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2026-08-12T13:33:31Z BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s parliament Wednesday passed a controversial general amnesty law, a day after a majority of legislators voted to formally abolish the death penalty.Lawmakers who backed the bill call it a beginning to correcting past overreach by the judiciary and security agencies and help reduce prison overcrowding, but critics say it is skewed and largely benefits Sunni Islamist prisoners.The initial proposal, debated since 2019, has exposed sectarian tensions among the country’s multitude of Islamic and Christian sects.A sweeping law that has exceptionsThe last time Lebanon approved a similar amnesty was in 1991, when the majority of the country’s combatants and militia leadership were absolved of any atrocities and possible war crimes following the country’s devastating 1975-90 civil war that killed about 150,000 people and left 17,000 missing.The new law replaces death sentences with long prison terms, reduces life sentences, and frees some convicted militants and drug dealers. It excludes rape, trafficking, corruption, terror funding, and premeditated murder, but reduces sentences for killing Lebanese troops. Some detainees will be released immediately. Repeated drug offenders and Lebanese who have been convicted of collaborating with Israel were excluded from the amnesty. It also remains unknown if the amnesty applies to Lebanese families who took refuge in Israel after occupying Israeli forces withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000 but who were not involved in military operations against Lebanon.Released foreign prisoners, mainly Syrian Islamist militant prisoners, would be transferred to Lebanon’s General Security intelligence agency that is responsible for enforcing immigration laws. It wasn’t immediately known if they would be deported. Concerns rise over the fate of extremist Islamist prisonersWhile the law was debated in parliament, lawmakers from various sects made different demands.Sunnis wanted the release of Islamist militants while Shiites demanded drug dealers, mostly from Lebanon’s eastern Baalbek region where cannabis is planted, to be freed. Christians required amnesty for hundreds of Lebanese who fled to Israel after the Israeli withdrawal. Many have links to the Israeli-backed South Lebanon Army militia, which collapsed following the withdrawal. However, the most controversial point in the yearslong debate was the fate of extremist Islamist prisoners, including firebrand cleric Ahmad al-Assir. Read More Al-Assir gained support in southern Lebanon for his vocal criticism of the powerful Shiite militant Hezbollah group’s involvement in Syria’s uprising that turned into civil war. In 2013, clashes between his supporters and opponents killed 18 Lebanese soldiers. He was sentenced to death in 2017.His fate remains unclear, but Lebanese lawmaker Waddah Sadek, a Sunni Muslim and supporter of the law, told The Associated Press al-Assir could be released “between a year and a half and two years.” Some celebrate while others feel wrongedSunni legislators largely celebrated the law passing.Bilal Abdullah, who represents the Druze-led Progressive Socialist Party, said the amnesty law is not intended to benefit just one sect.“We are turning a political page where (Sunnis were) targeted, justly and unjustly,” Abdullah told reporters in parliament. “Targeted by a regime, security agencies, and unfortunately the military tribunal with some of its unjust convictions.”Supporters of detained Islamists claim their sentencings came at a time when the Shiite Muslim Hezbollah militant group had greater political power in the country and larger sway over its security institutions and judicial system, directly targeting the country’s Sunni Muslims. Sign up for Morning Wire: Our flagship newsletter breaks down the biggest headlines of the day. Email address Sign up By checking this box, you agree to AP's Terms of Use and acknowledge that AP may collect and use your data pursuant to our Privacy Policy. They also said the detainees weren’t allowed a fair trial and some were held for too long in pretrial detention due to Lebanon’s swamped courts. Videos circulating on social media showed Islamist prisoners in the notorious Roumieh prison chanting “God is great” in celebration once the law was approved.The families of the killed Lebanese soldiers have called the law a grave injustice, saying that the perpetrators behind the death of their loved ones should remain behind bars or even be sentenced to death.Civil society and reformists have largely been critical of the move. Activist and lawyer Nizar Saghieh, who co-founded the watchdog group Legal Agenda, said justice “comes through accountability and building institutions, not a general amnesty.” Saghieh criticized lawmakers who called the amnesty a form of justice due to what they said were unfair trials in military and civil courts. However, they haven’t made any real structural reforms, he said.“They talk about injustice in military courts, but they are still functioning as before.” KAREEM CHEHAYEB Chehayeb is an Associated Press reporter in Beirut. twitter instagram mailto

CGTrader, an online marketplace for 3D assets, found that one in six models uploaded to the site these days is AI generated, but that AI generated assets account for only $1 out of $90 in revenue on the site. These numbers show that AI generated assets are quickly flooding the marketplace, but that most people are not interested in paying for them.“Buyers are voting with their wallets, and AI-generated content is struggling to compete,” CGTrader said in a press release about its 2026 market trends reports. The company says the gap between the surging supply of AI generated 3D models and the middling demand points to “a gap that undercuts the assumption that AI-made content is repricing the market.”“The upload numbers alone would suggest a takeover,” CGTrader said. “The revenue numbers say otherwise, and buyers refusing to pay for AI-generated models is saying something bigger than no thanks: it is a signal of how far they trust AI generation itself. Which leaves the question the industry has been avoiding: an AI model may be cheaper to produce, but what is it actually worth?”Like the Unreal and Unity asset stores, CGTrader is a marketplace where people can buy more than two million 3D models to use in their videos, games, or 3D printing projects, and has been around since 2011. The report it published is based on marketplace data collected between June 2025 and May 2026 and surveys of buyers. Alexander Spivak, a 3D artist who sells his assets on CGTrader, told me that he’s not against AI, but that “as an artist, I haven't yet found a way to seamlessly collaborate with AI.Because in creativity, the most important thing is the process of creation, which I enjoy.The result is a completely different story. And I haven't yet been able to integrate AI into my workflow in a way that allows me to continue enjoying [the process.]”Buyers told CGTrader that the reason they weren’t buying as many AI generated assets their quantity might suggest is simple: they’re not as good as human made 3D models. Buyers said that quality was the number one factor in choosing what they buy, even more than the price. This was especially important to buyers who wanted models for 3D printing, where a bad model could break or not print correctly. Only 4 percent of those buyers said AI “works well.” The survey also found that most people who bought AI generated assets weren’t satisfied with them. 20 percent of buyers found it not good enough, and 7 percent used it only with heavy editing. 5 percent said it worked well. CGTrader’s findings come months after the company announced it was partnering with Tencent on an AI powered 3D model creation workflow. CGTrader CEO Dalia Lašaitė told me that the workflow doesn’t just generate assets from scratch, but that designers can use it to refine topology and textures, segment parts, create variations and prepare models for production. “AI can accelerate the more mechanical parts of the process, while the designer retains creative direction and control over the final result,” she told me. “For that reason, we think of this work as AI-accelerated rather than simply AI-generated. Our goal isn't to increase the volume of AI-made assets on the marketplace. It's to give designers better tools to work faster and focus more of their time on creative work. Ultimately, buyers will choose the assets that best meet their needs. The distinction that matters most isn't whether an asset is AI- or human-generated, but whether it meets the required quality standard.”AI generated content is creating a discoverability problem across the internet. On Instagram, porn sites, YouTube, and music streamers, human creators are being drowned out by a flood of AI generated slop. Lašaitė acknowledged that, despite the current discrepancy between how many AI generated models are uploaded to CGTrader and how many people are buying them, the increase in uploads alone could make it more difficult to find human artists.“AI uploads are currently growing faster than AI purchases, which makes effective discovery and ranking increasingly important,” she said. “Our approach is to prioritize quality and performance signals rather than raw volume, including how an asset performs commercially, how buyers rate it and other indicators of quality.”

Government surveillance centers are monitoring viral anti-Flock Instagram posts, warning local police about upcoming DeFlock events including one scheduled to start next week, and have told cops to “increase patrols around ALPR [automatic license plate readers]” as backlash to Flock grows, according to government intelligence bulletins obtained using public records requests. The documents also warn about devices “that could be used to identify the locations of Flock cameras.”Investigative journalist Dan Boguslaw first published several fusion center bulletins about DeFlock, a crowdsourced map of ALPR cameras. 404 Media has now obtained four more recent law enforcement briefings warning police to surveil or beef up patrols of areas where Flock cameras are located (the documents are embedded below). These briefings document instances of Flock vandalism and warn, specifically, about the DeFlock “National Week of Action Against Automated License Plate Readers,” which is essentially a series of public meetings and protests about the dangers of mass surveillance.In sum, the documents show that local, state, and federal law enforcement are monitoring anti-Flock activists and are trying to tie together people who politically oppose mass surveillance with vigilantes who destroy Flock cameras. 404 Media obtained the documents through a public records act request.Fusion centers are information-sharing partnerships between local, state, and federal government law enforcement agencies. The documents Boguslaw and 404 Media obtained are “intelligence bulletins,” which are briefings to law enforcement about specific threats. The data is compiled by individual fusion centers in a state and then shared more widely. Many of the documents are marked “Law Enforcement Sensitive.” A new fusion center warning from the Colorado Information Analysis Center notes “people have begun utilizing the [DeFlock] app to locate and then destroy or disable the ALPRs. Multiple public accounts are posting videos of individuals vandalizing these cameras, adding momentum to the online discourse and influencing others to do the same.” That bulletin highlights a specific Instagrammer, called Nomark.Project, that is “posting daily videos of himself taking down/disabling Flock Security cameras ‘until they’re all gone.’ Comments on these videos show support for this individual’s actions.” That same bulletin also says neo-Nazi accelerationists encouraged the destruction of Flock cameras, but the call to action seems to have quickly dissipated: “Over the past two months, the neo-Nazi accelerations group Private Aryan Resistance began recruiting members on neo-Nazi forum Fash Front to sabotage Flock cameras. The group has since lost traction, but it shows that domestic violent extremist threat actors are also pursuing DeFlock efforts.” There is no indication in the document that neo-Nazis actually did target Flock cameras.Another bulletin, from the Wisconsin Statewide Intelligence Center via the Northeast Florida Fusion Center, notes, “there is extensive and ongoing chatter on social media platforms such as Facebook and TikTok regarding various methods to interfere with or physically destroy Flock LPR cameras or compromise their connectivity.” In particular, it adds that “On June 25th, 2026 University of South Florida Police Department located a device during a traffic stop that could be used to identify the locations of Flock cameras. Additional investigation determined that the driver is actively involved in the DeFlock movement and has written software, that was made available on the internet, to scan and locate vulnerabilities in internet connected devices.” DeFlock is an open source, crowdsourced map of ALPR cameras created by a man named Will Freeman. DeFlock was created to show how widespread ALPR cameras are in the United States, and the “DeFlock movement” is a very loose term for a series of local community activists who have educated themselves about Flock surveillance and have asked their local politicians to consider ending their contracts with Flock. DeFlock has organized a “National Week of Action Against Automated License Plate Readers” for August 16-22. This Week of Action is political in nature, and includes information sessions, marches, and talking points for people who are asking their local communities to consider ending surveillance contracts. DeFlock describes the event as “a variety of public meetings, townhalls, and other events intended to raise awareness about the use of ALPRs in their communities, the harms of these cameras, and how we can work together to end their use.”The fusion center documents also list specific cities that have signed up for the DeFlock Week of Action; for example, a July 28 bulletin from the North Florida Fusion eXchange notes 11 cities in Florida that “have already signed up to participate.” “In addition to DeFlock’s call to action, other online groups and individuals are encouraging the destruction of ALPRs and are sharing tactics and techniques through social media by providing detailed instructions on how to damage or disable ALPR cameras, poles, and solar panels,” the bulletin reads. Freeman told 404 Media that DeFlock has never called for vandalism of Flock cameras.“DeFlock has never called for disabling cameras or covering license plates, contrary to what recent law enforcement bulletins claim. DeFlock is a grassroots project that started in 2024, focused on maintaining a public map of surveillance infrastructure and encouraging civic engagement such as contacting local representatives, hosting public awareness events like scavenger hunts, and educational outreach. This has worked for nearly 2 years, with over 100 contracts canceled through legitimate public engagement,” Freeman said. “Some of the activity referenced in these bulletins originates from accounts using the DeFlock name without our authorization.”Vandalizing Flock cameras “wasn’t much of a thing until like a month ago once it became popular,” Freeman added. “Definitely caused by people on social media who aren’t us. I think it just shows that people are independently upset at the installation of these without their knowledge or consent. I try to be as neutral as possible with DeFlock and let people come to their own conclusions. I even changed the language on the site from ‘You’re being tracked!’ to ‘an open source project mapping ALPRs.’ For the most part, the idea of these upsets almost everyone.” There have been around a few dozen instances of Flock cameras being destroyed, vandalized, disabled, or having their poles cut down. The North Florida Fusion eXchange bulletin adds: “On July 25, 2026, an individual using the Instagram name ‘Thepatrioticgoy’ posted a video where he claims to be a former Flock Safety employee and gives detailed instruction on how to disable Flock cameras and avoid detection at the same time.” In the video itself, the man describes himself as a “Former Flock Safety field tech.”The bulletin then lists seven instances of Flock cameras being damaged or removed in Florida. “As online calls for the destruction of ALPRs continue to increase, it is likely that [northern Florida] could experience an increase in the vandalization of ALPR cameras, poles, and solar panels. This bulletin is being provided for situational awareness and to encourage law enforcement to remain vigilant when observing or responding to suspicious activity near ALPR sites.” Boguslaw’s earlier report showed that fusion centers were warning police about “calls for vandalism to ALPRs nationwide” from “the DeFlock movement, an online grassroots group opposing ALPR, [which] utilizes social media platforms to encourage supporters to disable or evade these systems by destroying cameras and covering license plates.” 404 Media obtained documents from the Central Florida Intelligence Exchange, the Wisconsin Statewide Intelligence Center, the New Jersey State Police, the Colorado Information Analysis Center, the North Florida Fusion eXchange, and a summary of a 404 Media article about DeFlock that was sent to a listserv of FBI headquarters employees. We obtained the documents from the New Mexico All Source Intelligence Center, meaning the warnings are circulating widely within law enforcement in the United States; the New Jersey document, for example, was disseminated to a “nationwide ALPR working group and state fusion centers.”A Flock Safety spokesperson told 404 Media “Damaging public safety equipment is illegal and puts communities at risk, which is why we strongly condemn this type of behavior.”“Overall, we have seen few reports of vandalism against Flock equipment. When it does happen, we work directly with law enforcement to investigate damaged or stolen cameras,” they added. “People have every right to make their voices heard, but criminal acts should never be part of that process. Damaging public safety equipment ultimately hurts the very communities this technology is there to help protect.”

Lionel Messi helped Argentina reach the 2026 World Cup final in July [Getty Images]Lionel Messi said he is unsure how much longer he will continue playing football as he posted an emotional tribute after his father's death.Messi's father Jorge was 68 when he died last week following a long illness.Jorge had been the Argentina forward's agent since he was 14 and watched him become one of the sport's greatest ever players."I don't know what I'm going to do without you," Messi, 39, wrote on social media."I don't know how to carry on. I used to just play football, and now I'm really not sure if I'll carry on doing it for much longer."You were by my side from the beginning; there was so little left until the end. Why couldn't you hold on just a little longer so we could finish it together?"Messi captained Argentina as they won the World Cup in 2022 and led them to the 2026 World Cup final, which his side lost 1-0 to Spain, before returning to club side Inter Miami.He returned home with his family after Jorge passed away in a hospital in his hometown of Rosario, Argentina.A private funeral took place on Sunday at a cemetery in the town of Perez, on the outskirts of Rosario.More to follow.Messi's father Jorge dies aged 68 after illness

BEREA ― The fans get one final time to come to training camp in 2026. The Browns will host them on Day 13 of camp, Aug. 12, before they shift into the preseason game schedule.The Browns will have a fully-padded practice today as they hold their final full practice ahead of the preseason opener. They'll fly to Chicago on Aug. 13, ahead of the Aug. 15 preseason lid-lifter against the Bears.Shedeur Sanders is expected to get the majority of the No. 1 reps during the final practice open to the general public. Coach Todd Monken, though, could reveal whether it will be Sanders or Deshaun Watson who will start the game in the Windy City.Subscribe to Browns Insider newsletterMonken will speak to the media before practice. Whether or not he'll announce the decision at that time remains to be seen.Follow along here if you can't be in Berea for all of the news and updates from Day 13 of training camp.Cleveland Browns training camp schedule for week of Aug. 12-15Wednesday, Aug. 12, 1:30 p.m. practice (final practice open to fans)Thursday, Aug. 13, meetings, walkthrough and travel to ChicagoFriday, Aug. 14, in ChicagoSaturday, Aug. 15, preseason game No. 1 at Chicago Bears, 1 p.m. ESTCleveland Browns training camp schedule for Day 13Noon, Selected player interviews with the media12:30 p.m., gates open for the fans12:50 p.m., Todd Monken speaks to the media1:30 p.m., practiceCleveland Browns open training camp practices 2026The Browns will hold their final training camp practice open to the general public today. All practices are scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m., with the gates opening one hour in advance. Practices that are moved inside due to the weather will be closed to the public.Wednesday, Aug. 12Cleveland Browns 2026 preseason scheduleBuy Cleveland Browns ticketsSaturday, Aug. 15, at Chicago Bears, 1 p.m., WEWS (Channel 5)/NFL NetworkSaturday, Aug. 22, vs. Buffalo Bills, 1 p.m., WEWS (Channel 5)/NFL NetworkThursday, Aug. 27, at New England Patriots, 8 p.m., Amazon Prime/WEWS (Channel 5)Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ. Sign up for Browns Insider newsletter at https://profile.beaconjournal.com/newsletters/browns-insider/This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Did Todd Monken name QB1 vs. Bears? Live updates from Browns training camp Day 13

Kansas City Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo spoke with reporters after practice on Tuesday at Missouri Western State University. He commented on the reported signing of veteran defensive lineman Emmanuel Ogbah ahead of the start of the preseason and what he's looking forward to seeing from the group on Saturday."Always the first one is tackling, and that probably is preceded by what we call block destruction and getting off the blocks. And quite frankly, not so much today," said Spagnuolo, "I'd have to watch the film, but yesterday, I didn't like the fact that a lot of run plays—and we're getting a lot more run plays than we used to—a lot of those run plays were going right down the middle of our defense. Now, we're not tackling, and it's not live, but I would like to see us be a little bit more physical. So, I'm looking for physicality, tackling, the block destruction. Those would be the most important things."Spagnuolo will be evaluating multiple positions in the preseason opener on Saturday against the Los Angeles Rams, including a returning veteran who contributed to the Super Bowl LIV victory, who is reportedly signing with Kansas City this week."Yeah, I always had an affection for E (Emmanuel Ogbah). It was disappointing the one year we had him in 2019. I thought he was really coming on and then he got hurt and then we didn't have him at the end of the year," said Spagnuolo. "But I've always periodically been in touch with him. We've got to get through the physical and all those other things, but if he's part of our group, I'll be excited about that."Ogbah has a career total of 48 sacks through 136 games, securing nine forced fumbles and two interceptions.This article originally appeared on Chiefs Wire: Steve Spagnuolo addresses the return of a Super Bowl-winning player

Keith Foulke, a hero to Boston Red Sox Nation for getting the final out in the 2004 World Series to break the 86-year-old Curse of the Bambino, was looking forward to his role as manager of the Boston Hunters in the inaugural season of the Women’s Pro Baseball League, which is playing exclusively in Springfield at Robin Roberts Stadium.His tenure lasted all of three games. In an interview with The State Journal-Register on Tuesday, Aug. 11, Foulke did his best to keep his words polite and professional regarding his ouster. But it’s clear he believes the league gave him a raw deal.“It’s just disappointing,” Foulke said. “At the end of the day, I walk with my head held high. I didn’t do anything wrong. I didn’t say anything derogatory, I didn’t say anything mean to my players, ever. I was always really positive. I think the ownership just kind of had a change of mind on the schedule that we’d agreed upon. I was the manager, but I wasn’t going to be able to be there full time, and ultimately, they didn’t think that was a good plan.”Before Saturday’s game with the New York Heights, Foulke was informed by league ownership — led by Keith Stein, along with commissioner Justine Siegal — they were relieving him of his duties.The league sent a press release Sunday which announced Los Angeles Queens assistant coach Jemile Weeks' appointment to the Hunters and lauded his baseball experience and also thanked Foulke for his time with the league. A follow-up email to media members said Weeks would not answer questions about Foulke during his next press availability. More: Eyes of baseball world turn towards Springfield as history is madeMore: Women's Professional Baseball League puts on a show for SpringfieldSiegal later described the move as a “baseball decision," nothing more, and described Foulke as a good person who she wished well. The league said Tuesday it would not comment further on its decision.As part of his contract, Foulke said, he would be allowed to make an occasional trip to his Arizona home to be with his recently-married wife, Jen, and his children. Foulke said the contract was approved by Stein.However, Foulke now believes, that arrangement wasn’t made clear to Siegal or the rest of the league. That, he believes, began some second-guessing behind his back — though Foulke declined to name names.“I think there was a discrepancy between what I consider to be a pro level and what some other people are used to,” said Foulke, whose MLB career spanned from 1997-2008. “There were things that (Stein) and I had to work out, to make sure that it worked for everybody. He was excited and was very patient, because I had to get some things worked out at home. We were very up front with each other.”Calling himself “an outspoken guy," Foulke did say that he thought the talent levels for the other three teams in the league were higher than the Hunters' team that was drafted. For instance, the Hunters had three teenage players, while other teams had more accomplished veterans.Foulke said he made those comments in private, away from his players, but that someone relayed them to the players behind his back. What Foulke might have believed was just some “manager talk" — where every manager has a gripe about something — was blown out of proportion. He believes he was always encouraging to his players and was eager to teach them more about the game.“A half hour before our game, I get told they want a new direction. We had just won our first game. But here’s the thing: they said something at that moment about maybe wanting to keep me on as a consultant with the league,” Foulke said. “I just said, ‘This is a lot for me to digest right now. You’re firing me and offering me a job in the same breath?’ I said, ‘that’s a lot to take in right now. I can’t deal with that.’”An effort to reach Siegal for further comment was unsuccessful. Foulke said he was already back in Arizona and “painting the kitchen on my wife’s orders.”“Look, I wish the team well and I wish the league well. I do,” Foulke said.And, Foulke is able to laugh a little, even now.“My phone has been blowing up with my friends in baseball saying, ‘How do you get fired after three games, Foulkie?’ I said, 'It takes a special talent,'" he said.Adrian Dater is a freelance writer for The State Journal-Register. He can be reached at sports@sj-r.com. This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Red Sox legend responds as WPBL fired him from Boston Hunters after 3 games

For a football-starved audience, early August cannot come soon enough. Between the NFL, college and fantasy football, there's no shortage of reasons to be excited about what is undeniably America's favorite sport. For gamers, the excitement is two-fold as August's arrival also brings the latest Madden release — and with it the annual Yahoo Sports simulation.If you're new to the series, we simulate an entire NFL season in "Madden" — Madden NFL 27 in this case — and break down the winners, losers, surprises and disappointments from the virtual year that was. The ground rules for the simulation remain the same: one random team is selected (Chargers) and we start at the regular season using "simple" settings in Franchise Mode. Some years, the simulation is surprisingly accurate. Other years — like last year — it's jarringly off, so take all of this with a grain of salt.With all of that said, let's see how Madden predicts the 2026 season.Super BowlHistorically in the Yahoo Sports simulation, Madden has predicted success individually for Dak Prescott and for the Cowboys as a whole. Despite the virtual versions of Prescott and Jerry Jones filling their trophy cases, none of these have come to fruition as the Super Bowl drought has reached 31 years.Play Yahoo's new College Fantasy Football game: Create or join a league now!BUT, what if this season is actually the year for the Cowboys? Madden certainly thinks it will be.Although the Cowboys didn't win the NFC East in the simulation, they went on a run in January and February, beating the Eagles, Packers and Bucs — all division winners — en route to the Super Bowl. The Dallas Cowboys defeated the Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl in Madden NFL 27. (Screenshot/Yahoo Sports)In Super Bowl LXI, Dallas' rushing attack overwhelmed Denver, with Prescott, Javonte Williams and Jaydon Blue combining for 180 yards and four touchdowns in a dominant 31-14 win.In previous simulations, Madden has generally played it safe with Super Bowl teams and winners, but with Dallas currently sitting at 35-1 or 30-1 odds, depending on the sportsbook, we'll file this as a long shot.Biggest disappointmentWhile we're on the topic of the Super Bowl, last season's champion Seahawks and runner-up Patriots finished with identical 9-8 records and missed the postseason entirely in the Madden simulation this year. Both teams play in a division where they aren't favored to win, with the Bills and Rams in the AFC East and NFC West, respectively. The most direct path is an uphill battle, but for both teams to completely miss out of the playoffs would have to be categorized as a disappointment.MVPUnsurprisingly, Madden is picking a quarterback to win the award. Coming off an ankle injury, Bo Nix not only leads the Broncos into the Super Bowl, but also captures the NFL's top individual award in his third season in the league. In the simulation, Nix led the league with 5,074 yards (he was the only QB to surpass the 5,000-yard mark) and 41 touchdowns against eight interceptions. In his third NFL season, Bo Nix leads Denver to the Super Bowl and wins an MVP award in the process. (Screenshot/Yahoo Sports)Nix has been a very good quarterback in his first two seasons, but his Madden simulation stat line represents a massive jump in production. At 35-1, there are 16 quarterbacks listed ahead of Nix in the preseason MVP odds, including two in his own division in Justin Herbert and Patrick Mahomes.Rookie(s) of the YearAlthough he's not slated to be the Raiders' Week 1 starter, No. 1 draft pick Fernando Mendoza was Offensive Rookie of the Year in the simulation. It's worth pointing out that Mendoza's overall rating (74) is one point higher than veteran QB Kirk Cousins, which explains why he got the nod for a full season in Las Vegas. Mendoza finished with 3,852 passing yards, 26 touchdowns and seven interceptions, leading the Raiders to a 9-8 record and an AFC wild-card berth.Fernando Mendoza may not have the starting job yet, but 'Madden' has him winning Offensive Rookie of the Year. (Screenshot/Yahoo Sports)Team record aside, Mendoza (+475) winning OROY is one of the more feasible outcomes from the simulation as he sits just behind Cardinals rookie RB Jeremiyah Love (+425) in the consensus odds for the award. On the defensive side, Cowboys pass rusher Malachi Lawrence took home the award, leading the eventual Super Bowl champions with 12.5 sacks and 20 tackles for loss. Lawrence (25-1) is 10th in Defensive Rookie of the Year odds, making him a bigger long shot compared to Mendoza.Other award winners:Defensive Player of the Year — T.J. Watt. He is almost always a safe bet to take home this award in both Madden and real life. In the simulation, Watt racked up a career-high 107 tackles and 19 sacks, his highest total since 2023. Watt is 18-1 to win the award, significantly behind the preseason favorite, Myles GarrettMadden predicts T.J. Watt will win his second Defensive Player of the Year award in 2026. (Screenshot/Yahoo Sports)Offensive Player of the Year — Ja'Marr Chase. The AFC North lays claim to both DPOY and OPOY as Chase took home the hardware in Madden. Although Chase didn't lead in any receiving categories, his 93 catches, 1,836 yards and 15 touchdowns were enough to earn him the award. Chase (+1000) currently sits third in odds behind a pair of newly paid running backs in Jahmyr Gibbs (+650) and Bijan Robinson (+900).Coach of the Year — Todd Bowles. He led the Bucs to an NFL-best 14-3 record and the NFC title game, so it's no surprise Madden picked him as the winner. Bowles (+5000) is a long shot to win this award, significantly trailing the favorite, John Harbaugh (+750).Biggest surprise Although the Cowboys and Raiders' seasons were surprising, the Bucs having the best team in the NFL stood out in the simulation as the biggest shocker. In Frank Schwab's preseason NFL power rankings, Tampa Bay sits at 22, with some major questions surrounding the consistency of QB Baker Mayfield, an offense that lost a future Hall of Famer in Mike Evans and uncertainty about DT Vita Vea, who has requested a trade amid a contract standoff. The NFC South is one of the league's weakest divisions and the Bucs (+175) are actually the favorites, but winning the division and being the NFL's top team are two entirely different things.Other division winnersAFC East – Bills, 12-5AFC North – Bengals, 10-7AFC South – Texans, 9-8AFC West – Broncos, 12-5NFC East – Eagles, 11-6NFC North – Packers, 11-6NFC West – 49ers, 14-3Of these, the Bills, Texans and Eagles are the preseason favorites to win their divisions. The Bengals and Packers are second in the AFC and NFC North, respectively, and the Broncos and 49ers have the third best odds in the AFC and NFC West.The complete playoff bracket and results from the Madden NFL 27 simulation. (Screenshot/Yahoo Sports)Worst teamIn my simulation last year, the Jets finished 2-15, which was only slightly worse than the team actually was (3-14). This year isn't much better. Madden projects the Jets to finish 2-15 again, with the NFL's worst offense and ending the season on a 10-game losing streak that ultimately costs Aaron Glenn his job as the head coach. Depending on which sportsbook you look at, the Jets are either second-to-last (200-1) or tied for last (250-1) with the Dolphins and Cardinals in terms of Super Bowl odds.On the plus side, next year is expected to be a great quarterback draft class.

In Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, the wild cats’ presence corresponded with a 67 percent drop in the likelihood of a deer-vehicle crash and a 76 percent overall decline in the number of wrecks during a five-year period, according to a new study

The latest Consumer Price Index report helped to reinforce the patient approach adopted by many officials at the Federal Reserve about raising rates, but it has not resolved the debate altogether.

The MVM Paks Nuclear Power Plant, which had to close its Reactor 3 due to extremely low water levels on the Danube River, is seen in Paks, Hungary, Wednesday July 29, 2026. (Daniel Kiss)2026-08-12T14:10:18Z BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Authorities in Hungary will begin taking steps to raise the level of the Danube River this week in order to ensure the country’s only nuclear power plant can continue operating, Prime Minister Péter Magyar said on Wednesday. Persistent drought and successive extreme heat waves in recent months have deprived one of Europe’s largest rivers of water, bringing Danube levels to record lows and pushing the Paks nuclear power plant to the brink of shutting down for the first time in its 44-year history. The Soviet-built plant, which uses water from the Danube to cool its four reactors, is currently operating at little more than 10% of its 2,000 megawatt capacity due to low water levels. It supplies Hungary with around a third of its electricity. In a video posted to Facebook on Wednesday, Magyar said authorities would begin building a bed sill — a low concrete or stone structure built into the riverbed to slow the current and raise upstream water levels — on Thursday on a section of the Danube just upriver from the plant. Delivery of some 145,000 cubic meters of rocks used in its construction would begin on Wednesday evening, Magyar said, adding that the intervention could raise the level of the Danube by up to a meter (3 feet). Meanwhile, two 80-meter (262-foot) barges will be transported to the site near Paks and may be sunk in order to raise the Danube up to a further 20 centimeters (8 inches) at the plant’s cooling pumps. A decision on whether to sink them will be made on Friday, Magyar said. “We can no longer consider this extraordinary situation as a one-time natural extreme,” he said, adding that the work must be carried out quickly to avoid a full Paks shutdown. Read More Magyar referred to the construction of the bed sill as a “long-term” solution which could ensure that water levels never fall below the threshold at which reactors at Paks must be powered down. He said that after a recent temporary rise in water levels, they were expected to begin falling again in coming days which, without external intervention, could lead to the complete shutdown of the Paks plant. “The Danube has given us days, not months,” he said. Sign up for Morning Wire: Our flagship newsletter breaks down the biggest headlines of the day. Email address Sign up By checking this box, you agree to AP's Terms of Use and acknowledge that AP may collect and use your data pursuant to our Privacy Policy. Similar measures were taken in Romania last week when authorities sank four barges laden with rock into the Danube in an attempt to redirect water downstream toward the Cernavoda nuclear plant, which had already shut down one of its two reactors due to low water levels. On Wednesday, Magyar said the Paks plant operating at its current output is costing Hungary’s economy up to 50 billion forints ($158 million) per month. By contrast, he said the planned interventions on the Danube will cost around 6 billion forints ($19 million). JUSTIN SPIKE Spike is an Associated Press reporter based in Budapest, Hungary. twitter mailto

This image provided by Google in August 2026 shows its lineup of Pixel 11 phones, the Pixel Watch 5 and ear buds. (Google via AP)2026-08-12T14:00:06Z Google on Wednesday unveiled its latest lineup of Pixel phones, with slimmer cameras that include more a powerful zoom and artificial intelligence features designed to help users accomplish things with fewer taps and swipes. With the improvements, the search giant hopes to give users a reason to buy new models and expand the number of people using its AI tools. “Google continues to tout new software features, primarily around AI, as the reason to upgrade,” said Forrester senior analyst Andrew Cornwall. He noted the company has added a way to extract photos from videos, a teleprompter, video stabilization, and an improved speech-to-text feature. While the Pixel phones are not as popular as Apple’s iPhone, Google has been steadily increasing the amount of AI on its Pixel phones since 2023. Apple, meanwhile, has been lagging behind. It announced new AI advances in June, focusing on how the technology can help with people’s day-to-day lives, with a focus on privacy and security — using Google’s Gemini AI model to do so. Google said in a presentation to reporters last week that the new phones will double the previous storage size, starting at 256 gigabytes, and feature 30 hours of battery life and faster wireless charging. The company has eliminated the 128 gigabyte Pixel 11, which had been its lowest-priced option at $800. Beginning Wednesday, U.S. customers can order the Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro and Pixel 11 Pro XL, starting at $900, $1,100 and $1,300, respectively. The Pixel Pro Fold, meanwhile, starts at $1,900. That’s a $100 increase for each phone from last year’s prices. New features include live translation for videos, podcasts and voice messages. In the Pro models, a tool called HiLight lets you assign a color to your favorite contacts and have the phone light up in that color when they call and your phone is placed face down. It complements Pixel’s “Flip to Shhh” feature that puts the phone in “do not disturb” mode when it is placed face down. Read More Google is also offering a free six-month subscription to its AI Pro plan to anyone who buys the more expensive Pixel 11 Pro or Pixel 11 Pro XL models. The company is hoping to hook more people on the AI Gemini tool kit, which it assembled to compete against OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Camera upgrades include a new mode called Magic Capture, which automatically takes a series of photos and video with a single tap of the shutter button. Google said the cameras also feature improved light sensitivity and, for Pro models, Instant Night Sight captures shots in dark environments faster, so you don’t have to hold your phone still while waiting for exposure. Sign up for Morning Wire: Our flagship newsletter breaks down the biggest headlines of the day. Email address Sign up By checking this box, you agree to AP's Terms of Use and acknowledge that AP may collect and use your data pursuant to our Privacy Policy. Google also introduced a tracking device for the first time. Called Pixel Tag, it will cost $30 for one or $100 for a four-pack and is compatible with phones running Android 9 or higher. BARBARA ORTUTAY Ortutay writes about social media and the internet for The Associated Press. mailto

People walk by some of the 400 gold colored plastic Mozart sculptures by German artist Ottmar Hoerl from Nuremberg for the 270th birthday of composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Salzburg, Austria, Wednesday, July 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, File)2026-08-12T13:53:06Z SALZBURG, Austria (AP) — More than 200 gold statuettes of Austria’s most famous composer disappeared from his hometown of Salzburg, officials said Wednesday, leaving a tribute to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart on his 270th birthday considerably less crowded. The Mozarteum Foundation on July 15 unveiled 320 statuettes, barely 50 centimeters (less than 20 inches) high, showing Mozart with his dog. They were designed by German conceptual artist Ottmar Hörl. Within two weeks, more than 80 of the polymer figures had disappeared. By Wednesday, a total of 210 were missing. “The worst thing for an artist is when his work dissolves,” Hörl told the German news agency dpa. He said he did not believe visitors stole the works but rather that it was an “organized theft.”Hörl intended to sell the statues for about 100 euros ($114) once the exhibition was over, meaning whoever ran away with 210 mini-Mozarts has not become an overnight millionaire. The mini-Mozarts populated not only the garden of the composer’s former house, but also his living quarters as well as several pavilions. While the organizers put aside some spare statuettes in case of theft, there were too few to compensate for the actual losses. And in a further stroke of bad luck, the manufacturer of the statues was away on holidays, so there was no quick fix. The exhibition of statuettes, now more widely spaced, is scheduled to remain on display until Aug. 30. For Hörl, who is known from his sculptures made from polymer, the theft of his artworks is nothing new. At an installation in Bayreuth, Germany, a complete array of statues of Richard Wagner was stolen within 10 days. Read More “That’s just the nature of public space. That means when you work as an artist in a public space, you mustn’t complain about what is happening there,” Hörl said. “It ranges from destruction to theft. That’s just how it is.”Mozart was born on Jan. 27, 1756, in Salzburg, where the Mozarteum Foundation offers concerts, maintains Mozart museums and supports research on him. “I didn’t want to do a monument of Mozart. There are already enough of these. But I wanted to show his human side, that he was a normal human being despite his genius,” Hörl told The Associated Press. Sign up for Morning Wire: Our flagship newsletter breaks down the biggest headlines of the day. Email address Sign up By checking this box, you agree to AP's Terms of Use and acknowledge that AP may collect and use your data pursuant to our Privacy Policy. To give the statues a human touch, Hörl depicted the composer with his favorite dog, Pimperl. Mozart and his family were known to take long walks with their dogs in the Mirabell Garden, next to where they lived.

Ohio State running back CJ Donaldson is stopped by the Texas defense during the second half of an NCAA college football game in Columbus, Ohio., Aug. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete, File)2026-08-12T10:10:06Z From early-season heavyweight clashes to conference rivalry games, the road to the College Football Playoff could come down to a handful of marquee matchups. Here are six must-watch games that could shape the playoff race in 2026:Ohio State at Texas, Sept. 12Steve Sarkisian and Ryan Day match wits again as both teams get an early-season measuring stick game after failing to meet expectations in 2025. A Week 1 loss to the Buckeyes left the Longhorns fighting an uphill battle with little room for error throughout the rest of the season. Texas ultimately fell short of the 12-team CFP while the Buckeyes lost their last two games, the latter in the CFP quarterfinals.Julian Sayin vs. Arch Manning will get the headlines but last year’s 14-7 win by Ohio State is a reminder that the best-prepared defense may rule the day. The Buckeyes are reloading on defense — including three spots on the line — while Texas has four of its starting o-linemen back. Both teams have stacked schedules — Texas faces the likes of Tennessee, Ole Miss, LSU and Texas A&M and Ohio State has Indiana, Oregon, USC and Michigan — so a win here helps set the tone. LSU at Ole Miss, Sept. 19One of the most intriguing games of the year, an emotionally charged revenge game on paper for Ole Miss, as Lane Kiffin returns to Oxford for the first time since his awkward departure for LSU last December. Trinidad Chambliss is a Heisman contender again for the Rebels. Will Leavitt says he couldn’t be happier after transferring in for the Tigers. Besides the obvious tension, the matchup could help shape the playoff race early. As contenders but not necessarily favorites in the SEC, Ole Miss and LSU could find themselves fighting for an at-large bid. A win here could make all the difference come playoff selection time, especially with both teams facing schedules that leave little room for error. Read More Georgia at Alabama, Oct. 10The SEC’s two most dominant programs over the past decade meet in Tuscaloosa, with plenty of recent history hanging over the matchup. Georgia had its 33-game home winning streak snapped by Alabama with a 24-21 defeat in 2025, but the Bulldogs later got revenge with an SEC championship game rout.Both teams now enter the season with plenty at stake. Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer faces pressure to keep the Crimson Tide in national title contention following Ty Simpson’s departure for the NFL. Kirby Smart looks to finally secure a regular-season win against Alabama. This one could have major implications beyond just SEC standings. Ohio State at Indiana, Oct. 17Indiana was untouchable in 2025, as coach Curt Cignetti and a haul of transfers — including quarterback Fernando Mendoza — put together a perfect 16-0 season and claim the Hossiers’ first national title. The final four wins were a murderer’s row: Ohio State, Alabama, Oregon and Miami.It will be difficult to go through the Big Ten unscathed. A road win here would reassert the Buckeyes as a top dog in a rugged conference. Miami at Notre Dame, Nov. 7It’s safe to assume grudges are still being held in South Bend after Miami beat the Fighting Irish in the opener and then finished ahead of Notre Dame in the rankings to claim a playoff spot this past season. Both teams enter the season with extra motivation to win it all and rosters capable of pulling it off. While Miami can return to the playoff by winning an Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) title, this is one of the few statement-making opportunities for the Irish, who have a relatively low strength of schedule.BYU at Utah, Nov. 7Morgan Scalley’s debut season as Utah coach will include an edition of the Holy War that could play a big role (again) in the Big 12 race and the playoff berths available the first week of December. There’s new staff in place and new faces, too, including two replacements for NFL draft picks on the offensive line.BYU held on to coach Kalani Sitake, has quarterback Bear Bachmeier and RB LJ Martin back, and is coming off a 12-2 season loaded with big wins and only a pair of losses to Texas Tech. The Cougars will be itching to erase that runner-up finish and crack the CFP. Honorable mentionOklahoma at Michigan (Sept. 12), Houston at Texas Tech (Sept. 19), SMU at Louisville (Sept. 19), MIami at Clemson (Oct. 3), USC at Penn State (Oct. 10), Texas at Texas A&M (Nov. 27).___Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football MAURA CAREY Carey runs the live blog for AP’s Top 25 college football poll every week. She is an Associated Press sports writer based in Atlanta. twitter instagram mailto

Instagram is full of first-person videos of men harassing women in public. They follow a similar script: A man walks up to a woman or group of women in a store, sitting outside a cafe, or walking home from a bar, and delivers a pickup line. The women almost always nervously laugh, react with barely-veiled disgust, or say "fuck off" while he stalks her or refuses to walk away. The men recording these videos capture them with Meta's smart glasses, which are designed to discreetly capture interactions like these and upload the videos to Meta's platforms where the women in the videos are turned into content for "pickup artist" accounts. New research reveals this ecosystem works, and how pickup artists (PUA) influencers are using Meta's products, including its smart glasses and social media platforms, to perpetuate a culture of harassment against women. University of Sydney researchers Joanne Gray, Marcus Carter, and Ben Egliston watched hundreds of these videos to learn how pickup artist content creators use smart glasses, and what specific forms of gendered harms these recordings cause. They published their research paper, "Harm Through the '#RizzCam': Smart Glasses, Ambient Capture and Invisible Harassment," online this week as a preprint article.The researchers compiled a dataset of 350 Instagram videos posted between September 2023 and March 2026. The videos fit specific criteria: they depicted real-world interactions involving unsolicited approaches to women in public or semi-public settings. "Unsolicited interactions were defined as approaches that appeared to be initiated without prior indication of mutual engagement," the researchers wrote in the paper. "We included videos that appeared to be staged, scripted, or comedic performance as it is often difficult to confidently determine intent in platform content, and such material may still contribute to the circulation and normalisation of these interactions." They found the videos by searching hashtags and keywords commonly used by pickup artist grifters.The more surreptitious the filming seemed, the researchers found, the more serious the harassment. "The data reveals a clear correlation between the 'covertness' of the filming modality and the severity of the harassment," they wrote. "This combination of first-person perspective and device concealment confirms that the means of production remain largely clandestine, facilitating a condition of low awareness among subjects and reinforcing the deceptive nature of wearable-mediated capture."Meta’s Ray-Ban Glasses Users Film and Harass Massage Parlor Workers“The shameless use of covert recording technology at massage parlours to gain likes, attention, and online notoriety is both disgusting and dangerous.”When Meta announced its Ray-Ban Meta glasses in 2021, Egliston said, he and several of his colleagues, including those on the research team for this paper, wrote that the company’s safeguards were insufficient. "The company’s answer to covert recording was a light on the device and an expectation that users would somehow just behave responsibly. That has plainly not worked, and it leaves the burden on the people being filmed rather than on the company that built the device and owns the platforms the footage ends up on." Last year, 404 Media reported on the ways people are modding Meta's smart glasses to disable the recording light. Ray-Ban Metas have also been repeatedly spotted on immigration agents during raids.Instagram head Adam Mosseri said last month that the platform would start removing harassing content. "If you're posting content that is taking advantage of people and harassing them, like a lot of these pickup line kind of videos that we've heard of and seen, then we're going to take the content down," Mosseri said. "We don't want people to be surreptitiously taking videos of other people and harassing them and then posting them on our platform. So we're trying to fight that every way we can." As of writing— almost a month after that announcement — I easily found pages and pages of Reels by men approaching women while wearing smart glasses where the women being filmed either don't seem to know they're being recorded, or obviously don't want to be filmed and repeatedly tell the man recording them to stop. This isn't even counting the endless videos recommended to me by Instagram's algorithm showing people antagonizing and filming retail workers and shoppers in stores using smart glasses.What’s the Difference Between AI Glasses and an iPhone? A Helpful Guide for Meta PRMeta thinks its camera glasses, which are often used for harassment, are no different than any other camera.In the pickup artist world, this content is both entertaining and instructive, the researchers wrote. It's superpowered by the proliferation of smart glasses like Meta's. "As these devices move from niche curiosities to mainstream products, smart glasses intensify this asymmetry through ambient capture," they wrote. "By leveraging their unobtrusive design, PUAs create point-of-view (POV) recordings that place the digital audience in the literal position of the practitioner. This technical capability covertly embeds the act of filming within the social encounter, effectively weaponising the subject’s lack of awareness. The result is a novel mode of 'borderline' harassment that often evades the scrutiny of existing platform governance mechanisms, as it lacks the overt markers typically required for a policy violation." The harm doesn't end when the interaction ends, the researchers found. The long digital tail of these videos—which Instagram fails to properly moderate based on its own promises to crack down on this content—means the women in them are subjected to harassment long after they manage to get away from the man in real life. "Combined with the fact that 93.3% of these posts left comments open, subjects were frequently exposed to a digital afterlife of crude, abusive, and misogynistic commentary from the platform audience," the researchers wrote. "Comments frequently framed women’s rejection or discomfort as unnecessarily dismissive, including remarks such as 'she was acting rude' or suggestions that women should 'at least acknowledge' the men approaching them, while others minimised harassment by arguing that people who label such behaviour as harassment are contributing to declining birth rates." I Have Thoughts About That Kylie Jenner Meta Glasses AdMeta’s new Starfire AI glasses, made in partnership with Kylie Jenner, are giving me the creeps.The researchers wrote that they were inspired by the BBC's investigations into how women are targeted by Meta smart glasses wearers when they're trying to go about their daily lives. In one BBC report, a woman who was recorded and posted online by a man using Meta's smart glasses was harassed for weeks after the video went online, and said she was "bombarded" with phone calls because her phone number was posted with the video. "On one occasion, she says she picked up the phone and a man said to her: 'Do you know how stupid you are? Do you regret it? Do you know how easy that made you look?,'" the BBC reported. Men came to her workplace and repeated lines from the video and demanded her social media details, she told the BBC. “I’ve been surprised by how firmly the ‘pervert glasses’ label has stuck. There’s a widespread aversion here that doesn’t seem quite as present for other surveillance or data-intensive products," Egliston told 404 Media. "But public sentiment — while perhaps meaning people will be less likely to wear the glasses — is not a governance mechanism." Egliston said that Meta's content moderation record "doesn’t encourage confidence," but hopes to be proven wrong. "Our hope is that the current backlash, combined with emerging legislation imposing a duty of care on platforms, will force more substantive changes."

Pep Chavarria has joined Chelsea from Rayo Vallecano on a five-year contract for a fee understood by the Press Association to be £16.3m plus £1.7m in add-ons.An agreement was finalised last week for the 28-year-old to move to Stamford Bridge as the club’s squad overhaul continues under new manager Xabi Alonso.The left-sided defender, who featured in last season’s Conference League final against Crystal Palace, is expected to battle with Jorrel Hato for the left full-back role following Marc Cucurella’s departure to Real Madrid.He told Chelsea’s website: “I’m so excited to get started. This is a dream for me as Chelsea are one of the biggest clubs in the world.Marc Cucurella joined Real Madrid earlier this summer (PA)“It is a big opportunity, but I am prepared and will work hard to help the team achieve success.”Despite his age, the defender possesses just four seasons of top-flight experience, having moved from Segunda Division outfit Real Zaragoza in 2022.His signing continues a pattern of adding experienced players under Alonso, following 35-year-old striker Danny Welbeck’s arrival from Brighton and 36-year-old Jordan Henderson joining the Blues after leaving Brentford.Chavarria is Chelsea’s third defensive signing this summer, following right-back Marco Palestra from Atalanta in July and Maxence Lacroix from Crystal Palace earlier this month. Meanwhile, England international Trevoh Chalobah left Chelsea to join Serie A side Como on Sunday.After a dismal 2025-26 campaign that saw the team finish in 10th, the club’s hierarchy acknowledged a recruitment shift was needed, moving away from inexperienced players towards those who can help challenge for the title.However, Chelsea have also spent big on younger players as they broke their transfer record in July to sign Morgan Rogers from Aston Villa for £117m, while Argentina international Valentin Barco joined from Strasbourg.Trevoh Chalobah left Chelsea to join Como (PA)Striker Emmanuel Emegha and winger Geovany Quenda have also signed for the club.Chelsea are due to play their final pre-season game against Real Sociedad on Saturday as they complete their preparations for the new season.They will then begin their Premier League season with a London derby against Fulham at Craven Cottage on 24 August.

The Browns are taking a look at some veteran help on defense. Tyus Bowser worked out for Cleveland on Wednesday, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports.Bowser, 31, last played for Miami in 2024. He appeared in seven games with four starts for the club that season after appearing in two for Seattle while on the club’s practice squad.Browns head coach Todd Monken has familiarity with Bowser, who spent the first seven years of his career with the Ravens. Monken served as Baltimore’s offensive coordinator from 2023-2025.In his 98 career games with 28 starts, Bowser has registered 19.5 sacks with 22 tackles for loss and 48 quarterback hits.

The Detroit Lions continue to make changes behind the scenes as Brad Holmes strengthens the personnel department that has helped reshape the franchise.According to Justin Rogers of Detroit Football Network, the Lions have promoted Dwayne Joseph, Rob Lohman, Joe Kelleher and Mark Olson to new roles within the organization.Joseph is now vice president of player personnel, while Lohman has been elevated to vice president of roster operations. Kelleher moves from assistant director of pro scouting to director of pro scouting, and Olson has been promoted to assistant director of college scouting.Dwayne Joseph Takes on Bigger RoleJoseph joined Detroit in 2024 as director of scouting after previously spending five seasons as the Las Vegas Raiders’ director of pro personnel and four seasons as Philadelphia’s director of pro scouting.His promotion gives him an even larger role in a personnel department led by Holmes and assistant general manager Ray Agnew.Joseph arrived after Detroit had already begun its climb into contention, but he quickly became part of a front office charged with maintaining a roster built largely through the draft and player development.Rob Lohman, Joe Kelleher Also PromotedLohman has been with the Lions for years and has played an important role in Detroit’s pro personnel operation.In his previous position, Lohman oversaw pro scouting, free-agent evaluation, advance scouting and the daily monitoring of player movement around professional football.Kelleher is another longtime member of the organization. He joined the Lions in 2011 and has worked in several scouting roles, including pro scout and assistant director of pro scouting.Olson, meanwhile, has been part of Detroit’s scouting department for years and previously served as a national scout.Lions Continue Investing in Personnel DepartmentThese moves are not going to generate the attention of a major signing or trade, but front-office continuity matters.Holmes has repeatedly emphasized Detroit’s draft-and-develop philosophy. The Lions have built a large portion of their core through the draft, then worked to retain players who fit the culture established by Holmes and Dan Campbell.Promoting scouts and personnel executives from within also helps maintain the evaluation process that has become central to Detroit’s roster construction.For a franchise trying to remain a Super Bowl contender rather than simply become one, keeping talented evaluators in the building can be just as important as identifying the next prospect.Bottom LineThe Lions are not only developing players. They are developing their front office, too.Dwayne Joseph, Rob Lohman, Joe Kelleher and Mark Olson have all earned expanded responsibilities as Detroit continues shaping its personnel department under Brad Holmes.The names may not appear on Sundays, but the work they do has a direct impact on who does.

It’s fantasy football mock draft SZN. We completed a chaotic one on YouTube where I leaned heavily into RBs because there were two flex spots and the board just fell that way, but that was a very unique build. Today’s team is far more standard for a full-PPR team. Let’s dive in. Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Football league for the 2026 NFL seasonHere's a look at the full list of picks for the first 10 rounds of the Full-PPR, 12-team mock draft.Hayden WinksRound 1: I picked fourth overall, which is where I want to be in general. In this dream scenario, Puka Nacua fell to me despite me considering him the 1.01 in full-PPR formats. It’d be Nacua, Ja’Marr Chase, Jahmyr Gibbs and then Bijan Robinson for me at the top before a slight tier drop to Christian McCaffrey, Jaxson Smith-Njigba, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jonathan Taylor. That tier has slightly more risk or slightly less upside than the Big 4. What I wouldn’t recommend is James Cook III at third overall, like my friend Aaron. In fact, Cook’s lack of receiving profile keeps him out of my top-12 rankings entirely.Round 2: After the star talents at RB get scooped up, my attention always goes to Brock Bowers in full-PPR re-draft formats. The drop-off at TE scoring after the top-eight this year is concerning, and I’m struggling to find breakout sleepers at the position. Bowers is uniquely set up for a 28% or higher target share while competing for looks with Jalen Nailor and Tre Tucker. That’s the difference between my Round 2 Bowers ranking and my Round 3 Trey McBride ranking. In general, I don’t see any obvious fades in Round 2. I’m most skeptical of Omarion Hampton’s workload and Ashton Jeanty’s touchdown upside early in Round 2, but their upside is obvious. The lone true mistake in this mock draft is Kyren Williams at 2.23, given how much Blake Corum threatened him last year (I drafted Corum later in this draft).Round 3: It’s great to see Malik Nabers go at the Round 2/3 borderline, as he should after looking good in drills early in training camp. I’m still on George Pickens ahead of him, but that gap has closed entirely. The harder player to rank is Jeremiyah Love, who went at 3.29 here. That feels as late as he should be going given his elite prospect profile. I graded him higher than Jeanty, and this Cardinals team won’t be as bad as the Raiders were last year. Josh Allen (3.27) is far safer if you’re into that, while aiming for more upside in the following rounds. Allen is more valuable in half-PPR, but he’s still defensible in the mid-to-late part of this round. I have him 37th overall in this format, baking in how deep the quarterback position is this year.Round 4: This round is going to swing a lot of leagues. There really isn’t a difference between the Round 3 and Round 4 WRs and RBs in my eyes heading into the season, but those differences will widen once games are played. I’m fading Rashee Rice in Round 3, while targeting Jaylen Waddle (4.37), Colston Loveland (4.39), Zay Flowers (4.40), Travis Etienne Jr. (4.41) and Tetairoa McMillan (4.43), all of whom could be values in Rounds 2 and 3 this season. Unfortunately, none of those targets fell to me, but Cam Skattebo provides plenty of upside in a run-based offense that added stud RG Francis Mauigoa in the first round. My least favorite picks were Bucky Irving and David Montgomery, but we’re talking about a difference of 5-10 spots in rankings.Round 5: Yahoo ADPs have the QBs going in Round 4 more often, but this mock draft was sharper. Only Josh Allen went before this round, and then Jayden Daniels, Lamar Jackson, Drake Maye and Joe Burrow came off the board here. Only Daniels had a stacking partner, however, which is something I really look for if I’m drafting one of the elite QBs. That said, this is where these QBs should be going with the RB cliff appearing after Quinshon Judkins in my eyes. The next set of RBs all have to earn their role with their play this season. Tyler Warren was the other notable selection, and it’s hard not to feel even better about him with Alec Pierce still limping around with just one month until the season starts. Warren was excellent with Daniel Jones, even with Pierce and Michael Pittman Jr. involved. Warren is as close to a Round 4 option as he is a Round 6 option.Here's a look at Winks' full roster for this mock draft.Hayden WinksQB: In full-PPR re-draft with the depth of QB being so strong, I’m generally not going to be drafting the elite QBs. After drafting Caleb Williams (Round 7) at ADP, I was hoping to draft another QB2 in the range of Matthew Stafford, Jaxson Dart, Bo Nix, Kyler Murray, Jared Goff or Jordan Love, but they flew off the board. In most leagues that wouldn’t happen, and for the first time in a while, I’m definitely recommending a bench QB in 2026 unless I have Josh Allen, which I won’t on Yahoo given his Round 2 ADP.RB: It’s a recipe for disaster to punt RB. In fact, this is as far as I’m willing to push the position with Cam Skattebo (Round 4), Quinshon Judkins (Round 5), Blake Corum (Round 8) and Jacory Croskey-Merritt (Round 9) as my projected starting options. Skattebo and Judkins had the same broken ankle last year, but before their injuries, they had very fantasy-friendly roles as the clear-cut goal-line options with quality tape to match. Skattebo goes ahead because he catches passes, while Judkins was the best looking RB on tape among the 2025 NFL Draft class. Judkins was the RB25 in full-PPR with a terrible OL and QB situation. That’s likely the case in 2026, too, but there’s only one way to go: Up.Corum was the RB37 from Week 9 on after the Rams’ bye while playing about a third of the snaps. If forced to guess if he plays more or less this year, it’d be more as the rightfully-drafted top handcuff in fantasy football. It’s a great strategy to blindly draft one of Rachaad White or Croskey-Merritt this season. The Commanders’ upside is too high for these RB prices to be this low. So far, both have separated from the No. 3 in the backfield. I closed out the draft with pure backups in Packers RB2 Marshawn Lloyd and Bills RB2 Ray Davis. Both were legit prospects, are attached to great offenses and would be in line for the clear goal-line role if Josh Jacobs or Cook missed time. Lloyd is a great pick with Jacobs dealing with a camp injury and a potential suspension.WR: Nacua might drop 400+ fantasy points (if my bold predictions column comes true). The only players in his mix are Jahmyr Gibbs and Ja’Marr Chase. Afterwards, Pickens (Round 3) fell for no good reason. Even in half-PPR rankings, Pickens is top-25 in all Yahoo analyst’s ranks after putting up WR10 numbers and 77 yards per game in games with CeeDee Lamb. We all know what happens if Lamb misses time. With two WR1s early, there’s no need to force other top-end receivers, especially if your league only starts two WRs, like the Yahoo default settings. The fewer starting spots they’re eligible for, the less they’re valued. Obviously, full-PPR is their best format based on simple #math.Parker Washington (Round 6) is one of the most mispriced players based on Yahoo ADP. I drafted him where he should be going, but there’s a chance he can fall even further if your leaguemates aren’t grinding every beat report out of Jacksonville. I’d be surprised if he’s not a top-36 option this year. The Jaguars love him (and his monster calves). Matthew Golden (Round 10), Xavier Worthy (Round 11) and Travis Hunter (Round 14) are all former first-round receivers on above-average offenses. Let’s see if more playing time, better health and more development allows for them to pay off as sleepers. I like their odds.TE:Brock Bowers (Round 2). That’s it. Sometimes simple is best.K/DEF: I don’t draft kickers or defenses unless the draft is taking place just days before the regular season. There’s far more upside in taking a handcuff RB, a rookie WR or a deep sleeper with preseason and training camps playing out. What happens if there’s an injury that unlocks their projected role? There’s no way for that upside to play out at the specialty spots. That said, the Rams defense with Myles Garrett, Aaron Donald, Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson added in one offseason is enough of an exception to have some fun.

Challenges in the NFL can alter the course of a game and a season. For head coaches, having control and power over that means a lot to them, but soon that power may be transferred to the sidelines after a recent rule change was made in the league. Earlier this week, it was reported that the NFL will allow head coaches to designate an assistant coach to be able to throw challenge flags. Previously, only the head coaches had the power to challenge plays, but now this will allow them to dole out that responsibility. This marks the first rule change related to challenges since 1999. For the Vikings, Kevin O'Connell was 9-for-16 on challenges heading into 2025. Perhaps passing it off won't be a thing for him, considering the luck and results he seems to be getting handling them at the moment.This article originally appeared on Vikings Wire: NFL updates rules surronding challenges from the sideline

Nature, Published online: 12 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41598-026-65395-7Digital phenotyping captures autism-associated behaviors in preschool- and school-age autistic children with and without co-occurring ADHD

Nature, Published online: 12 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-76534-zThe authors synthesize polycrystalline La3-xNdxNi2O7 with record-level rare-earth Nd substitution (x = 2.4) creating chemical pressure. Radio-frequency transmission reveals superconducting signatures up to 100.5 K under 33 GPa pressure.

Nature, Published online: 12 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41534-026-01338-4Photon subtraction using a three-level emitter coupled to a chiral waveguide

Nature, Published online: 12 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41598-026-66317-3AI-assisted acceleration combined with deep learning of the knee: feasibility of anomaly detection

Nature, Published online: 12 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41598-026-66295-6Study on the spatial and temporal evolution of land use in the Yellow River Delta based on optimal analysis grain size

Rescue workers carry a survivor Daniela Largo after pulling her from the rubble the day after an earthquake struck Pereira, Colombia, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)2026-08-12T14:43:37Z NEW YORK (AP) — For those trapped in rubble after an earthquake, survival depends on many factors, including weather and access to water and air.If their injuries aren’t too severe, victims can survive for a week or more, assuming the weather isn’t too hot or cold, experts say.Two days after a powerful deadly earthquake struck western Colombia, rescue teams are racing against the clock to search for survivors.Most rescues happen in the 24 hours after a disaster. The chances of survival drop with each day after that, experts say. Most victims are badly injured or buried by falling stones or other debris.After the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, a teenager and his 80-year-old grandmother were found alive after nine days trapped in their flattened home. And the year before, a 16-year-old Haitian girl was rescued from earthquake rubble in Port-au-Prince after 15 days. Water and air are crucial as time passesTrapped victims are more likely to survive if they are in a debris-free pocket that prevents major injury while they await rescue, like under a sturdy desk, said geophysicist Victor Tsai from Brown University. Experts call this a survivable void space.If fire, smoke or hazardous chemicals were released as a result of the building collapse, they may decrease a person’s survival odds, said emergency response expert Dr. Joseph Barbera at George Washington University. Beyond that, having air to breathe and water to drink are crucial as the days go on. Read More “You could survive a while without food,” Barbera said. “You could survive less without water.”Temperatures where someone is trapped may affect survival, and temperatures outside the rubble can affect rescue missions.In Colombia, where governments across Latin America have offered help, authorities have said most of the earthquake deaths occurred in the cities of Cali, Pereira, Manizales and Quibdo, but there is less information about rural areas.There have been signs of hope, including a 32-year-old woman who was pulled from a collapsed building in Pereira after being trapped for 36 hours.It can be important for survivors to receive vital medical care before they are removed from the rubble, Barbera said. If not, the buildup of toxins from crushed muscles could make them go into shock after they are rescued. What to do during an earthquakeThe best practices for survival during an earthquake depend on where you are in the world. Building codes in regions with active fault lines are often designed to withstand earthquakes, but that doesn’t hold true everywhere.In many countries, including the United States, the best practices are to drop, seek cover and hang on unless you are close to a building exit. Seek shelter under a heavy table or near sturdy furniture that may yield a survivable pocket if the roof collapses. Cover your face with cloth or a mask to protect from dust and debris.If you are trapped in the rubble after an earthquake, save your energy and don’t overexert. Ration food and water, listen for rescue calls and search for something near you to make noise. If you have a phone with you, conserve its battery and try for help in short spurts each day.___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. ADITHI RAMAKRISHNAN Ramakrishnan is a science reporter for The Associated Press, based in New York. She covers research and new developments related to space, early human history and more. twitter mailto

NBA official Joey Crawford is seen during an NBA basketball game between the Los Angeles Clippers and Milwaukee Bucks, Dec. 20, 2014, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Danny Moloshok, File)2026-08-12T10:00:06Z Joey Crawford had no backup plan.He would watch Philadelphia 76ers games in the 1960s, and probably unlike most kids growing up in that area around that time he had no aspirations of becoming the next Wilt Chamberlain or Billy Cunningham.Crawford was the son of a baseball umpire — Shag Crawford worked in the National League for about 20 years. And that’s why, when watching basketball, Joey Crawford was drawn to the referees. It was the family business.“My father was a pro and he would be pointing out Mendy Rudolph, Richie Powers, Earl Strom,” Crawford said, referring to some of the game’s most prominent referees of that era. “I’d just be watching them. And my father, he’s hitting me with the sledgehammer: ‘You’re not gonna play professional baseball, you’re not gonna play professional baseball.’ He wasn’t going to let me be that guy. So, I just earmarked refereeing.” He was 13 years old. His mind was made up. Refereeing would be his path.Little did he know it would take him to the Hall of Fame.More than a decade after his final NBA game, Crawford is getting enshrined in this year’s Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame class. The Hall is reserved for the best of the best, the elite, and for referees the club is especially elite — with fewer than two dozen people getting enshrined because of their work with whistles.“With Joey, especially if you were away from home, you had a chance to win,” said longtime NBA coach Mike D’Antoni, another member of the Hall’s Class of 2026. “He was going to call the game the way it should be called, whether it’s home or away.” Crawford’s numbers are legendary: He officiated more than 2,500 regular-season games, nearly 400 more in the postseason and 50 of those were in the NBA Finals. He was a lightning rod for critics, doesn’t deny that he had issues with his temper particularly in his earlier years, and wound up becoming one of the game’s most beloved figures. Read More And he became a bit of a showman along the way, unafraid to put a funny personality on display. Doc Rivers, who is going into the Hall as part of this class as well, loves the story of how he was tasked with guarding a rookie named Michael Jordan in a game that Crawford was officiating. Rivers argued that Jordan traveled.“You didn’t give me that call when I was a rookie,” Rivers told him.Crawford’s response: “You were not that good.”“It shut me up completely. I had nothing else to say,” Rivers said. “I thought Joey was fantastic about understanding the room and the person he was dealing with and how to get out of a situation.”Crawford remembers his final game — Nov. 8, 2015, Cleveland beating Indiana — not because of anything that happened on the court before he limped off in the third quarter, his long-problematic knees leaving him unable to finish, but rather for what happened in the referee locker room afterward.“It was my last game. I knew it. Blew my leg out. And I knew I wasn’t going to ref again,” Crawford said. “Richard Jefferson was on the Cavs. He knocked on the door and asked security if he could come in.“He looked at me and said, ‘You’re done, aren’t you?’ I said I was and he says, ‘You know, a lot of people hate you. But I tell a lot these players, everybody should have a Joe Crawford experience.’ Every time I tell the story, I start to well up, because you come to the realization that everybody doesn’t hate you. And I’ve given people reasons to. I look back on them and I’m not fond of those times.” Crawford was charged in a 1998 tax scandal involving airline tickets that he and other referees were accused of selling and not reporting the income. He wound up resigning, only to be reinstated by then-Commissioner David Stern. And in 2007, Crawford had a now-infamous incident with San Antonio star Tim Duncan — calling two technicals on the Spurs legend for laughing from the bench. That got him suspended.Crawford always wondered if those things would keep him out of the hall. He now has his answer.“The game is about the players,” Crawford said. “I don’t care what anybody says, the players are the key to this. And I’m not taking the political line here. But if you’re a ref, which I am — I am a ref through and through — we know it’s not about us. Our job is to get the play right. Technology has changed, the money has changed, but the job hasn’t. But I hope, in my way, I helped make refereeing better.”That’s exactly what he did. Turns out, no backup plan was required.___AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba TIM REYNOLDS Reynolds is an Associated Press sports writer, based in South Florida. twitter mailto

Memphis ISD announced on Tuesday, Aug. 11 that the Cyclones' 2026 football season will look a little different.According to a social media post from the school district, Memphis doesn't have enough players to fill out a full roster for the upcoming campaign."Due to a lack of numbers for a full squad, our standard football season has been officially cancelled. However, we are not letting the gridiron go cold. We are shifting gears completely and hitting the field to play Outlaw 6-man football instead! Get ready for an incredibly fast, high-scoring, and electric styler of football. It is going to be a wild season, and we need our fans in the stands louder than ever" the social media post read.Big news out of Memphis today! pic.twitter.com/dCO7gXb0ve— Mike Roden (@MichaelDRoden) August 11, 2026The Cyclones were set to compete in District 5-2A Division II along with Clarendon, Quanah, Wellington, Wheeler and Shamrock, but will instead play an "outlaw" six-man schedule, meaning the team will play an independent schedule separate from the UIL.Head coach David Jurado's team finished 2-8 in 2025, earning wins against Crosbyton and Ralls. Memphis reported a student enrollment count of 116 to the UIL in October 2025 as part of UIL Realignment.While the Cyclones haven't revealed their updated schedule for the 2026 season, the school district's social media post noted that more information is "coming soon".This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Memphis pivots 2026 football season to 'outlaw' six-man schedule

Arsenal hold a "genuine" interest in Bayer Leverkusen forward Christian Kofane and talks have taken place between both clubs regarding the 20-year-old, according to the player's representative.The Cameroon international featured 44 times for the Bundesliga outfit throughout last season, which included appearances in both legs of their Champions League last-16 fixture against Mikel Arteta’s team.He ended the campaign with seven goals during his first year in top-flight football, having made the switch from Spanish Segunda Division outfit Albacete a year ago."Yes, Arsenal’s interest is genuine," agent Eric Depolo told the Daily Arsenal website. "The manager likes him very much."I think it is too early to say (Kofane’s next destination), but due to the fact that the player speaks Spanish, like Mikel Arteta, and that William Saliba is originally from Cameroon, I would say Arsenal are in pole position.Mikel Arteta is keen to strengthen his squad (Getty)"There is contact between me and Arsenal. But their focus right now is to win the league. From there everything will start moving."Arteta stated this week that Arsenal are eager to make further additions this summer, having already recruited Club Brugge’s Christos Tzolis alongside Newcastle captain Bruno Guimaraes.Asked if supporters should anticipate more acquisitions in the coming months, Arteta replied: "That’s what we’re trying to do."If we have the right player in the market to make us much better, we are very looking forward to that."Kofane, who scored twice for Cameroon during the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco last term, previously revealed to German publication Kicker that he would welcome a Premier League transfer."I can certainly imagine it, yes. It’s one of the best leagues in the world," he said. "But I want to take it step by step. I’m young and still have big plans with Bayer Leverkusen."Bayer Leverkusen a great club that has given me a great opportunity and a lot of confidence. I feel very comfortable here."After spending more than £100million so far this window, Arsenal could be forced into selling players before making further additions.Academy graduate and England international Myles Lewis-Skelly has reportedly been offered to Chelsea and Manchester United having struggled for regular team inclusion last season.

The Chicago Bears are two weeks into training camp, and there's been plenty of interesting developments that have shaken up potential roster projections and depth charts.With Chicago's first preseason game against the Cleveland Browns coming up Saturday, we'll get our first live-action glimpse at this current roster. Not only will it provide us a look at players entrenched in position battles and new rookie additions, but with it being the first preseason game, we'll see how the coaching staff views this current depth chart by who plays and who doesn't (or for how long). The starters aren't expected to see much, if any, action. But there are opportunities for bubble players to make a strong impression.With two weeks of training camp in the books and the preseason on deck, here's our latest 53-man roster projection for the Bears, which features some difficult cuts.Quarterback (3): Caleb Williams, Tyson Bagent, Case KeenumNo surprises here. The Bears carried three quarterbacks last season, so there's no reason to assume that won't be the same in 2026. Case Keenum has served as another coach for Caleb Williams and Tyson Bagent in that room. Williams is looking to build on his breakout sophomore campaign in Year 2 with Ben Johnson, and it doesn't hurt having a couple of solid backups in that room.Running back (3): D'Andre Swift, Kyle Monangai, Salvon AhmedThere's no question that D'Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai are locks for the roster to run back Chicago's third-ranked rushing attack from last season. But the question is whether the Bears will carry three or four running backs. Assuming it's three, like last year's initial roster, it's a battle between Roschon Johnson and Salvon Ahmed, who's been a standout player in training camp. Ahmed gets the nod for now, and he could continue to make a strong case for a roster spot.Wide receiver (6): Rome Odunze, Luther Burden III, Kalif Raymond, Jahdae Walker, Zavion Thomas, Kaden DavisThe wide receiver group is essentially set with Rome Odunze, Luther Burden III, Kalif Raymond, Jahdae Walker and Zavion Thomas. That leaves one spot potentially open for a slew of players. One name that continues to stand out is Kaden Davis, who's had several highlight days, and he figures to be a preseason darling for Chicago. Whether that's enough to earn a roster spot remains to be seen. For now, he gets my final spot.Tight end (3): Colston Loveland, Cole Kmet, Sam RoushThe Bears tight end group has been set for a while with Colston Loveland, Cole Kmet and rookie Sam Roush, who make up one of the best TE rooms in the NFL. Loveland is coming off an impressive rookie season and is primed for a breakout year as one of the league's best tight ends. Meanwhile, Kmet continues to be an invaluable part of this offense while Roush is expected to serve a key role in his rookie season.Offensive line (10): Braxton Jones, Joe Thuney, Garrett Bradbury, Jonah Jackson, Darnell Wright, Logan Jones, Jedrick Wills Jr., Theo Benedet, Jordan McFadden, Luke NewmanFour of five starting spots on Chicago's offensive line is already locked down with left tackle the only position left to finalize between Braxton Jones, Jedrick Wills Jr. and Kiran Amegadjie. Jones gets the starting nod with Wills getting the backup job and former third-round pick Amegadjie gets the axe here. Meanwhile, the Bears load up with some talented reserves to round out the room. Left tackle Ozzy Trapilo is expected to start the season on injured reserve, but general manager Ryan Poles hinted that Trapilo could return as soon as the end of training camp. For now, we start him on IR.Defensive line (9): Montez Sweat, Austin Booker, Grady Jarrett, Gervon Dexter, Dayo Odeyingbo, Neville Gallimore, Jordan van den Berg, Daniel Hardy, Shemar TurnerThe Bears are expecting big things from their defensive line after being near the bottom of the league in sacks and run defense last season. There aren't many surprises with this group with Montez Sweat, Austin Booker, Grady Jarrett, Gervon Dexter, Dayo Odeyingbo and Neville Gallimore. Sixth-round rookie Jordan van den Berg has made a strong impression and could factor into the interior rotational. Daniel Hardy's special teams contributions makes him a shoo-in. Meanwhile, Shemar Turner remains on the PUP list, but big things are expected from him when he returns.Linebacker (6): T.J. Edwards, Devin Bush, D'Marco Jackson, Jack Sanborn, Noah Sewell, Keyshaun ElliottThe Bears have their starting linebacker duo set with T.J. Edwards and Devin Bush with D'Marco Jackson and Jack Sanborn serving as key depth pieces. Noah Sewell and Keyshaun Elliott are currently on the physically unable to perform list, so we'll have to monitor them and make adjustments accordingly. Last year's fourth-round pick Ruben Hyppolite gets the axe here in a crowded room, barring a corresponding roster move.Cornerback (6): Jaylon Johnson, Kyler Gordon, Tyrique Stevenson, Malik Muhammad, Josh Blackwell, Jaylon JonesNo surprise with Jaylon Johnson and Tyrique Stevenson, the projected starters on the outside. Kyler Gordon remains on the physically unable to perform list, but the expectation (or hope, rather) is that he's good to go for the regular season. While Gordon's lack of availability has been frustrating, there's no denying he's the best option at nickel. Rookie Malik Muhammad has been getting looks at nickel and outside, and it wouldn't be a surprise to see him get reps as a rookie. Terell Smith is unfortunately the odd man out just one year removed from a devastating knee injury, given Josh Blackwell and Jaylon Jones' value as specialists and versatility in the secondary.Safety (4): Dillon Thieneman, Xavier Woods, Cam Lewis, Elijah HicksThe Bears will be without top safety Coby Bryant for most of the 2026 season after he had surgery on his knee and will miss four to six months. That leaves rookie Dillon Thieneman and new veteran addition Xavier Woods as the team's projected starting safeties. Cam Lewis makes the cut at safety, although he was getting work at nickel cornerback before Bryant's injury, so he brings versatility. Assuming Elijah Hicks returns from the physically unable to perform list, undrafted rookie Skyler Thomas, who's been a standout, is cut.Special teams (3): Cairo Santos, Tory Taylor, Beau GardnerThere are no surprises here on special teams with kicker Cairo Santos, punter Tory Taylor and long snapper Beau Gardner. Santos and Taylor haven't faced any competition while Gardner beat out Luke Elkin for the starting long snapper job, after Elkin was waived earlier their week.Follow Bears Wire on Twitter, Facebook and InstagramThis article originally appeared on Bears Wire: Chicago Bears 53-man roster prediction after 2 weeks of training camp

IndyCar has unveiled the first portion of its 2027 schedule. On August 5, Phoenix Raceway announced that IndyCar would return for a second straight year in conjunction with the NASCAR Cup Series, which verified that IndyCar would begin 2027 with the same three races as 2026. Now, the series has confirmed that the season will start with the same eight races as 2026.Here's how the start of the 2027 season will look, with each race being broadcast on Fox.Sunday, March 7: St. Petersburg, Florida (street)Saturday, March 13: Phoenix Raceway (oval)Sunday, March 21: Arlington, Texas (street)Sunday, April 4: Barber Motorsports Park (road)Sunday, April 18: Long Beach (street)Saturday, May 15: Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course (road)Sunday, May 30: Indianapolis 500 (oval)Sunday, June 6: Detroit (street)As the start of the season has been pushed back a week, IndyCar's 17th race at Barber Motorsports Park will be in April again. IndyCar wanted to return to Phoenix Raceway alongside NASCAR, which owns the track, while also wanting three straight race weekends to begin the season again. Pushing back the start of the season by a week allowed that to happen. With Memorial Day being a week later, both races at IMS are also a week later, causing the Detroit Grand Prix to be a week later."It has been another remarkable year of growth through our powerful partnership with Fox Sports, and we look forward to focusing on even greater opportunities through the 2027 NTT IndyCar Series schedule," Penske Entertainment CEO and president Mark Miles said in a news release. "We are pleased to confirm Phase One of next year’s championship alongside another accelerated start with races in St. Petersburg, Phoenix and Arlington. 2026 has been proof of concept that our sport is fueled by an expanding presence across marquee events and destinations, and we look forward to carrying that momentum into 2027."Said IndyCar president Doug Boles: "The start to this year’s 2026 season was action-packed, and it’s gratifying to know the stage is set for a return to that frantic pace in 2027. St. Pete has become an ideal host to begin our season, and the reaction to the series’ return to historic Phoenix Raceway made our partnership with NASCAR and Fox all the more special. To finish that stretch with a marquee event on the Streets of Arlington will be a fitting way to lead into another heated season-long battle for the NTT IndyCar Series championship."There are several races and dates to be determined for the back half of the schedule. It's unclear if IndyCar will choose to race World Wide Technology Raceway a week after Detroit, as it did this year to end a grueling stretch, or if the race will fall later in the summer. The series must also decide if its race at Nashville Superspeedway will return as the season finale after being scheduled for July 19 (and raced on July 20 after a rain postponement) this year. After the groundbreaking Freedom 250 Grand Prix on the streets of Washington, D.C., on Aug. 23, IndyCar will have to decide if it returns to the nation's capital. IndyCar's brass has repeatedly called it a one-time event, but D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has lobbied for it to become an annual race.With much to be finalized regarding the second half of the 2027 season, IndyCar has solidified an early-season schedule that isn't too different from the start of 2026.Zion Brown is IndyStar's motorsports reporter. Follow him at @z10nbr0wn. Get IndyStar's motor sports coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Motor Sports newsletter. Subscribe to the YouTube channel IndyStar TV: IndyCar for a behind-the-scenes look at IndyCar and expert analysis.This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IndyCar announces first 8 races of 2027 schedule

Usually, there is no reason to focus on MLB free agency in August. It's three months away and there's playoffs to worry about.Except this year, baseball's traditionally drawn-out free agency period is expected to be a frenzy, condensed into the three weeks between the end of the World Series and the end of the collective bargaining agreement. The market opens five days after the World Series ends. The labor deal expires at 11:59 p.m. ET on Dec. 1, and a lockout is widely expected the moment it does. The last one ran 99 days and froze every signing and trade in the sport. This one could be worse, because the owners want a salary cap and the union has spent decades saying that's not even in the conversation.So, the players about to hit the market are looking at a narrow chance in November where deals can actually get done under the current CBA before the expected lockout.These last two months will matter more than they normally would. Almost every name in this free agent class just changed teams at the deadline. Tarik Skubal is a Dodger. Freddy Peralta is a Ray. Luis Arraez is a Phillie. Kevin Gausman and Clay Holmes are Cubs.They're all auditioning somewhere new, right now, for a market that might slam shut before anyone gets their money. Here's the top free agents heading into 2027 ... or 2028:Why Tarik Skubal is the only sure thing on the marketHe is the class of the class and it isn't close. Two Cy Youngs, 29 years old, chasing the biggest contract ever handed to a starting pitcher. He had a bone chip taken out of his elbow earlier this year, which is the only question about an otherwise simple market.His agent, Scott Boras, doesn't mind a slow winter − he's managed them before. He has the ace of the class and the wallets will open up for him whenever the business of baseball returns to wins and losses.Top MLB free agent pitchers for 2027The class has pitching depth, but most of it comes with questions attached. These aren't guys sailing into November on career years, they are trying to prove something in these last six weeks. Freddy Peralta, 30, went 17-6 last year with a 2.70 ERA and finished fifth in the Cy Young voting. He's 5-9 with a 5.33 ERA this year and struggles to miss bats. He has the last few weeks with the Tampa Bay Rays and their magic pitching factory to resurrect his free agent value.Kevin Gausman is 35 − he'll 36 by Opening Day − and he's been a middle-of-the-rotation arm this season. But he's made 31 starts every year since 2022, and somebody always pays for innings. He's continuing his case with the Cubs after Toronto dealt him.Behind them are Shane Bieber, 30; Brandon Woodruff, 33; Robbie Ray, 34; and Luis Severino, 32.The best position players in the 2027 free agent classThere aren't many bats available in this class. Luis Arraez, 29, is a three-time batting champ who just landed in the Phillies lineup, which is about the best setup he can get two months before he hits the market. Jazz Chisholm Jr., 28, and Randy Arozarena, 31, come after him. Ian Happ, 31, Brandon Lowe, 32, Seiya Suzuki, 31, J.P. Crawford, 31, Trent Grisham, 29 and Taylor Ward, 32, are also in this thin group.Gleyber Torres, 29, is worth watching too. He is only one of three second baseman in this class who hasn't turned 30 yet. Which MLB players will opt out after the 2026 season?Injuries took care of a lot of these decisions.Corbin Burnes, 31, can walk away from four years and $140 million in Arizona. He had Tommy John surgery in June 2025 and has yet to return, so he's probably not going anywhere. Jose Berrios, 32, had Tommy John in May and won't pitch again until the middle of 2027. It will certainly be with Toronto.Michael King has been here before. The 31-year-old hit the market last winter and came right back to San Diego for three years and $75 million. The deal lets him leave after this season with a $5 million buyout instead of collecting $53 million over the next two years. If he's healthy, he's probably taking the buyout.Clay Holmes, 33 is an interesting case. He closed for the Yankees, made two All-Star teams doing it, then turned into a legitimate starter with the Mets. He suffered a broken fibula in May and just made his first start back and after being dealt to the Cubs. He has a $12 million option and if he has a strong August, September and October, he will decline.Bo Bichette, 28, is the genuinely interesting one. He signed for three years and $126 million with the Mets, including opt-outs every season. Walking after his first miserable season in Queens is over means giving up $84 million after hitting .236. Still, many in the business believe he will leave. Why the pending MLB lockout makes November a deadlineEvery player here knows what's coming. Take the November deal and there is the security of knowing exactly what you have, or wait it out and find out what the new rules look like − with nobody able to tell you when the waiting ends.The unofficial deadline for losing regular season games is early-to-mid-March. That's a long time to sit unemployed.The guys with the least leverage will try to sign in November. Teams know that and will take advantage of it. Skubal, on the other hand, can wait as long as he likes. The money will be there.This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: The best MLB free agents this offseason, and how lockout could change it all

Two anti-LGBTQ+ Catholic schools in Colorado will get their case heard at the Supreme Court on November 3, the Court announced on Monday. St. Mary Catholic Parish in Littleton and St. Bernadette Catholic Parish in Lakewood, Colorado, along with two parents and the Archdiocese of Denver, are plaintiffs in the case about whether schools that discriminate against the children of same-sex couples have a constitutional right to state funding for preschool. Related The Supreme Court is about to let religion ruin public education The lawsuit, filed in 2023, challenges Colorado’s Universal Preschool Program’s mandate to “accept any applicant without regard to a student or family’s religion, sexual orientation, or gender identity.” The law creating the universal preschool program was approved by voters in 2020 and provides Colorado families with 15 hours of state-funded preschool per week. The Catholic schools say that the antidiscrimination clause violates their “religious beliefs and their religious obligations as entities that carry out the Catholic Church’s mission of Catholic education in northern Colorado.” They say that the First Amendment’s guarantee of free exercise of religion means they should get taxpayer money while refusing to serve entire classes of taxpayers. Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today “Any providers who do not participate in the UPK program will be severely disadvantaged since they will be forced to charge significantly higher prices than the participating programs—both secular and religious—which aren’t religiously barred from participating in the UPK program,” the lawsuit argues. In a statement, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis’ (D) office said it was “unfortunate to see different groups of adults attempting to co-opt preschool for themselves, perhaps because they want to not allow gay parents to send their kids to preschool.” The Catholic schools lost their case at the district court and, this past October, a federal appeals court ruled against them. “While the Constitution protects religious freedom, courts have long recognized the simple reality that the government must be able to enforce the law equally against everyone, no matter an individual’s beliefs,” US Circuit Judge Richard Federico wrote for the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. But losing twice doesn’t mean the Catholic schools don’t have a shot at winning at the Supreme Court. The Hill reports that the lawsuit challenges a Supreme Court ruling from 1990 in Employment Division v. Smith, where the Court ruled that laws could be applied even if they burden a person’s or an organization’s free exercise rights, as long as the law is neutral and applied fairly. Three Supreme Court justices – Justices Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito – have all said that the ruling should be overturned. Earlier this year, the Trump administration pushed the Supreme Court to hear the case, with US Solicitor General John Sauer arguing that too many laws have been deemed “neutral” since the 1990 ruling. “If this Court is looking for a vehicle to address this threshold question, this petition appears to present the cleanest option,” he wrote. A ruling in the case is expected in the first half of 2027. The Supreme Court already announced that it would hear another LGBTQ+ case later this year. International Partners for Ethical Care, Inc. v. Ferguson is a challenge to several Washington state laws that allow minors in shelters access to health care – including gender-affirming care – without contacting their parents. Advocates of that law say it’s necessary to keep minors off the street, while conservatives argue that it undermines parental authority. Subscribe to the LGBTQ Nation newsletter and be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

Nature, Published online: 12 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41598-026-66458-5Retraction Note: Combined inhibition of AKT/mTOR and MDM2 enhances Glioblastoma Multiforme cell apoptosis and differentiation of cancer stem cells

Nature, Published online: 12 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41598-026-63846-9Correction: A five-dimensional classical framework for gravitational and quantum phenomena

Nature, Published online: 12 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41419-026-09183-1Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals pro-tumorigenic intestinal mast cell programs in colorectal cancer

Nature, Published online: 12 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41598-026-66659-yExperiences of kinesiophobia in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a qualitative phenomenological study

Nature, Published online: 12 August 2026; doi:10.1038/s41598-026-66068-1Multi-level violence recognition via hybrid convolutional-attention and recurrent architectures

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David Crowley, Democratic candidate for Wisconsin governor speaks to supporters gathered at the Sheboygan County Democratic Party office during a campaign stop Friday, Aug. 7, 2026, in Sheboygan, Wis. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)2026-08-12T15:10:33Z MADISON, Wis. (AP) — David Crowley’s razor-thin primary win over a democratic socialist in swing state Wisconsin sets up a match against a congressman who has voted with President Donald Trump 100% of the time, a dream scenario for Democrats and a potential nightmare for Republicans.Crowley overcame Francesca Hong in dramatic, narrow fashion in Tuesday’s primary, stunning pundits and pollsters who had long placed Hong as the frontrunner. That means Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany must pivot to face a challenger from Milwaukee, the state’s largest source of Democratic voters, known for working across the aisle with Republicans. Crowley immediately leans into Tiffany’s ties with TrumpIn his first comments Wednesday after his win, Crowley immediately linked Tiffany to Trump and called him a “MAGA extremist,” referring to Trump’s Make America Great Again movement. Crowley promised to build a broad coalition to defeat Tiffany, who he accused of being in “lockstep” with Trump.“The biggest difference between me and the congressman is I’m loyal to the people of Wisconsin, I’m not loyal to MAGA,” Crowley said.It will be easier for Tiffany to pivot away from his ties with Trump and unpopular federal policies because he’s running for governor and not U.S. Senate, said former Republican Gov. Scott Walker, a Trump supporter.“He’s got to be on point, on message every time that comes up and say ‘that’s not what’s on the ballot,’” Walker told The Associated Press. “What’s on the ballot is who’s going to be governor the next four years.”Trump won Wisconsin in 2024 and 2016, but lost in 2020. All three elections were decided by less than a percentage point. Crowley’s win on Tuesday was even more narrow — less than half a point, further cementing Wisconsin’s well-earned place as one of the most purple states in the country. Democrats look for a trifecta in WisconsinDemocrats have been savoring the shift in focus from their chaotic primary to the general election against Tiffany, an opponent they’ve long seen as vulnerable. They hope to capitalize on Trump’s low approval ratings to retain control of the governor’s office and flip both chambers of the Legislature to earn full control of Wisconsin state government for the first time since 2010. Read More Just as Crowley highlighted his Republican opponent’s ties to Trump, Tiffany began the general election campaign with a message connecting Crowley to Hong, “I’ve said all along that there’s not a dime’s worth of difference between these Democrat candidates,” Tiffany said in a statement Wednesday. “His record in Milwaukee County shows exactly what Wisconsin would get: mismanage the government, run up the bill, and raise your taxes to pay for it.”Walker, who once held the same job Crowley now has as Milwaukee county executive, said Tiffany’s messaging was on point: “High taxes, high costs, failing schools, make that the definition of David Crowley.” Crowley’s surprise win came after he had dropped out of the raceCrowley has been the head of Wisconsin’s largest county since 2020. Prior to that, he served just over three years in the state Assembly. In 2023, as county executive, Crowley helped spearhead a bipartisan deal in the Legislature that sent more state aid to Milwaukee and local communities. Crowley dropped out of the governor’s race on July 8, saying he didn’t see a path to victory. He rejoined it on July 18, less than a month before Tuesday’s primary. With the backing of Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, a fellow moderate who crisscrossed the state with him in the final week, Crowley pulled out the narrow win on the argument that he was the better matchup against Tiffany.“Obviously Hong was the never-ending gift in terms of one gaffe after another, wasn’t really ready for prime time,” Walker said. “But Crowley didn’t get any real scrutiny either.”Crowley planned to appear at a unity event later Wednesday with Democratic leaders including U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin before launching a statewide tour.Crowley, 40, became the first Black person to win a major party nomination for Wisconsin governor. Now he’s vying to become the state’s first Black governor.“This historic moment is not lost on me. But I’m not even thinking about that because we’ve still got work to do,” Crowley said. “The job is not done. The job is not finished. My job is not to become the first, and if I do become the first, my job is to make sure I’m not the last.” SCOTT BAUER Bauer is the AP’s Statehouse reporter covering politics and state government in Madison, Wisconsin. He also writes music reviews. twitter mailto

David Crowley, Democratic candidate for Wisconsin governor speaks to supporters gathered at the Sheboygan County Democratic Party office during a campaign stop Friday, Aug. 7, 2026, in Sheboygan, Wis. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)2026-08-12T15:00:07Z LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles Lakers are being sold to businessmen Josh Kushner and Bob Iger for a record-breaking price, the second such sale in a year.This sale agreement is $12.5 billion, according to a person familiar with the terms who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Wednesday because neither side revealed specific details.ESPN first reported that Kushner and Iger are buying the NBA’s most valuable franchise, which was valued last year at $10 billion when Mark Walter purchased a controlling stake from the Buss family. The two businessmen had been involved in trying to get an expansion team for Las Vegas.By buying the Lakers, Iger and Kushner simply don’t have to wait for that decision. Expansion, if it happens, could take place in the 2028-29 season.The sale still will need approval from the NBA’s board of governors, and that process can take several weeks. The next board meeting is set for next month in New York. The $12.5 billion price tag is not only record-setting for U.S. pro sports but it continues a trend of NBA franchise values skyrocketing. Only three years ago, Michael Jordan sold his majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets for a $3 billion valuation, and the Boston Celtics were sold last year at a valuation of just over $6 billion, then a record.Walter’s purchase of a controlling stake in the Lakers in June 2025 blew that away, and now Iger and Kushner have pushed the bar even higher. Walter’s purchase was approved by NBA owners last October. He originally bought a 27% minority stake in the Lakers in 2021 before the 2025 sale. That was part of a franchise valuation of $10 billion — the highest ever set for a pro sports team. Read More The Lakers have won 17 championships going back to the franchise’s early years in Minneapolis, the second-most in NBA history behind Boston’s 18. It is a global brand, always at or near the top of the league’s merchandise-sales rankings.This record sale price comes just weeks after LeBron James, the league’s all-time leading scorer, left the Lakers after eight seasons to become a free agent. James ultimately decided to sign with the Philadelphia 76ers. ___AP Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds contributed to this report.___AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba

People dressed in protective gear lower into a grave the coffin containing the remains of Jeannine Katusabe, who died of Ebola, during a burial service in Bunia, Ituri province, eastern Congo, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Dieudonne Dirole)2026-08-12T15:08:55Z GENEVA (AP) — The ongoing Ebola outbreak in Congo is on track to eclipse the deadliest one in history that killed over 11,000 people out of more than 28,000 cases, the head of the World Health Organization said Wednesday.“At its current pace, it’s on track to eclipse the West African Ebola outbreak of 2014 to 2016,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters.The outbreak in eastern Congo, considered the fastest-growing in history, has killed over 2,000 people out of more than 4,300 cases.The current outbreak was declared on May 15, but health authorities now say sequencing showed it began months earlier, in February. It is unlike most previous Ebola outbreaks because the rare Bundibugyo virus responsible for it has no approved vaccines or treatments.Experts say the outbreak is moving faster than efforts to track and manage it in a remote part of eastern Congo facing ongoing conflict, near the borders with South Sudan, Uganda and Rwanda. Most of the new cases and deaths are still being reported in communities outside the reach of health workers. 获取更多RSS：https://feedx.net https://feedx.site

People dressed in protective gear lower into a grave the coffin containing the remains of Jeannine Katusabe, who died of Ebola, during a burial service in Bunia, Ituri province, eastern Congo, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Dieudonne Dirole)2026-08-12T15:08:06Z MIAMI (AP) — Tropical Storm Cristobal formed Wednesday in the Atlantic Ocean well west of the Azores, forecasters said.There were no coastal watches or warnings in effect, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said, and the storm was forecast to dissipate on Thursday.Meanwhile, in the Pacific Ocean, the NHC initiated advisories on Potential Tropical Cyclone One-C, which is located about 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometers) east-southeast of the Hawaiian Islands.The NHC said the system is expected to strengthen before nearing the Hawaiian Islands by late Friday.

This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Ewan McGregor, left, and Anne Hathaway in a scene from "The End of Oak Street." (Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)2026-08-12T15:01:05Z At the end of the block in David Robert Mitchell’s “The End of Oak Street,” is a cul-de-sac with a telephone pole in the middle and wires radiating out like the cables of a big top. It’s a fitting touch for a breakneck, carnivalesque movie made with throwback showmanship.Summer movies, of course, are not known for lacking in circus-like mayhem. But much of the pastiche delight of the 1980s-set “The End of Oak Street,” a mid-August surprise, is how it absorbs an Amblin-style blockbuster spirit and conjures, without winking irony or belabored homage, a summer thrill ride seemingly designed for the drive-in.Mitchell’s breakthrough was the nifty 2014 horror “It Follows,” which he followed up with an admirably ambitious but shaggily self-indulgent Los Angeles neo noir, “Under the Silver Lake.” But any indulgences in “The End of Oak Street,” about a 1980s suburban family whose neighborhood is transported through time, are for the audience. “The End of Oak Street” is a bonkers blast. It’s best going in not knowing anything about the movie’s twists, so tread carefully on the rest of this review. That’s not to say that an enormous amount of “The End of Oak Street” isn’t immediately familiar, starting with the central family.The Platts live in what looks like a San Fernando Valley neighborhood full of split levels and tidy little streets. Denise (Anne Hathaway) and Greg (Ewan McGregor) have two kids and a dog named Starbuck. Audrey (Maisy Stella) is a teenager and Brian (Christian Convery) is her younger brother. But from the moment we meet them, during a neighborhood fair, there are obvious cracks in their all-American life. Greg is working a side job delivering pizzas while Denise is secretly typing up a maybe-aspirational novel about a woman dreaming of leaving her family. The kids have their own secrets, too. They suspect their parents are on the cusp of divorcing, and so, seemingly, do Greg and Denise. Read More Such a framework for sci-fi cataclysm is, naturally, Spielberg 101. But while “The End of Oak Street” is sure to test and restore their familial bonds, Mitchell, who also wrote the script, takes a route that leans more into horror, absurdism and outright silliness. In any case, yes, there are dinosaurs. It’s both skillful and a lot of fun how Mitchell teases them out. The first signs are mysterious. A flash of light. A strange exotic flower in a neighbor’s backyard. A giant mount of feces in another’s. But soon, the Platts find that their neighborhood is overrun with primordial beasts and surrounded by jungle: Oak Street is suddenly a suburban island in a prehistoric world. It’s a perfectly “Twilight Zone” plot that inadvertently solves the problems that have plagued the “Jurassic Park” movies for 20 years. If those films have struggled to find an off-island setting, “The End of Oak Street” instead brings the dino isle straight into suburbia. Encounters with raptors and worse transpire across front porches and shag carpets. You could chalk it all up to good dumb fun. And it is mostly that, with set pieces built to make an audience groan in anticipation or cheer for the successful swing of a sledgehammer. But where “The End of Oak Street” succeeds where so many others fail is in the sincerity it has for its characters. Ridiculous and over-the-top as the concept is, the Platts are firmly grounded. (Hathaway, especially, helps in this department.) The combination of an earnest family drama with CGI hijinks, plus increasingly nutty plotting, make “The End of Oak Street” a fairly nonstop hoot.Composer Michael Giacchino does his best John Williams impression to match. But Mitchell’s film also increasingly detours from the Spielberg playbook. Only Mitchell would take a moment for a freaked-out Audrey to sneak into the car to pop a cassette in and listen to Steve Winwood’s “Valerie.” And while it would be pushing it to say there’s that much underneath “The End of Oak Street,” its characters are united in keeping certain things secret out of fear that their spouse or kids or parents can’t handle the truth. The swiftness that the dinosaurs invade their neighborhood could be symbolic of any ecological disaster, but the subsequent challenges prove each member of the family can handle quite a bit more than expected — even when the parental assurance that everything’s going to be OK, like when a giant snake is slithering through their home, is laughably disputable. It adds up to a gonzo good time that gives an old-school family adventure a darker, modern spin. Mitchell has quickly made suburbia his evident domain, where “it,” or something else, is sure to follow. “The End of Oak Street,” a Warner Bros. release in theaters Thursday, is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association for some strong violent content, bloody images, some strong language and suggestive material. Running time: 99 minutes. Three stars out of four. JAKE COYLE Coyle has been a film critic and covered the movie industry for The Associated Press since 2013. He is based in New York City. twitter mailto

The point of emphasis for the USC Trojans this offseason was to find a way to shift reality on the defensive side of the ball. The Trojans had an explosive offense, but it is time for the defense to be just as lethal. Lincoln Riley is hoping he will achieve just that after adding Gary Patterson to his staff. A former Trojan alum has high expectations for Patterson's unit after attending practice.In a recent tweet, Su’a Kristopher Cravens gave his analysis on things that stood out to him on the defensive side of the ball. Here is what he had to say:"Coach GP has the boys flying around and playing physical, but smart. Adding position coaches that are hands-on at each level, you can tell the defense has made major strides mentally and technically to finally rid themselves of those busted plays that killed them last year."Gary Patterson is already getting great feedback for how his new-look defense is shaping up. If the Trojans can get that side of the ball to take it up a notch, games like the ones vs rival the Oregon Ducks and other Big Ten juggernauts should be a lot closer than they have been. The Trojans' talent is undeniable; now it is time for it to all come together. There isn't a doubt about the Trojans' offense, which is the headline of this squad, but the early return on USC's defense is that they finally are matching it. Contact/Follow @TrojansWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of USC Trojans news, notes and opinion.This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Gary Patterson's USC defense shows promise in August, but it's early

ARDMORE, Pa. – The first playoff hole Wednesday morning at the U.S. Amateur was the 119-yard, par-3 13th, which Merion Golf Club added in 1924 after rerouting a few holes because of increased traffic on Ardmore Avenue.Perfect number for Jack Whaley, though his nerves didn’t get the message.“Honestly, I kind of blacked out when I stood on the tee,” said Whaley, the Florida State rising senior from Doncaster, England. “There’s a lot of pressure going into it.”With five birdies already made in the three foursomes ahead of him in the 16-for-11 playoff, Whaley watched Ryder Cowan stuff his tee ball to a few feet, then stepped up with his 54-degree wedge, factored in a little bit of adrenaline and swung away.Whaley’s ball landed about 5 feet past the hole, spun back past Cowan’s ball and lipped out hard.“Would’ve been pretty cool,” said Whaley, who has made two holes-in-one in his career. “But we’re still in, so it doesn’t matter.”The video of Jack Whaley’s near-ace lipout #USAmateurpic.twitter.com/XTkklnd08b— Brentley Romine (@BrentleyGC) August 12, 2026Whaley tapped in his short birdie to join Cowan, Emile Lebrun, Joshua Bai, William Jennings, Grayson Wood, Fifa Laopakdee and Kihei Akina in birdieing the 13th.Entering this championship, Whaley, who is ranked 90th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, was on the outside looking in for a potential spot on the Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cup team. He had a nice NCAA postseason for the Seminoles, capped by a T-14 at the NCAA Championship, but he struggled at the British Amateur, missing match play, and was T-33 at the European Amateur before nearly getting into the Sweet 16 at the Western Amateur.“I know Walker Cup is going to be on a links golf course this year and I haven’t played my best on links, but this week I’m hoping to prove that I have got thew ability to play the Walker Cup,” Whaley said. “But it’s not down to me, it’s down to the selectors.”Jennings’ birdie came after a crazy back nine at Merion on Tuesday. The world’s sixth-ranked amateur, one of four top-11 amateurs in the playoff, was two shots above the projected cut after birdies at Nos. 10, 12 and 13 before bogeying No. 14 and then carding a disastrous triple bogey at the par-4 15th, where Jennings nearly holed out for eagle before his ball spun back through the trampled down collar and into an impossible lie in the bunker. Jennings then left two shots in the trap. He saved his week with birdies at Nos. 16 and 17.“There was a lot going on on that back nine,” said Jennings, who is entering his junior year at Alabama. “It was pretty much cruise control all day until that 15th hole. … I told myself moving forward, just birdie the last three holes and give yourself a chance. Managed to get two out of three and now we’re here.”Not starting his match until 1:50 p.m., Cowan headed out to watch the rest of the playoff.“What else am I gonna do?” said Cowan, who now draws top-ranked junior Miles Russell, the No. 6 seed.Luke Poulter, ranked a spot ahead of Jennings in WAGR, wasn’t so lucky. The Florida senior missed short putts on each of the first two playoff holes to eliminate himself from his third major playoff of the summer; he also missed in playoffs at the British Amateur and Western Amateur.Gators commit Giuseppe Puebla also bogeyed the 14th hole in the playoff while Matthew Diehl doubled after hooking his tee shot out of bounds.With William Love and Parker Sands birdieing the second playoff hole, that left Taishi Moto and Gabriel Palacios to battle it out for the 64th seed. Moto came up short of the front greenside bunker at No. 15 and in the rough, though Palacios hit his second shot long and then chipped through the green. Moto advanced to play medalist Joshua Ryan with a short bogey make.And with that, the playoff was over.“Some of those top seeds might be a little nervous,” Jennings said.

Amy Hunt recovered from her typically slow start and blitzed the field to take women’s 100m glory at the European Athletics Championships. The delight on her face shortly after she crossed the line in precisely 11 seconds, and as she did laps of honour around Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium, proved just how much a first senior individual gold medal meant to the 24-year-old.Add it to the silver medal at last month’s Commonwealth Games, the shock silver over 200m at last year’s World Championship and a slew of relay medals – including Olympic silver in the 4x100m at Paris 2024 – and the University of Cambridge graduate is cementing herself as a star of British athletics.Hunt has an engaging personality and natural charisma, a willingness to speak her mind on a number of topics and, most importantly, is really, really, really fast, with an ability to deliver on the biggest stage. She is incredibly marketable, and getting the crowds through the door to watch her go head-to-head with fellow British stars Dina Asher-Smith and Daryll Neita for continental gold should have been an easy sell.Amy Hunt cemented herself as a star of British athletics with a brilliant European gold (PA Wire)However, there were swathes of empty seats as she took glory (Getty)Instead, there were nearly 10,000 empty seats as just 13,623 people watched Hunt’s moment of glory in a stadium that can hold 23,000. The swathes of vacant chairs was a terrible look for one of athletics’ premier events, and certainly not befitting the compelling, world-class sport being delivered on the track and in the field.It’s hard not to blame the extortionate ticket prices being charged by Birmingham 2026 organisers, with a Category A ticket costing a mammoth £150, with no concessions discount, for Monday evening’s session that included Hunt in the women’s 100m. Prices for those tickets were slightly lower on Tuesday and Wednesday at £110 but duly surge back up to £150 for the final four evenings of the event later this week, again with no discount for concessions. By contrast, a similar ticket for the women’s 100m final at the previous European Championships, in Rome two years ago, was €88 (£75). There were some lower-priced tickets available in Birmingham, with the cheapest in Category E being £26, but unsurprisingly they had long since been snapped up, and the nearly 10,000 empty seats showed the appetite for the more expensive categories was limited.Empty seats have plagued the European Championships so far (PA)Organisers have insisted they are ‘delighted’ with ticket sales, which they say have ‘far surpassed our targets’ (Getty)According to figures from the organisers, Alexander Stadium was 55 per cent full on Monday morning for the opening session, 59 per cent full by the evening and 56 per cent full on Tuesday morning. Organisers were also keen to point out that a family of four could attend the event for £30 and maintained that they were “delighted” with overall ticket sales.A Birmingham 2026 spokesperson said ticket sales had “far surpassed our targets” and added that “Friday, Saturday and Sunday evening sessions are approaching sell-out, with several other sessions close to capacity”.The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Lisa Nandy, also weighed in to defend organisers.She said: “Some of the ticket prices are higher but half of all the tickets here at the championships are £30 and under. Organisers have really worked to make it accessible. The numbers have been a bit low being the first few days. I think we will see that rise steadily and hoping for big numbers this weekend.”This outlook wasn’t shared by everyone, with the BBC’s lead athletics commentator, and former Olympic silver medallist, Steve Cram saying during Monday’s broadcast, “A little disappointing in terms of spectators, I have to say. Particularly down the back straight there. There’s not very many people at all in those stands.”Paula Radcliffe suggested organisers may have got their ticket pricing strategy wrong (PA)Former world champion marathon runner and current pundit Paula Radcliffe also told the Press Association: “It is a shame because I think there is the willingness but I don’t know whether perhaps as a sport we need to look at the pricing and accessibility for those tickets.”Tickets aren’t the only expensive item for spectators, with no on-site parking forcing fans to cough up £22.50 for an inconvenient park-and-ride service, while the food and drinks prices from vendors in and around the stadium have reached almost ludicrous levels.Supporters are being made to pay as much as £18.50 for a BBQ pork roll and chips (or a bargain £13.50 for just the pork roll...), while a bottle of water costs nearly £4.A BBQ pork roll and chips could set you back £18.50 (Sunny Badwal/PA)While a half-empty stadium is a bad look for the Championships, especially in a country where sport is deeply embedded in the national consciousness, as shown during the London 2012 Olympics when even niche sports such as water polo, handball or Greco-Roman wrestling would sell out, there could be an even greater, unforeseen consequence to the issues.Earlier this week, London submitted its official bid to host the 2029 World Athletics Championships at the London Stadium and the bid team is due to make its final presentation on ­Friday before World Athletics makes its decision next month.London is hoping to host athletics’ flagship event for just the second time, after the 2017 edition, but faces stiff competition from Rome, Munich and Nairobi – with the Kenyan capital seeking to become the first African city to hold the world championships.The 2017 World Athletics Championships were hosted in London (PA Wire)The UK struggling to sell tickets for another of the sport’s biggest events, while also enduring complaints about pricing, just as World Athletics is considering its options for 2029, will certainly not help the cause. It may even be a fatal blow to the British capital’s chances.Birmingham has proved in the past it can put on a hugely successful sporting show, with the 2022 Commonwealth Games in the city considered a roaring success, including breaking the record for ticket sales in the event’s history. Perhaps this European Athletics Championship has simply been a misstep or maybe a near-capacity crowd over the final few days will make everyone forget about the slow start in the stands. Either way, let’s hope there is no knock-on effect providing a sting in the tail.

Report David targeted by Aston Villa, loan with obligation to buy from JuventusJuventus and Canada striker Jonathan David has been approached by Aston Villa for a loan with obligation to buy, claim reports in Italy.There had already been many suggestions the CANMNT forward was on the market just 12 months after he joined as a free agent, although the €12m in various commissions and bonuses made him far from free.Aston Villa looking at DavidVANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA – JUNE 18: Jonathan David of Canada celebrates after scoring the teams second goal during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Group B match between Canada and Qatar at BC Place Vancouver on June 18, 2026 in Vancouver, British Columbia. (Photo by Fran Santiago/Getty Images)Finding a buyer has proved to be difficult, but Tuttomercatoweb and Radio Sportiva reporter Marco Conterio suggests that Aston Villa are ready to provide a solution.He claims the Premier League side is eager to snap David up on loan with an obligation to buy at the end of the season.This is a significant improvement on the previous reporting that they only wanted a loan with option.The 26-year-old has played in Europe since 2018 for KAA Gent, Lille and then Juventus, but his tally of eight goals and five assists in 46 games for the Bianconeri was disappointing.David only started 27 of those matches, falling down the pecking order as the season went on and when Dusan Vlahovic returned from injury.