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Rubin Colwill can sometimes seem like a player who is destined to forever be talked about as a star of the future, a talent of huge – if unfulfilled – potential.

At 23 years old, he is hardly a grizzled old veteran but, with more than 150 Cardiff City appearances to his name, Colwill is no novice either.

Great expectations have followed the attacking midfielder since he first broke into the Bluebirds’ first team as an 18-year-old in 2021 and the hype only intensified when he was named in Wales’ squad for the European Championship later that year.

It was easy to see why there was such excitement. Here was a physically imposing teenager who could dribble past an opponent, play an incisive pass or pick out the top corner with a long-range missile.

Jurgen Klopp, whose Liverpool side he scored against during an FA Cup tie at Anfield, was among those to express their admiration for Colwill.

But his progress has been frustratingly stop-start since then.

There have been growing pains – literally, with a late growth spurt causing injury – and losses of confidence or form which have seen him drop in and out of Cardiff teams and Wales squads.

Now, Colwill is at something of a crossroads in his career and looks primed to grasp his opportunity.

Following Cardiff’s relegation from the Championship last season, Colwill was named vice-captain to new skipper Calum Chambers, as voted by their team-mates.

As Chambers was suspended for Saturday’s League One opener at home to Peterborough United, Colwill led his boyhood club for the first time – and rose to the challenge.

He scored a stunning 20-yard free-kick to bring the Bluebirds level in a 2-1 win, the highlight of a man-of-the-match performance in which he backed up his usual creativity and flair in attack with energy and grit out of possession.

“It was a great day. I think not just personally but I think for everybody involved,” said Colwill.

“We all want to play exciting football, play attacking football, be on the front foot, win the ball back. We’re all buying into that.”

On wearing the armband, he added: “It was nice, it was a big responsibility.

“I thought through what I needed to do, what was required of me but yeah once you almost accept that responsibility I think it’s almost freeing to have that on your shoulders and to try and help everybody get through the game.

“I think that responsibility, maturity is something that comes naturally when you’re around it long enough. I’m probably one of the more experienced players in the squad now. So it almost comes naturally with time, experience, and I think it’s just something that I like to do.”

Peaty took a break from swimming after winning silver in the 100m breaststroke at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

He previously took an extended break from sport in 2023 to prioritise his mental health after experiencing a “major, major burnout”.

However, while “the athlete in my head” is missing not competing at the ongoing World Championships in Singapore, Peaty has a clear plan for his return to competition and is training “a lot smarter” as an older athlete.

“I made the call in January or February, when I started to get back into training, that this Worlds wouldn’t be for me because it would be too rushed,” Peaty said.

“I want to be at the [2026] Commonwealth Games. I want to be at the Europeans next year. I’m never going to take my spot for granted – just because I’ve got a world record doesn’t mean I’m going to be there, it’s ridiculous. I’ve got to earn those places, which excites me.

“I did some race prep before I came out here to see where I’m at and we’re in a good place for October World Cups in America and Canada.”

On his training, he added: “If you’d told me 10 years ago I’d be doing a pilates session this morning, I would have said ‘no way’.

“I look back on certain camps and I was chasing numbers, I needed the outputs, the validation. But I wasn’t swimming the smartest in my head in terms of recovery, mental health and the warning signs of what burnout looks like.

“[Now] it’s what I decide. This block [in Los Angeles], I know it’s a holiday so I’m just going to see how I feel. When I get back into England I’m ramping up for the Commonwealth Games – 4km sessions, 4.5km – and that gives me the best results.”

July 29 (UPI) — The Department of Education has launched a civil rights investigation into Duke University amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on higher-learning institutions as it seeks to rid the private and public sector of diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

The civil rights investigation was launched Monday into not only Duke but its law journal for violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by allegedly discriminating against students based on race.

The investigation coincides with the departments of Education and Health and Human Services sending a joint letter to Duke University outlining their “shared concerns” about its use of race in its hiring, admissions and scholarship decisions.

“If Duke illegally gives preferential treatment to law journal or medical school applicants based on those students’ immutable characteristics, that is an affront not only to civil rights law, but to the meritocratic character of academic excellence,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement.

“Blatantly discriminatory practices that are illegal under the Constitution, anti-discrimination law and Supreme Court precedent have become all too common in our education institutions. The Trump administration will not allow them to continue.”

Diversity, equity and inclusion, known as DEI, is a conceptual framework that promotes fair treatment and full participation of all people. It has been a target of conservatives who claim it focuses on race and gender at the expense of merit.

Since returning to the White House in January, President Donald Trump has sought to remove DEI from the federal government and has threatened to revoke federal funding from several universities, including Harvard, over their alleged DEI programs.

Dozens of schools have been the target of Trump administration civil rights investigations over DEI policies and practices. It has also launched investigations into schools over allowing transgender students to compete in women’s sporting competitions, for not protecting Jewish students amid pro-Palestine protests and for providing migrants with scholarship opportunities denied to out-of-state Americans.

Several of the schools have reached multimillion-dollar settlements with the Trump administration to resolve the civil rights investigations, including Columbia, which, earlier this month, agreed to pay $200 million to the federal government and end its DEI policies.

The investigation launched Monday accuses Duke’s law review of awarding extra points in its editor application process to personal statements that explain how the applicant’s membership in an underrepresented group promotes diverse voices.

In the joint letter from the Department of Education and HHS, they accuse Duke University School of Medicine of employing practices that “include illegal and wrongful racial preferences and discriminatory activity in recruitment, student admissions, scholarships and financial aid, mentoring and enrichment programs, hiring, promotion and more.”

No specifics were given.

“The immediate request is simple: Review all policies and practices at Duke Health for the illegal use of race preferences, take immediate action to reform all of those that unlawfully take account of race or ethnicity to bestow benefits or advantages and provide clear and verifiable assurances to the government that Duke’s new policies will be implemented faithfully going forward,” the letter said.

The departments called on the school to form a committee to carry out the Trump administration’s request over a six-month period. Duke has 10 days to respond, it said.

The departments said federal funding to the school was at risk.

Houthis promise more attacks unless Israel ends its offensive on Gaza and lifts the siege.

Israel’s military has launched new air raids on Yemen’s Hodeidah port, targeting what it described as Houthi-linked sites used to stage drone and missile attacks against Israel and its allies.

Minister of Defence Israel Katz on Monday said the military was “forcefully countering any attempt to restore the terror infrastructure previously attacked”.

The Israeli military claimed that the “port serves as a channel for weapons used by the Houthis to carry out terrorist operations against Israel and its allies”.

The Houthi movement, which controls large parts of northern Yemen, later claimed responsibility for drone and missile attacks on locations in Israel, including Ben Gurion airport, Ashdod and Jaffa.

In a statement, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the strikes were a direct response to the attacks on Hodeidah and Israel’s continued bombardment of Gaza.

“The drone attack successfully achieved its objectives,” he said, adding that operations would continue until Israel ends its offensive on Gaza and lifts the siege.

Since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023, the Houthis have carried out several attacks on shipping lanes in the Red Sea, saying they were acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. Israel has responded with repeated strikes on Houthi targets, particularly in Hodeidah, a key entry point for goods and aid into Yemen.

“The Houthis will pay a heavy price for launching missiles toward the State of Israel,” Katz said.

Earlier this month, the Houthis claimed responsibility for an attack on the Greek-owned vessel Eternity C, which maritime officials said had killed four people.

In May, the United States brokered a deal with the Houthis to halt their bombing campaign in exchange for reduced attacks on international shipping. However, the Houthis clarified that the agreement did not extend to operations involving Israel.

Syrian security forces are preparing to redeploy to Suwayda to quell fighting between the Druze and Bedouin tribes, the Syrian Interior Ministry spokesperson has said.

Israel has previously warned the Syrian government to withdraw from the south and its forces carried out an attack Friday on Syria’s Palmyra-Homs highway, targeting a convoy of Bedouin fighters who were reportedly making their way towards restive Suwayda in the south of the country, according to Israel’s public broadcaster Kan News.

This comes just two days after Israel carried out heavy attacks on Damascus.

Bedouin fighters in Syria said they launched a new offensive against Druze fighters late on Thursday, despite the withdrawal of Syrian government forces from the southwestern province of Suwayda, and an attempt by the Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa to draw a line under a recent eruption of deadly violence that killed hundreds.

A Bedouin military commander told the Reuters news agency that the truce only applied to government forces and not to them, adding that the fighters were seeking to free Bedouins whom Druze armed groups had detained in recent days.

Bedouin fighters have managed to reach the Suwayda area in the last few hours, the Kan report said, confirming earlier reports from Arabic-language news media.

Syria’s leadership has condemned Israel’s attacks as a violation of its sovereignty amid attempts to cement a ceasefire between Bedouin and Druze fighters.

Israel has justified its latest bombing of Syria under the pretext that it is protecting the Druze minority. But the country has more self-serving reasons.

Israel has long attacked Syria, even before the latest outbreak of violence involving the Druze in Suwayda.

Since the removal of longtime leader Bashar al-Assad after a devastating 14-year war, Israel has struck Syria hundreds of times and invaded and occupied about 400sq km (155sq miles) of its territory, excluding the western Golan Heights, which it has occupied since 1967.

Leading analysts within Israel suggest that these latest attacks may not have been entirely motivated by concern for the welfare of the Druze, so much as the personal and political aims of the Israeli government and its embattled prime minister.

The latest reports of violence come despite a ceasefire agreed on Wednesday, after Israel had conducted its own attacks on Syria, striking the Ministry of Defence and near the presidential palace in Damascus.

Al-Sharaa said in a televised speech on Thursday that protecting the country’s Druze citizens and their rights was a priority as he announced that local leaders would take control of security in Suwayda in a bid to end sectarian violence in the south and stop Israel from attacking.

Sheikh Hikmat Al Hijri, one of the spiritual leaders of the Syrian Druze community said, ” We are not sectarian, and we have never wanted to cause division. We hold full responsibility for anyone who tampers with security and stability. We affirm that whoever engages in sabotage or incitement represents only himself, and we reject that his actions be attributed to any sect or region.”

Condemnation from Qatar, Turkiye; US ‘did not support Israeli strikes’

In the meantime, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani has condemned Israel’s days of attacks on Syria in a phone conversation with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

The emir described Israel’s bombing of Syria as a “flagrant violation” of the country’s sovereignty, international law, the United Nations Charter, “and a threat to regional stability”, according to a statement from Sheikh Tamim’s office on Friday.

President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that Turkiye would not allow Syria to be divided or its multicultural structure and territorial integrity harmed, after Israel’s actions sought to “sabotage” a ceasefire in the country.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Syrian leader al-Sharaa discussed Israel’s attacks on Damascus in a phone call on Thursday, the presidency said, adding Erdogan had voiced support for Damascus.

Turkiye played a crucial role in securing a ceasefire in Syria following Israeli air attacks on Damascus. Turkish intelligence officials held talks with Syria’s Druze leader, a Turkish security source said on Thursday.

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce has said the United States condemns violence in Syria and called on the Syrian government to lead the path forward.

“We are engaging diplomatically with Israel and Syria at the highest levels, both to address the present crisis and reach a lasting agreement between the two sovereign states,” she said on Thursday.

Bruce continued that “regarding Israel’s intervention and activity” in Syria, the US “did not support recent Israeli strikes”.

It was unclear if Bruce’s comments referred to just US logistical support for the Israeli military’s attacks against Syria.

Israel says it has launched strikes on Houthi targets in three Yemeni ports, including the western port of Hodeidah, Ras Isa and Saif.

The attacks come shortly after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders for civilians in the areas, warning of imminent air strikes.

Israeli defence minister Israel Katz confirmed on social media the strikes on the Houthi-controlled sites including a power station and a ship that was hijacked by the group two years ago.

Houthi-run media in Yemen said the strikes hit the port of Hodeidah, but no further details were provided on damage or casualties.

Katz said the strikes were part of “Operation Black Flag” and warned that the Houthis “will continue to pay a heavy price for their actions”.

“The fate of Yemen is the same as the fate of Tehran. Anyone who tries to harm Israel will be harmed, and anyone who raises a hand against Israel will have their hand cut off,” he said in a post on X.

Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, the Iran-backed Houthi rebels have regularly launched missiles at Israel in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and attacked commercial ships in the Red Sea.

The Israeli Air Force said the latest strikes on Yemen’s ports were in response to “repeated attacks” by the Houthis on Israel and its citizens.

It added that the targeted ports were being used to “transfer weapons from the Iranian regime to carry out terror plans” against Israel and its allies.

Shortly after the attack, Houthis confirmed its air defences had confronted Israel’s strikes with missiles, according to Reuters news agency.

Among the targets was a commercial ship the Galaxy Leader seized by the group in November 2023, which Israel said was being used to monitor maritime vessels in international waters.

The Ras Kanatib power station which supplies electricity to the nearby cities of Ibb and Taizz, was also hit, Israel said.

This latest attack on Hodeidah comes after Israeli navy ships struck targets in the port city last month.

Hodeidah port, which is the main entry point for food and other humanitarian aid for millions of Yemenis, has been the target of several Israeli strikes in the past year.

An official attendance of 34,063 was announced on Wednesday – a big step for women’s football in Switzerland.

They were selected to host Euro 2025 in a bidding process which saw them beat Poland, France and a joint bid from Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway.

Uefa’s head of women’s football Nadine Kessler said Switzerland were the underdogs in the bidding process and challenged them to “make something out of it”.

Switzerland want to replicate England’s success as hosts three years ago and hope Euro 2025 can be a springboard to help grow their domestic women’s game.

The Swiss Women’s Super League is not yet professional. Attendances have risen in the build-up to Euro 2025 and Young Boys set an attendance record of 10,647 in March, but last season’s average attendance across the league was just 569.

With issues surrounding infrastructure, accessibility and pay, there is the sense that Euro 2025 could be the turning point that Swiss women’s football needs.

“Right now, women’s football isn’t in a great place in Switzerland,” journalist Helene Altgelt told the BBC.

“The league is severely underfunded, most teams aren’t professional, many teams aren’t playing in a real stadium so there is no actual stands. This is unacceptable for women’s football in 2025.

“The federation has realised this and now the Euros can be a great moment to kickstart that change and ensure women’s football is going to be professional and more girls can live their dream of actually living by playing football and not having three side hustles or studying.”

The Swiss Football Association has implemented an ambitious legacy programme that hopes to double the number of girls and women playing football in Switzerland from 40,000 to 80,000. It also hopes to double the number of coaches and increase attendances in the league by 2027.

As Sundhage said, this moment will never come back, but the signs are positive that women’s football can grow significantly in Switzerland.

A win or ideally two from their team over the next week, however, would go a long way to making sure of that.