred to Johns Hopkins for further monitoring and is responding well to treatment. The doctors are encouraged by his progress, he is awake and alert, and we are optimistic he will make a full recovery.”

The 53-year-old Murphy was elected to the House in 2006 and the Senate in 2012. He is not on the ballot Tuesday.

In the Senate, he serves on the Appropriations Committee and is a leading voice on immigration and restrictions on guns. He’s considered a contender for more senior leadership positions in the Senate and is also a potential 2028 presidential candidate.

Three other Senate Democrats have had strokes in recent years.

Sens. Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland had strokes in 2022 and have since recovered. Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman had a stroke while campaigning for his seat that year and now uses adaptive technology in the Senate, including live captioning on a phone or tablet that transcribes words as people speak to him and helps him process the conversation.

Fetterman said on social media Sunday that his family “is rooting for Chris and his family for a full and speedy recovery.”

Several Republican senators, including Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Pete Ricketts of Nebraska, also offered prayers for Murphy.

Sloan writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.

Oct. 27, 2026 12:06 PM PT

WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Tuesday scolded the Justice Department for its unorthodox handling of a criminal case against two former FBI officials accused of making false statements to Congress about their knowledge of a laptop the Justice Department says belonged to Hunter Biden, the son of former President Biden.

U.S. Magistrate Zia Faruqui struck from the record an amended criminal complaint filed in the middle of the night by the Justice Department that added a new obstruction charge against the two former officials, Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides. Such charging documents require sign-off from a judge that probable cause exists that a crime was committed by a defendant, and this complaint lacked that.

“It is not our court’s practice — and I think it is appropriately not our practice — that unsigned complaints are filed on the docket,” Faruqui said.

He later added: “I want to know why the United States is reticent or averse to putting before a probable cause determination that you must believe is righteous. Why today on this one case have you changed the entire history of how you charge cases?”

The dismissal of the superseding complaint was an embarrassing setback for a Justice Department that has undertaken a series of splashy and politically charged investigative actions in the run-up to next week’s midterm elections. But the original false statements case against the former officials, announced Friday, remained intact as Faruqui proceeded Tuesday with a preliminary hearing.

The case says officials falsely minimized what they knew

The case accuses the former officials of falsely playing down their knowledge about a laptop the Justice Department says Hunter Biden abandoned at a computer repair shop in 2019.

But beyond that, it represents a Trump administration broadside against a since-disbanded FBI task force that was set up to monitor foreign influence. Congressional Republicans have long criticized the task force, saying it tried to discredit their own investigations into the Biden family.

Defense lawyers were set to challenge the case at the preliminary hearing Tuesday in Washington’s federal court, including by highlighting the unusual fact that the ex-FBI officials were charged via a criminal complaint signed by a magistrate judge rather than an indictment voted on by a grand jury. The Justice Department repeatedly has struggled in high-profile cases to persuade grand juries in the nation’s capital to return indictments.

Hours before the hearing, the Justice Department added a new obstruction charge that said the former officials’ alleged false statements allowed them to avoid questioning about their knowledge of Hunter Biden and impeded an investigation by House lawmakers into the Bidens.

“What is going on at the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office?” lawyers for Floris asked in a statement early Tuesday. “In the middle of the night, the government filed an unsigned and unsworn complaint attempting to fix the issues with their original charge against Ms. Floris and adding a new charge just as meritless as the first one.”

“In our combined decades of DOJ service,” the lawyers said, “we have never seen or even heard of something like this being filed.”

It is a very intricate saga

The prosecution, a rare Justice Department criminal case against a former employee, revisits a tangled saga that roiled the final weeks of the 2020 race after the New York Post revealed the existence of a laptop it said had been dropped off by the younger Biden at a Delaware computer repair shop about a year earlier.

The Post said it obtained a hard drive of the laptop from Rudy Giuliani, a close ally of President Trump, and reported on some of the contents of the computer, including emails that appeared to show some of Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings.

The curious circumstances of the laptop’s discovery raised concerns among Democrats and former intelligence officials about the possibility of Russian involvement, particularly when the Trump administration’s own intelligence community had assessed that Moscow was attempting to undermine the candidacy of Democratic nominee Joe Biden, who went on to defeat Trump in 2020, and as Giuliani had traveled abroad looking for dirt on the Bidens.

But Trump’s then-national intelligence director, John Ratcliffe, quickly sought to quell speculation about the laptop’s provenance by saying there were no signs it had anything to do with Russian actors. The FBI said it had nothing to add to Ratcliffe’s statement and investigated the younger Biden on gun and tax charges that later resulted in felony convictions. President Biden pardoned his son in late 2024.

The accused led the Foreign Influence Task Force

The FBI officials under scrutiny, Floris and Benavides, were leaders of the Foreign Influence Task Force, which was established in the first Trump administration to police influence campaigns staged by Russia and other nations aimed at sowing discord, undermining democracy and spreading disinformation.

In that capacity, the FBI officials briefed Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson in August 2020 as the lawmakers were doing their own investigation into Hunter Biden’s work in Ukraine. News of the briefing leaked, and the senators lashed out at the FBI, saying their efforts to scrutinize the Biden family had been discredited and falsely linked to Russian disinformation.

The criminal complaint accuses them of lying to lawmakers in 2023 by denying contemporaneous knowledge of the Biden laptop or participating in internal FBI conversations about it. Their lawyers have denied any allegations of wrongdoing.

The task force was disbanded in February 2025 by then-Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Tucker, Kunzelman and Richer write for the Associated Press.

OLIVIA Attwood has been left shocked after she was denied entry into a designer store by staff – despite her £6M net worth.

It comes after Olivia fuelled rumours she’s secretly engaged to Pete Wicks after she showed off a HUGE ring on her left hand.

Taking to Instagram, Olivia posted a video clip captioned “Chanel said not today,” which showed the moment she tried to walk into a Chanel store.

However, a staff member instantly roped off the entrance and stopped the star from getting inside – despite her wealth.

A shocked Olivia said: “He just shut the f***ing rope in my face.”

Olivia’s net worth is set to rise as she recently sparked a multi-million pound streaming war as Netflix, Prime Video and Disney+ have set their sights on the ITV star.

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The telly host first landed a self-titled show in March 2018, alongside her then-partner Chris Hughes.

Her debut documentary, Olivia Attwood: Getting Filthy Rich, premiered in July 2022 on ITV2 and her onscreen success subsequently exploded.

She went on to present seven of her own shows and began appearing on Loose Women as a panelist in 2023.

Now, Olivia is in talks for a huge new docuseries – and everybody wants it.

A source told The Sun: “Olivia is ITV’s most commissioned star, making her seriously in demand.

“She’s currently in talks with streaming platforms to sign a multi-million pound deal to showcase her life on-screen, moving from presenting shows to being at the forefront.

“All the biggest celebrities are inviting cameras into their home and Olivia is set to follow suit.

“She’s had a huge year with her marriage breakdown, her career going global and a new romance with Pete Wicks.”

Olivia and Pete previously tried keeping their relationship under wraps for months, but recently hard launched their new love.

However, Olivia has now sparked rumours of an engagement – as she showed off a huge ring at an awards ceremony.

It’s not the first time Olivia and Pete have sparked engagement rumours – despite only hard-launching recently.

Back in August, the Loose Women star was spotted wearing a band on her ring finger.

While in June, while appearing on Celebrity Gogglebox, Olivia revealed she would like to get married.

Olivia was previously in a long-term relationship with footballer Bradley Dack from 2019 to 2026.

The star split from Bradley in January after what she described as a “breach of trust” on his side.

Earlier this month, South Korea recalled its ambassador from Kyiv after Zelenskyy disclosed the prisoner transfer.

South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it will withdraw additional embassy personnel from Ukraine following Kyiv’s lack of “constructive response” in a dispute about North Korean prisoners of war (POWs).

Seoul had told Kyiv of its position via multiple channels but had not received a sufficient response from Ukraine, ministry spokesperson Park Doo-soon said on Tuesday.

Earlier this month, South Korea recalled its ambassador from Kyiv after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) that Ukraine had transferred two captured North Korean soldiers to the South.

The disclosure angered Seoul, which said the operation should have remained confidential to protect the soldiers’ families in North Korea.

“This measure was taken because we judged it necessary to facilitate an amicable resolution of the issue and restore trust between the two countries,” Park told a regular press briefing, without saying how many staff members would leave.

A charge d’affaires would stay on in Kyiv to maintain diplomatic communication along with all consular staff to protect South Korean nationals, Park added.

Persistent threats of air strikes across Ukraine had also made it difficult to ensure staff safety, he said.

Seoul previously summoned the Ukrainian ambassador and threatened unspecified “further measures”.

‘Situation resolved’

Ukraine has insisted that “diplomacy must prevail over emotions” in relations between the countries, and also said Kyiv considered “the situation resolved”.

South Korea’s Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said earlier this month that Ukraine had sent a message that “included words of apology” over Zelenskyy’s disclosure, but it fell short of “the level” Seoul had in mind.

Under South Korea’s constitution, all North Koreans are considered citizens of the Republic of Korea, as the country is officially known, and those who reach its territory and seek to defect are generally allowed to stay.