Wins

This week began with Orange Lutheran having played in only four baseball games while others had played in 10 or more. The Lancers were saving their best to come and it certainly showed when they won four consecutive games to capture the National High School Invitational on Saturday in Cary, N.C.

After needing consecutive walk-off hits to win in the quarterfinals and semifinals, Orange Lutheran (7-1) had more nerve-racking moments before knocking off defending champion Venice (Fla.) 7-6. In the bottom of the seventh, Venice put two runners on with two outs before Anthony Tomminelli got a strikeout to secure the win.

Orange Lutheran started fast with a two-run triple by CJ Weinstein in the first inning. Eric Zdunek finished with two hits and two RBIs while Brady Murrietta added two hits. The Lancers have about 24 hours to celebrate because next week they face St. John Bosco in a critical three-game series in the Trinity League.

Harvard-Westlake 10, Arizona Casteel 8: Jake Kim flexed his muscles for the second consecutive game, hitting a home run and double to finish with three RBIs. Ethan Price had a two-run double. Freshman Nate Englander had two hits and three RBIs.

Jacksonville (Fla.) Trinity Christian 5, St. John Bosco 0: The Braves return home from North Carolina with a 9-2 record and set to face Orange Lutheran this week in a three-game Trinity League series. Jack Champlin had two hits in the loss.

Aquinas 4, Gloucester 0: Eli Martinez threw the shutout with seven strikeouts.

Around 16,000 fans packed into the Manchester arena bought into the Itauma buzz, greeting him with a warm roar as he was walked to the ring by British rapper Meekz.

Itauma – the prodigy who was sparring seasoned professionals while still at school – was in wonderful form from the first bell, using his speed and variation to send Franklin backtracking.

In truth, the knockout felt inevitable even when 32-year-old Franklin managed to recover from a third-round right hand that sent him crashing to the floor.

Working behind a jab and picking his shots wisely, Itauma avoided anything reckless. “It’s a breakdown job,” trainer Ben Davison aptly told him between rounds.

This was another night that thrilled and told us a little more about the rising heavyweight.

Itauma’s devastating power is undeniable, once again on display as he dispatched a seasoned opponent inside the first half of the fight.

But the bigger questions remain.

His chin has yet to be properly tested. Franklin landed a right in the fourth, and Itauma just smiled, but he will face bigger punches in the future.

And while the knockouts keep coming, he is still unproven beyond six rounds, with his engine and endurance untested at the highest level.

Promoter Warren expects Itauma to fight for a world title this year.

Within boxing circles, that talk may be slightly premature but Itauma is keeping pace with two-time world champion Anthony Joshua.

At the same stage of his career, Joshua beat Gary Cornish to register a 14th stoppage and was selling out the O2 Arena. Itauma is on a similar trajectory, almost filling the Co-op Live Arena – and arguably facing higher-level opponents along the way.

The key step-up for Joshua came in his 15th fight: a win over Dillian Whyte for the British title, which developed his resolve and enhanced his profile.

By his 17th, he was world champion after defeating Charles Martin.

PRAGUE — Ilia Malinin is back on the top step of the podium.

Six weeks after a disastrous skate knocked the Olympic gold-medal favorite off the podium, the “quad god” reeled off one huge jump after another, and a backflip for good measure, to retain his world championship title for the third year running.

Malinin shouted and punched the air with relief after finishing a skate that showed he had achieved his desire to “move on” from the Olympics after days tormented by his mistakes.

He praised the crowd’s support, saying: “It was really challenging, really hard but with you guys I was able to make it through.” His aim, he added, had simply been to get through the free skate “in one piece.”

Skating last after leading the short program, just as he did in Milan, Malinin landed five high-scoring quadruple jumps but not his pioneering quad axel, a jump he didn’t attempt at the Olympics.

Malinin scored 218.11 in the free skate for a total 329.40, far ahead of silver medalist Yuma Kagiyama of Japan on 306.67. Another Japanese skater, Shun Sato, was third on 288.54.

Ilia Malinin performs a backflip during his free skate at the World Figure Skating Championships on Saturday in Prague.

(Petr David Josek / Associated Press)

Kagiyama beat his personal-best free skate score but still had to make do with a fourth career world championship silver in a career which includes four Olympic silvers and five total worlds medals, but no gold from either event. He still embraced Malinin after his skate and they jumped together in celebration.

In a showcase of top-level skating, there was no podium spot for France’s Adam Siao Him Fa, who had been in second after the short program but dropped to fifth overall after a fall. Estonia’s Aleksandr Selevko also fell dropped from third to sixth.

Malinin had no rematch with Mikhail Shaidorov, the skater from Kazakhstan who won the Olympic gold, because he opted against competing again this season.

That’s relatively common in figure skating for gold medal winners who face a rush of media and commercial opportunities after a grueling four-year Olympic buildup.

Malinin becomes the first skater to win three consecutive men’s world titles since fellow American Nathan Chen, who achieved the feat in 2018, 2019 and 2021 after the 2020 event was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The last competition of the championships is the free dance portion of the ice dance event later Saturday. France’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron are in the lead after Friday’s rhythm dance.

Kirsty Muir has become the first British woman to win World Cup titles in both freeski slopestyle and overall park and pipe.

The 21-year-old Scot finished second on Saturday, behind home skier Sarah Hofflin, in the final slopestyle event of the 2025-26 season in Silvaplana, Switzerland.

Muir’s score of 75.54, behind 35-year-old Olympic bronze medallist Hofflin (80.07), was enough for her to claim a third consecutive podium, following wins in Aspen and Tignes.

It pushed her season score to 280 points to clinch the first slopestyle Crystal Globe of her career, by 69 points from Canada’s Elena Gaskell.

Muir also finished third in the big air season standings, on 219 points, giving her a combined total of 470 in the overall competition – which includes slopestyle, big air and halfpipe – to beat nearest challenger, Canada’s Naomi Urness, by 78 points.

The Aberdonian’s landmark wins followed disappointment at last month’s Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina, where she finished fourth in both slopestyle and big air.

After coming so close to a medal, the X Games champion told BBC Sport after the Olympics that it just motivated her to go on and achieve more in the sport.

“I am really excited to go and try and learn some new tricks. I am excited to see where I can push myself and where I can push the sport,” she said.

“For the next two years I will go and do everything that I would like to do and forget about the Olympics, and then when it comes round to qualification again I will get stuck in.”

March 25 (UPI) — Dutch scientist Huub Lilieveld has been named the recipient of the 2026 World Food Prize Wednesday for leading a food safety movement across 113 countries.

For six decades, Lilieveld has researched and advocated for food safety, using scientific evidence to inform regulations and legislation across the globe. His work has culminated in establishing modern global food safety, security, trade and aid standards.

The World Food Prize Foundation is recognizing Lilieveld’s contributions with a $500,000 award.

“Lilieveld lives by his conviction that access to safe food is a universal right — a philosophy shared by the late Dr. Norman Borlaug,” Mashal Husain, president of the World Food Prize Foundation, said in a statement. “Through his lifelong commitment to harmonizing regulations, he has lowered trade barriers, prevented the unnecessary destruction of safe food, promoted innovative food safety technologies worldwide and reduced the risk of foodborne illness outbreaks.”

Foodborne illnesses kill 420,000 people annually. There are about 600 million cases of foodborne illnesses per year.

Lelieveld established the Global Harmonization Initiative in 2004, to connect volunteers and food safety experts around the world to combat safe food insecurity and improve the distribution of safe foods.

“Companies large and small, as well as all consumers are negatively affected by unjustified differences in regulations,” Lelieveld said in a statement. “The Global Harmonization Initiative, therefore, strives not only to reach scientific consensus but also to ensure that findings are accessible to everyone, requiring simplification without compromising scientific accuracy and translation into local languages.”

Since he became head coach at Birmingham in 2007, Matt Mowry is 0 for 18 when it comes to winning a West Valley League baseball title. He’s won five City titles but the Patriots haven’t been able to figure out how to win a league title.

A showdown against defending City champion El Camino Real on Tuesday didn’t start or end well for the Patriots. The Royals (10-3, 4-0) scored five runs in the first inning on six hits and coasted to an 8-3 win over Birmingham (10-2, 3-1).

The big hits in the first inning were an RBI double by JJ Saffie, a two-run double by Blake Dubin and an RBI single by Ryan Hauptman. For the second consecutive game, Birmingham pitcher Nathan Soto couldn’t make it out of the first inning. ECR starter Jackson Sellz, celebrating his 17th birthday, threw six innings before Hauptman came in to get the save. Ryan Glassman, Macai Friedman and Shane Bogacz each had two hits.

Birmingham is getting help starting Friday when transfers Masen Ruiz (Chatsworth), Toni Mendoza (Chatsworth) and Larkin Fleming (Sherman Oaks Notre Dame) become eligible. All could become starters. The two teams play again twice next month.

Fullerton 7, Ocean View 5: Luke Gonzalez had two doubles to help Fullerton come back from a 5-3 deficit.

Los Alamitos 4, Marina 0: Ryan Deck struck out seven, walked none and gave up two hits in the shutout. Cruz Derrico finished with three hits.

St. Bernard 5, Bishop Amat 4: Juan Sandoval struck out five in a complete game for St. Bernard.

Newport Beach 9, Edison 0: Gavin Guy struck out six in 5 1/3 innings and also hit a three-run home run.

Santa Margarita 2, Servite 0: Sophomore Tyler George struck out four, walked none and threw a two-hit shutout. He also hit a home run.

Santa Monica 10, Leuzinger 1: Ryan Breslo had three hits for Santa Monica.

Oaks Christian 5, Newbury Park 2: Luke Puls, Ryan Sheffer and Oliver Dauskurdas each had two hits for Oaks Christian (9-2).

Calabasas 10, Thousand Oaks 9: The Coyotes handed Thousand Oaks its first defeat after 10 consecutive victories in a wild Marmonte League opener. The Lancers wiped out an 8-1 deficit with seven runs in the fifth inning to tie the score. Conner Kingston ended the game with a scoreless seventh for the save. Landon Carson had four RBIs for the Lancers. Michael Morales had three hits for the Coyotes.

Westlake 2, Agoura 1: Jaxson Neckien had two hits for the Warriors.

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 10, Crespi 0: Malakye Matsumoto hit a grand slam and threw two scoreless innings of relief for 11-0 Notre Dame. Beckett Berg threw five scoreless innings with four strikeouts.

Sierra Canyon 8, Chaminade 2: Isaias Tirado and Aiden Jahng each hit home runs and Armando Solorio threw four shutout innings.

St. Francis 6, Bishop Alemany 4: Daniel Izaguirre had three hits for St. Francis in the Mission League win. Brody Thompson, Chase Stevenson and Alex Noble hit home runs for Alemany.

La Mirada 5, Gahr 1: Jacob Oropeza threw 3 2/3 innings of scoreless relief.

El Modena 3, Villa Park 0: Three pitchers combined on a no-hitter.

Softball

Huntington Beach 17, Fountain Valley 0: Bree Carlson hit three home runs for the Oilers.

Murrieta Mesa 7, Great Oak 0: Lilly Hauser struck out 13 and also had a two-run double to lead unbeaten Murrieta Mesa.

Oaks Christian 9, Newbury Park 3: Giabella Otani had two hits and three RBIs.

Gregoire headed a list uniting the traditional left, the Greens and the Communists to victory in French capital.

The Socialist Party’s Emmanuel Gregoire has won the Paris mayoral race, as the results of nationwide municipal elections showed gains for the traditional left and right, and a major win for the far right in the city of Nice.

Sunday’s run-off votes in more than 1,500 communes saw Gregoire on course to become mayor of the French capital, with exit polls showing that the far-right National Rally (RN) fell short of taking control of the key southern cities of Marseille and Toulon.

Gregoire, who headed a list uniting the traditional left, the Greens and the Communists, clinched the prized mayoralty with an estimated 51 to 53 percent of the vote, according to pollsters, seeing off Conservative rival Rachida Dati, who conceded defeat.

The 48-year-old son of a teacher and civil servant is stepping into the spotlight after previously serving as deputy to outgoing mayor and fellow Socialist Anne Hidalgo. During his bid, he had promised that Paris would stand as a “city of refuge” and a “bastion against the right and the far right”.

In Marseille, the second-largest city in the country, Socialist Mayor Benoit Payan was on track to be re-elected with 56.3 percent of the vote, according to an Elabe poll for BFM TV. RN’s chances of winning the coveted prize took a hit after the withdrawal of a hard-left candidate from France Unbowed (LFI) aimed at uniting left-wing voters.

Socialist Party chief Olivier Faure hailed the wins in Paris and Marseille, positioning his party as a bulwark against the far right. “Only the left can prevent France from this regression,” he said.

In Toulon, an Elebe poll showed centre-right candidate Josée Massi leading at 53.5 percent, with RN candidate Laure Lavalette conceding defeat. Yet, senior RN officials rejected suggestions that the party’s loss indicated it had hit a “glass ceiling” ahead of next year’s presidential election.

“The National Rally and its candidates have achieved tonight, in this municipal election, the biggest breakthrough in its entire history,” RN chief Jordan Bardella said, alluding to wins in local constituencies where it previously had no presence.

In the first round, Bardella’s anti-immigration party won re-election in the southern city of Perpignan, and it won in smaller cities, too. And on Sunday, exit polls indicated that Eric Ciotti, a former mainstream conservative who is now an ally of the RN, won in Nice, France’s fifth-biggest city.

Former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe was re-elected mayor in his northern city of Le Havre, according to the TF1 and LCI broadcasters, delivering a better-than-expected performance that boosts his hopes of running for president in 2027.

Philippe, a centre-right politician who served as prime minister under centrist President Emmanuel Macron, made a speech with a clear national message, saying his victory showed that “there were reasons to be hopeful” in the values of France and that the extremes can be beaten.

Turnout at 5pm local time (16:00 GMT) was just higher than 48 percent in France’s mainland, more than than in the 2020 vote held during the COVID-19 pandemic, but four points lower than in 2014, according to the Ministry of Interior.

England’s Matt Fitzpatrick bounced back from an agonising near miss at the Players Championship to win the Valspar Championship,

Fitzpatrick had led last week’s Players by one shot on the 17th tee but a par-bogey finish cost him as American Cameron Young closed birdie-par to snatch victory.

But Fitzpatrick earned redemption on Sunday at Palm Harbor, Florida, sinking a 14ft-putt to birdie the 18th hole and beat American David Lipsky by one shot.

The 31-year-old carded a three-under-par 68 to finish on 11 under and had to wait for two groups to complete their rounds before his third PGA Tour win was confirmed.

“To come away with a win this week is really special, considering last week’s performance as well,” said Fitzpatrick, who last won on the tour in 2023.

“I’ll be honest, it wasn’t an ideal putt [on 18]. I wouldn’t say I was overly keen on it considering my putting performance but to get it done was special.”

Fitzpatrick, who won the DP World Tour Championship in November, says he will have a two-week break before preparing for next month’s Masters.

“I’m obviously very confident in my game right now but what it takes to win a major is very different to what it takes to win on the PGA Tour,” added the 2022 US Open champion.

“Particularly the Masters, there’s extra pressure on the Masters, no matter who you are. It just has that standing above all the other events, as well as the majors.

“I’m coming away from this week delighted with where my game’s at but there’s stuff I want to improve.”

Fellow Englishman Jordan Smith, 33, was third on nine under – his best finish on the PGA Tour.

Smith’s compatriot Marco Penge, South Korea’s Sungjae Imm who had led for three rounds, and Ameircan Xander Schauffele were all tied for fourth on eight under.

After executing a seismic record-breaking run to smash Jolanda Ceplak’s near 24-year women’s indoor 800m mark last month, Hodgkinson’s attention was fixed firmly on gold in Torun.

This was the final international podium missing from Hodgkinson’s extensive list of honours, after various injuries prevented her from competing at each of the past three editions.

The 24-year-old has also been denied in her three attempts to win world gold outdoors, achieving two silvers and one bronze.

The Briton said that she hoped it would be “fourth time lucky” indoors in 2026 – but she had to overcome misfortune even before beginning her gold medal bid, after the airline which she had travelled with lost her kit.

With her belongings delayed, Hodgkinson was forced to complete her preparations in somebody else’s spikes, which ended up giving her a blister.

But that did not affect Hodgkinson as she dominated Friday’s heat, before cruising to victory in Saturday’s semi-final in a time faster than all but one of her fellow finalist’s personal bests.

Switzerland’s Audrey Werro was the only contender with an indoor best time within three seconds of Hodgkinson’s world record mark, and the Briton’s superiority was evident as she comfortably strode clear inside the venue where she achieved her first international medal five years ago.

Afroman has emerged victorious from an invasion of privacy and defamation case filed against him by seven members of Ohio’s Adams County Sheriff’s Office over mocking videos and social media posts the rapper put out after a failed 2022 raid on his home.

“We did it, America! Yeah, we did it! Freedom of speech! Right on! Right on! Yeah! God bless America!” the 51-year-old rapper, born Joseph Foreman, shouted outside the courthouse after the Wednesday evening verdict as supporters rallied behind him. In the clip, under a white fur coat, he was rocking the same American flag shades and red, white and blue suit and tie he had worn on the stand Tuesday.

Four deputies, two sergeants and a detective with the Adams County sheriff filed the lawsuit in March 2023, seeking to reclaim any money the rapper made from what they said was unauthorized use of their likenesses. The group wanted nearly $4 million in damages. Foreman used footage from the raid in videos for songs including “Lemon Pound Cake” to make money to pay for the damage done to his home during the raid, when his front gate was broken down and his front door smashed in.

The plaintiffs said in their lawsuit that the posts and videos caused them “humiliation, ridicule, mental distress, embarrassment and loss of reputation” and made it difficult to do their law enforcement work.

At trial, all seven plaintiffs testified about the harassment they had suffered because of the rapper’s music and videos. One, Deputy Lisa Phillips, had her gender identity called into question in Foreman’s videos and social media posts. She cried on the stand as a video suggesting she enjoyed sex with other women was played for the court.

The jury apparently agreed with the argument that the sheriff’s officers were acting in a public capacity during the raid and therefore were not shielded from criticism of their behavior.

“No reasonable person would expect a police officer not to be criticized. They’ve been called names before,” defense lawyer David Osborne said in closing arguments for the rapper and comedian, known for his breakout 2000 hit, “Because I Got High.”

In 2022, the sheriff’s team was acting on a warrant showing probable cause that drugs and drug paraphernalia would be found on the property and alleging that trafficking and kidnapping had happened there. No evidence of a crime was found, and no charges were filed.

Foreman wasn’t home during the raid but was able to see at least part of it via a video recorded by his ex-wife and footage captured on his home security system before law enforcement turned off those cameras. He said on the stand that the raid traumatized his children, who were 10 and 12 at the time.

“The whole raid was a mistake. All of this is their fault,” Foreman testified Tuesday. “If they hadn’t wrongly raided my house, there would be no lawsuit, I would not know their names, they wouldn’t be on my home surveillance system, and there would be no songs, nothing.”

Foreman also defended his right to use the raid footage as fodder for his work.

“After they left, I had the right to kick the can and to do what I had to do to repair the damage they brought to my house. Yes, I did,” he testified. “I have freedom of speech. I’m a rapper. I entertain.”

Foreman discussed his reaction to the lawsuit with local station WCPO Channel 9 in 2023. “From the first 10 seconds, I was offended. I was appalled. I was like ‘What?’ Then I started laughing,” he said. “These guys with their rifles are crying about my comedy songs.”

Meanwhile, as the jury deliberated Wednesday, an entirely different Adams County Sheriff’s Office was feeling online heat linked to the trial: the office in Colorado’s Adams County.

“The Adams County Sheriff’s Office has received a flood of social media comments, DMs, and phone calls about the #Afroman defamation trial,” the Colorado department said on X. “It’s clear this is important to a lot of people. There’s just one small issue: that’s the ACSO in Ohio. We are the ACSO in #Colorado. Different states, same name.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Jordan Chiles captured the Big Ten all-around crown with her seventh perfect score of the season, leading UCLA to its second straight Big Ten championship gymnastics title on Saturday.

Chiles, the Big Ten gymnast of the year, posted a conference-record score of 39.825 and earned a perfect 10 in floor routine as the Bruins defeated Michigan, Minnesota and Michigan State with a total score of 198.100.

Janelle McDonald, who guided No. 5 UCLA to the regular season and conference championship crowns for the second straight year, was named the Big Ten coach of the year.

“Our team is just going up from here,” Chiles told Big Ten Network after the meet. “We haven’t hit our peak yet.

“Obviously, there are still things that we can work on as individuals, but I think the team environment is definitely there. I couldn’t be more proud of each and every single athlete that went up today and stepped in as well.”

UCLA opened with Chiles scoring a 9.925 on beam. Tiana Sumanasekera scored a 9.925, and Katelyn Rosen, Sydney Barros and Mika Webster-Longin each scored a 9.850. Rosen managed to achieve the feat after missing the last few weeks with a foot injury.

UCLA closed the first rotation in second place, 0.125 behind Michigan.

With Chiles leading the way on floor, Webster-Longin posted a 9.925, tying her career high. Sumanasekera had the same score and Ashlee Sullivan had a 9.950.

Riley Jenkins led UCLA in the vault with a 9.950. Webster-Longin celebrated her 9.875 routine with splits. Sumanasekera had a 9.850 in the event and Sullivan received a 9.850 on her Yurchenko. Chiles closed out the vault with a 9.925, keeping the Bruins in first place ahead of Michigan State by 0.325.

Chiles and Barros each had scores of 9.950 in the uneven bars — the best mark of the season in the discipline for Barros. Webster-Longin performed some celebratory splits again when she tied her season high with a 9.900 on the uneven bars. Sumanasekera and Nola Matthews each had a 9.875 in the event.

“We are coming for y’all,” Chiles said. “This is our year and I’m very proud to say that we are the Bruins.”

Great Britain’s Josh Kerr wins gold in the men’s 3000m at the World Indoor Athletics Championships, with Cole Hocker taking silver for USA and and France’s yann Schrub taking bronze in Poland.

Watch the World Indoor Athletics Championships

Available to UK users only.

March 18 (UPI) — Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton claimed victory late Tuesday in a close race to be the Democratic Senate nominee in November, as voters headed to the polls to cast ballots in primary elections.

Dozens of local and federal contests were held throughout the state on a busy election Tuesday that included 17 U.S. House races but only one for the Senate — a seat being left vacant by the retiring Dick Durbin, the six-term senator and the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate.

Stratton claimed victory in a packed race for the Democratic nomination for Durbin’s seat.

“We did it,” she told supporters in her victory speech in Chicago.

“Tonight, we showed what’s possible when you listen to the people and give the people what they want.”

Stratton ran on a progressive platform of securing a single-payer healthcare system and a $25 minimum wage, while rejecting all corporate Political Action Committee funding during her campaign.

U.S. Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi and Robin Kelly emerged as her main political rivals.

Krishnamoorthi told his supporters in a brief speech Tuesday night at the Westin Hotel in Chicago’s River North neighborhood that he had called Stratton to congratulate her on winning the primary.

“I offered her my full support on the road ahead,” he said.

Krishnamoorthi positioned himself as the anti-President Donald Trump Democrat, often railing against the Republican leader and campaigning on his so-called Trump accountability plan of reforms to rein in presidential power to prevent abuses of power.

“Obviously, this is not the result we sought, but unlike Donald Trump, I’m not going to question the outcome,” he said.

“Now we must come together as Democrats and as Americans to make sure that we return to principles that made us a beacon of freedom and opportunity for the world.”

Kelly conceded online.

“Tonight’s isn’t the outcome we wanted, but I am so proud of us, and I still believe in putting people over profits,” she said in a statement.

“You want to know that your elected leaders are fighting for YOU, not distracted by outside noise. I’ll continue that fight in the U.S. house. I still have your back.”

As of early Wednesday, when an estimated 92% of the ballots had been counted, Stratton had secured about 40.1% of the vote share to Krishnamoorthi’s 33.2% and Kelly’s 18.1%, CNN and CBS News reported.

In a statement, Durbin, who did not endorse any candidate in the race, said he looked forward to “passing the torch” to Stratton when his term ends, while congratulating Krishnamoorthi and Kelly.

“Now our attention must turn to ensuring Juliana wins the general election on November 3,” he said. “With Donald Trump in the White House for another two years, the challenges facing our country and state will continue to be historic and unprecedented. We need Juliana Stratton fighting alongside Sen. [Tammy] Duckworth every day.”

On the GOP side, Don Tracy, former Illinois Republican Party chairman, was poised to seek Durbin’s vacant Senate seat as his party’s nominee.

Tracy campaigned in the blue state by positioning himself as a center-right candidate at a time of extremism in his party, stating on his website that he would seek “common sense solutions over extreme agendas.”

He also argued to be a voice for the entire state, voicing concerns that all federal elections had become contests for Chicago and Cook County.

“It’s time to make Illinois a two-party state again,” he said in a statement claiming victory on Facebook, while bashing Stratton as “the most extreme far-left U.S. Senate candidate this state has ever seen.”

“I will push for common sense solutions that make life more affordable for working families. I will work for everyday Illinoisans, not special interests or extreme agendas.”

Tracy was poised to win early Wednesday with nearly 40% of the vote share compared to lawyer Jeannie Evans’ nearly 23%, the closest runner-up, CNN and CBS News reported.

Evans campaigned on being a political outsider and a conservative Republican, while championing lowering costs and fighting crime.

In the governor’s race, Illinois is poised to have a rematch of 2022, when Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, beat Republican farmer Darren Bailey.

While Pritzker ran uncontested, Bailey was seemingly coasting to the GOP nomination in a landslide.

With 94% of ballots counted, Bailey had won 53.5% of the vote share to runner-up Ted Dabrowski’s 28.8%, according to CNN and CBS News tallies.

“The first fight has been won, but make no mistake, we are just getting warmed up,” he said in his victory speech.

“Best birthday ever.”

Bailey ran on a law-and-order campaign that included lowering property taxes, cutting government spending and cracking down on repeated criminal offenders.

Congolese President Denis Sassou Nguesso’s election success will extend his nearly 42 years in power.

Republic of Congo President Denis Sassou Nguesso has been re-elected for a fifth consecutive term, extending his nearly 42 years in power, according to provisional results.

On Tuesday, Interior Minister Raymond Zephirin Mboulou announced on state TV that Sassou Nguesso received 94.82 percent of Sunday’s vote.

State television also reported turnout of 84.65 percent; however, many polling stations in the capital, Brazzaville, on Sunday had short lines or no lines at all.

Sassou Nguesso, 82, was projected by analysts and diplomats to easily win the election after he ran against six candidates who were less well known.

Boycott

Two key parties had boycotted the elections over allegations of unfair electoral practices, with two of the best-known opposition figures, General Jean-Marie Michel Mokoko and Andre Okombi Salissa, imprisoned for nearly 10 years.

But in the run-up to the election, the internet was shut down as usual during a presidential vote, and traffic was restricted across the capital.

Clarisse Massamba, a teacher who voted at the Lyce Javoueh in Brazzaville, told The Associated Press news agency that it was a given that Sassou Nguesso would win the election.

“Everyone knows that, faced with his six inexperienced opponents, President Denis Sassou Nguesso will be re-elected with a high score as usual. Since the election is not a big issue, we shouldn’t cut off communication,” Massamba said.

During the campaign period, Sassou Nguesso and his opponents were mismatched with the incumbent president, the only candidate to travel around the country to canvass voters, with effigies placed in the capital.

Moreover, Joe Washington Ebina, a Congolese human rights activist, told the Reuters news agency that human rights activists were arrested, ⁠several opposition parties were suspended, and ⁠public gatherings were closely monitored in the run-up to the election.

Decades in power

Republic of Congo continues to struggle with high international debt, which, according to the World Bank, stands at 94.5 percent of its gross domestic product, despite being an oil and mineral-rich country.

Sassou Nguesso, who runs the Congolese Party of Labour, first came to power in 1979 and ruled until 1992.

In 1997, Sassou Nguesso returned to power as militia leader following a four-month civil war. In 2015, a constitutional referendum removed presidential age and term limits, allowing him to run again.

“Sinners” entered the night with the record for the most Oscar nominations for a single film, with 16.

It leaves with four awards, won by Ryan Coogler for original screenplay, Michael B. Jordan for lead actor, Autumn Durald Arkapaw for cinematography and Ludwig Göransson for score. Arkapaw became the first woman to ever win in her category.

It seemed every time the film’s title came up during the broadcast there would be cheers and a swell of emotion from the audience. The live performance of the nominated song “I Lied to You” re-created the fantastical moment from the film in which generations of musicians collide, weaving together past, present and future.

Since its release in April of last year, the film has been a cultural touchstone and point of extended conversation on its way to some $370 million in worldwide box office. Among this year’s best picture nominees, only “F1” earned more, with $631 million. When Oscars host Conan O’Brien mentioned the name of the film in his opening monologue, it generated a huge ovation from the room.

Directed and written by Coogler, the film tells the story of twin brothers, Smoke and Stack, both played by Jordan. On the opening night of their juke joint in 1930s Mississippi, they are beset by a small band of vampires, intent on turning everyone inside into bloodsuckers.

In accepting his lead actor award, Jordan thanked Warner Bros. executives Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy “for believing in this dream, this vision of Ryan Coogler and betting on the culture and betting on original ideas and original artistry.” (Including its Oscars for “One Battle After Another” and “Weapons,” Warners Bros. ended the night with an 11-Oscar tally, tying the record for most wins by a single studio.)

Across what seemed an extremely long awards season — a run that was even longer for “Sinners” due to its spring release date — the film had many ups and downs. But its momentum seemed to be peaking at just the right time, as seen with the crucial wins for Jordan and the cast at the Actor Awards on March 1.

Regardless of how one feels about its final tally at the Academy Awards, the movie has already firmly established its continued relevance. As The Times’ Greg Braxton recently wrote, “‘Sinners’ is now being increasingly hailed in Hollywood as a groundbreaking symbol of Black artistic excellence, as well as a timely pushback to the divisive political climate that has reached fever-pitch proportions.”

Sean Penn won the supporting actor Oscar on Sunday night for his performance as the ruthless, racist Col. Steven J. Lockjaw in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another.”

The win marks the third Academy Award for the 65-year-old Penn and his first in the supporting category. He previously earned lead actor Oscars for “Mystic River” (2003) and “Milk” (2008), and had been nominated three other times in leading roles before this year. He beat out fellow nominees Benicio Del Toro for “One Battle After Another,” Jacob Elordi for “Frankenstein,” Delroy Lindo for “Sinners” and Stellan Skarsgård for “Sentimental Value.”

With his victory, Penn joins Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson, Ingrid Bergman, Daniel Day-Lewis, Frances McDormand and Walter Brennan as three-time Oscar winners for acting. Katharine Hepburn is the only four-time acting winner.

Penn, who delivers a volatile, darkly comic performance in Anderson’s sprawling political thriller, emerged as the race’s front-runner after a surprise victory at the BAFTA Awards and the Actor Awards, whose voting body overlaps heavily with the motion picture academy.

Sean Penn did not attend the Oscars, so presenter Kiernan Culkin accepted the award on Penn’s behalf.

The 19-year-old converts his pole position into a historic win to consolidate Mercedes’s hold early in the F1 season.

An emotional Kimi Antonelli has won a Formula One grand prix for the first time in China ahead of Mercedes teammate George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, who made his maiden podium for Ferrari.

The 19-year-old Antonelli converted being the youngest pole-sitter in Formula One history into victory on Sunday after both McLarens dramatically failed to start the Shanghai race.

“Thank you, everyone. Thank you so much. You made me achieve one of my dreams,” Antonelli said over the radio after taking the chequered flag.

“I’m speechless. I’m about to cry to be honest,” he said in his first interview as a winner in ⁠front of the Shanghai circuit crowd before doing just that.

It was ⁠a nervous finish for the Italian, who locked up and went wide with three laps to go, cutting his lead over Russell to 7.4 seconds and finishing 5.515 clear.

It was Mercedes’s second successive one-two after Russell led Antonelli in the Australian opener last weekend.

“I gave myself a little bit of a heart attack ⁠towards the end with the flat spot [on his tyres],” ⁠said the first Italian winner since Giancarlo Fisichella for Renault in Malaysia in 2006. “It was a good race.”

Formula One Chief Executive Stefano Domenicali, also Italian, congratulated Antonelli before the podium celebrations and the playing of the Italian ‌national anthem.

Antonelli briefly lost the lead at the start, but once he got back in front, the teenager controlled the pace to cruise home to the chequered flag. Charles Leclerc was fourth in the second Ferrari.

Hamilton, as he had done in Saturday’s sprint, got a great start and had taken the lead by the time the teams emerged from the first complex of turns.

Leclerc also launched brilliantly and managed to get past Russell, who started second on the grid.

The top four swapped places multiple times before a safety car on lap 11 brought them all into the pits.

Once the dust settled and they were racing again, Antonelli led Hamilton with Leclerc third and Russell fourth.

By lap 29, Russell had got past both Ferraris and up to second and set off trying to catch his young teammate, who was by that time more than seven seconds up the road.

Four-time world champion Max Verstappen continued Red Bull’s poor start to the new season when he was told to retire his car on lap 46.

McLaren’s reigning world champion, Lando Norris, and teammate Oscar Piastri both failed to start due to problems with their cars.

Oliver Bearman was fifth for Haas ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson.

Isack Hadjar took eighth for Red Bull after teammate Verstappen retired. Carlos Sainz was ninth for Williams, and Franco Colapinto was finally back in the points for Alpine in 10th after failing to score last year.

It is the second time in three years organisers have been forced to abandon plans for a summit finish in the so-called ‘queen stage’ of the race, which concludes in Nice on Sunday.

Vingegaard goes into the final stage with a commanding lead of three minutes 22 seconds over Colombia’s Dani Martinez in the general classification.

“I think it is very important that we race. This is one of the biggest races in the world, but it was pretty slippery towards the end,” Vingegaard said.

“We were, and still are, very much in favour of racing. You have to understand that Paris-Nice is one of the biggest races in the world, there are many sponsors involved, and they want to stage their finish – so we were keen to race.

“But when the finish line is here, maybe it is no longer possible. It would have been better to place the finish line 10 kilometres earlier. For us as riders, rain is part of the job, but when there is snow it is different.

“There were a few crashes at the end, probably because it was very slippery. In that situation it would have been better to say, ‘Let’s move the finish line a little earlier’. That was what we actually wanted.”

GEMMA Collins has won £20k at the Cheltenham races and made £5k off of just one bet.

The reality star, 45, was left overjoyed today when she raked in the cash and took home the huge amount of money.

A source told The Sun: “Gemma was over the moon and kept showing her wads of cash to James Nesbitt in the Paddy Power box. She made £20k the whole day – and £5k off one £500 bet.”

In an exclusive video obtained by The Sun, Gemma was seen shouting: “I’m f***ing loaded!,” as she revelled in her glory, before adding: “I’m coming home with 20 large ones.”

She took to Instagram to give fans a peek into her winnings as she showcased just one of her successful betting slips.

On the slip, it revealed that the former TOWIE star had won £5k from a £500 bet.

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The television icon wrote over it: “I won @paddypowerofficial. Best day ever!,” alongside horse and four leaf clover emojis.

Gemma certainly looked the part at the Cheltenham Festival as she stunned while standing on a balcony with pals.

She kept warm in an eye-catching blue and purple checked coat with brown fur sleeves and a belt which perfectly synched in her waist.

She accessorised with a white and red headscarf and a pair of blacked out sunglasses.

Her winning moment was captured as she enjoyed a glass of bubbly and was hugged by friends surrounding her.

One of those people was Danny Dyer, who was seen throwing up a fist in celebration for the Celebrity Big Brother star.

In true Gemma fashion, she was spotted looking very animated as she celebrated her exciting victory.

Her big win comes after she was announced as part of the line-up for the second series of I’m A Celebrity… South Africa.

The show was filmed last year and will see familiar faces return for a second stint on the hit ITV series.

After it was announced earlier this week, Gemma revealed she nearly pulled out of it but was put in her place by her make-up artist.

Speaking at the press launch, Gemma said: “It didn’t work out for me the first time around in there and ever since it’s been like this black cloud hanging over my head.

“Obviously I’m older now and I just thought, I have to do this. It was one regret that I had that I left.

“I was absolutely bricking it. I was petrified. My makeup artist slapped me at Heathrow Airport because I actually said I don’t think I can actually go through with this.

“But do you know what? I took a deep breath. I went in strong. And to be honest, I think I shut it down.

“It’s not the GC in there. It’s Gemma Collins as you’ve never seen her before. You’ll see me vulnerable in there.

“I was so stripped bare going in there. And because I knew it was so disastrous the time before, I had no chance to back out of any of it.”

“The one thing that troubled me was the copious amounts of washing up,” said Gemma.

“I was on camp duty with Adam and obviously, it was a massive camp, and I’m not going to lie, I’ve got two dishwashers at home.”

ITV viewers will remember Gemma’s meltdown back in 2014 and refusal to get into a helicopter to get into camp on day one.

She was then forced to make her own way to camp, but things went from bad to worse.

After struggling with camp life and the food rations, she sensationally quit the series on day two.

The war in the Middle East is exposing how dependent the world is on a handful of strategic chokepoints.

The Strait of Hormuz – a narrow waterway in the Gulf – is closed.

The longer this goes on, the faster the global energy map could be reshaped.

From Europe to Asia, countries are facing mounting supply risks and the threat of an inflation shock.

If the conflict between the US, Israel and Iran drags on, alternatives will be hard to find.

But, Russia is shaping up to be a major beneficiary, with soaring prices filling Moscow’s coffers despite Western sanctions.

The Premier League’s power was supposedly emphasised by having six teams in the last 16 following the league stage, but this was something of a cold shower hosed on talk of its supremacy as City and Chelsea were heavily beaten, following on from defeats for Liverpool and Spurs on Tuesday.

Premier League leaders Arsenal needed Kai Havertz’s last-minute penalty to scrape a draw at Bayer Leverkusen, sixth in the Bundesliga, after winning eight from eight in the league phase.

Spurs were humiliated by Atletico, Liverpool lost to Galatasaray – although Newcastle United can take credit as they were only denied victory by Barcelona’s last-gasp penalty at St James’ Park.

Some big performances are required in the second leg if boasts about the supposed superpower of the Premier League are not to be rendered hollow.

Five of those teams had first legs away from home. Chelsea, Manchester City and Spurs must all turn around three-goal deficits, although Arsenal and Liverpool are the best hopes of going through.

It was an unexpected downturn. Could it be that the heavy workload and intensity of the Premier League has taken the edge off performances when the Champions League comes around?

Taken on this evidence, the Premier League picture is not as rosy as some would suggest in the Champions League context.

It all looked so different from the newer league table format, which led to a clean sweep of Premier League teams, giving rise to suggestions they could dominate the latter stages.

Not so, as teams that made their way through the play-offs such as Bodo/Glimt, Atletico, Real, PSG and Galatasaray all impressed.

Former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson, who was at the Bernabeu, told BBC Radio 5 Live: “We spoke about the England teams and dominance in Europe. Look at how easily they qualified, in the Europa and Conference leagues as well. But in the Champions League, not one English team has won.

“Manchester City were in a better place than Real Madrid. They were injury-ravaged. It looked like an under-23 side with a scattering of experience for Real. But they were clinical and well-coached and hit City on the counter-attack.”

Il Etait Temps powered over the line in the Queen Mother Champion Chase to earn trainer Willie Mullins his third win of day two at Cheltenham Festival.

Majborough was the odds-on favourite to claim victory in the big race of the day but a poor jumping display made it an impossible victory.

A mistake at the final fence almost cost Il Etait Temps the win, but jockey Paul Townend steered him over the line at the Festival’s first Ladies Day in five years.

“There was a lot of work put into this horse after Ascot so I have a lot of people to thank,” Townend told ITV Racing. “It shows how tough this lad is. He’s such a courageous horse again today. He was flat as a pan everywhere.

“I wasn’t going to force him but he just found his rhythm.”

Mullins told BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra: “Out of the corner of my eye I could see Paul Townend thinking ‘now we have a horse race’.

“He started to get confident and he planned his move around the last bend.”

Libberty Hunter, priced at 50-1, and Sir Alex Ferguson’s horse, L’eau Du Sud, finished third.

The first winner of the day for Mullins came in the opening race with 11-1 shot King Rasko Grey powering over the finish line.

Act of Innocence, ridden by Nico de Boinville, followed up in second.

Mullins was “disappointed” with his horses in Tuesday’s Supreme Hurdle, but King Rasko Grey’s “form worked out”.

He told BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra: “We were all disappointed with our horses in the Supreme, but his form worked out. The day we bought him from the sales, he looked like a really smooth mover.

“I am very happy. When I saw them here on Monday, my worry was they looked too well.

“I don’t think I have seen my team on the gallop look so well, but they are racing well.”

It was a Mullins one-two in the Novices’ Chase with a brilliant jumping display from 11-1 chance Kitzbuhel allowing him to hold off the challenge of 7-2 shot Final Demand.

Jockey Harry Cobden labelled Kitzbuhel a “phenomenal little horse”.

He told ITV: “He’s braver than I am, this little chap. He’s a phenomenal horse.

“He was brilliant today, looking right the whole way, so that’s why I kept him in the middle. Everywhere I asked him, he delivered. He’s very tough.”