T-minus two hours! More than enough time to reflect on cricket being an individual game played within a team environment. And to ponder the head-to-head battles that add spice to any Ashes contest and could define this series.
To Bradman v Larwood, McGrath v Atherton, Broad v Warner, and, urgh, Warne v Waugh, let us add the following:
Prakazrel ‘Pras’ Michel was convicted in 2023 after a trial that included testimony from actor Leonardo DiCaprio and former US attorney general Jeff Sessions
The Grammy-winning rapper Prakazrel “Pras” Michel of the Fugees has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for a case in which he was convicted of illegally funnelling millions of dollars in foreign contributions to former US president Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign.
Michel, 52, declined to address the court before US district judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sentenced him on Thursday.
Activist detained by ICE condemns ‘smear and harassment campaign’ and demands release of key communications
Mahmoud Khalil, the Palestinian activist who participated in protests at Columbia University and was detained by Ice earlier this year, has filed a lawsuit demanding the Trump administration release its communications with anti-Palestinian groups he says contributed to his March arrest and efforts to detain him.
The groups, a number of which have boasted about their involvement in sharing dossiers on Palestine activists with the administration, have claimed credit for Khalil’s arrest, according to the Center for Constitutional Rights, which is part of the legal team representing Khalil, and they say there is evidence that indicates the Trump administration “acted on information and misinformation – provided by these groups in cracking down” on Khalil and other pro-Palestine activists.
Medical bodies warn that hostility towards migrants is behind a 26% rise in departures that imperils NHS
Record numbers of overseas-trained doctors are quitting the UK, leaving the NHS at risk of huge gaps in its workforce, with hostility towards migrants blamed for the exodus.
In all, 4,880 doctors who qualified in another country left the UK during 2024 – a rise of 26% on the 3,869 who did so the year before – figures from the General Medical Council reveal.
Semenyo can lift Bournemouth, Isak must show up for Liverpool and north London derby rivals left to rue injuries
A Mancunian reunion of sorts is on the cards should Kyle Walker of Burnley face Alejandro Garnacho on Chelsea’s left at Turf Moor. The winger has started to settle at Stamford Bridge after his summer move from Manchester United and showcased his range against Wolves before the international break. His assist for Pedro Neto combined wicked pace with a perfect ball along the carpet. His setup for Malo Gusto involved shifting on to his right foot before a dinked cross to the far post. His celebration with Neto, replicating his sitting embrace with Kobbie Mainoo and Rasmund Højlund, was a reminder of how quickly things change. The last time Garnacho took on Walker? When the former scored for United in their FA Cup final win over Manchester City. Taha Hashim
They probably underestimate the cost to you of keeping this secret, writes Eleanor Gordon-Smith. Before you tell the husband, could you talk to your ex?
I left my ex-husband two-and-a-half years ago. He told me the day we broke up that he had feelings for a married woman and she for him. I knew. It was part of the reason I wanted to leave him, along with a very long list of ways in which our marriage was no longer serving either of us.
A few months later he started actively (but covertly) pursuing this woman, who is a mum in my son’s sports team. Apart from my ex and this woman, I am pretty sure I am the only person who knows.
Exclusive: Clinical guidelines should change to avoid exposing young people to potentially harmful side-effects, researchers say
Clinical guidelines should no longer recommend Prozac for children, according to experts, after research showed it had no clinical benefit for treating depression in children and adolescents.
Poverty rate jumped from 12.2% to 16.3% in 2023 in state, Tipping Point Community report finds
Newly released data found that the San Francisco Bay Area’s poverty rate soared from 12.2% to 16.3% in 2023, with an approximate total 1.02 million residents in this six-county region considered impoverished by year’s end.
Another 12.5% of residents – about 790,000 people – hovered on the brink of poverty, meaning that about three in 10 Bay Area residents struggled to cover basic expenses.
Some say the Border-Gavaskar Trophy is now pre-eminent, but there is nothing more intense than Australia v England
If it feels like the buildup to this Ashes series has lasted 842 days that is because it pretty much has. Test cricket’s oldest rivalry resumes on Friday inside Perth’s 60,000-seat thunderdome and with it, mercifully, comes fresh fuel for the ever-raging fire.
Because on one level the Ashes never really starts or stops. Since Stuart Broad nicked off Alex Carey at the Oval on 31 July 2023 – the final act of a dramatic 2-2 draw – the sides have been tracking each other, all while their supporters chip away from afar.
Prime minister has accused the Samoa Observer of inaccurate reporting during his eight-week medical stay in New Zealand
Samoa’s only daily newspaper has been banned from attending press conferences with the Samoan prime minister, in a move that critics say threatens the democratic integrity of the Pacific nation.
Relations between La’aulialemalietoa Leuatea Polataivao Fosi Schmidt and the Samoa Observer have deteriorated in recent weeks, with the prime minister accusing the newspaper of inaccurate reporting during his eight-week medical stay in New Zealand.
The spoils were shared at Stamford Bridge between Chelsea and their Champions League torturers Barcelona, but Sonia Bompastor’s side will be the more frustrated of the two.
It was a battling performance from the home team and two late attempts – Ellie Carpenter’s failure to add her second goal from close range and the substitute Catarina Macario’s narrowly offside effort – could have given the Blues all three points.
Talks at the Cop30 climate summit in Brazil were disrupted on Thursday after a fire broke out in the venue, triggering an evacuation just as negotiators were preparing to try to land a deal to strengthen international efforts to address the climate crisis.
Thirteen people were treated for smoke inhalation, organisers said in a statement, after the fire broke out in the pavilion area of the conference centre in Belém, Brazil.
All the bleak tenderness from the musician’s novel makes it into this heartbreaking screen adaptation of a father-and-son road trip where the dad relentlessly pursues sex. It will undo you
The travelling salesman used to be a stock figure – a centrepiece for jokes about man’s priapism, the untameable wanderlust of the peen once free of its domestic shackles. The Death of Bunny Munro, adapted from Nick Cave’s 2009 book of the same name by Pete Jackson and keeping all its bleak tenderness and unforgiving brutality, gives us the tragedy that lies the other side of any comic character worth its salt.
Cosmetics salesman Bunny (Matt Smith, a brilliant and still underrated actor, plus the best Doctor of modern times, please send an SAE for my monograph on this subject) is out on the road, sampling another young lady’s wares, when we meet him. His wife, Libby (Sarah Greene, perfectly cast as a fierce, loving woman broken by depression and her husband’s choices) calls him. He dismisses her and returns to his sampling. When he returns the next day he finds that she has killed herself. They have a nine-year-old son, Bunny Jr, played by Rafael Mathé, who gives an absolutely wonderful, heartbreaking performance, treading the thinnest of lines between knowing everything and nothing about his father and about his own likely future. At first, Bunny Sr tries to palm him off on Libby’s mother (Lindsay Duncan), who, in a harrowing post-funeral scene, refuses. But when social services arrive to take the boy into care, Bunny’s pride or conscience is pricked. The pair light out of the window and head off on a road trip along the south coast, and a father-son bonding experience. Traditionally, these are good things. But Cave is not a traditional writer and this is not a traditional tale.
Leading US stock markets tumble less than 24 hours after strong results from chipmaker Nvidia sparked gains
Fears of a growing bubble around the artificial intelligence frenzy resurfaced on Thursday as leading US stock markets fell, less than 24 hours after strong results from chipmaker Nvidia sparked a rally.
Wall Street initially rose after Nvidia, the world’s largest public company, reassured investors of strong demand for its advanced data center chips. But the relief dissipated, and technology stocks at the heart of the AI boom came under pressure.
World’s No 1 ranked skier will compete in Olympics
Will finish career in World Cup finals on home snow
Jessie Diggins, the most decorated American cross-country skier of all time, has revealed that she will retire at the end of the season, calling time on a 15-year career that redefined what US athletes could achieve in a sport long dominated by European nations.
Diggins will race the full World Cup calendar and compete in her fourth Olympics at Milano-Cortina before finishing her career on home snow at the World Cup finals in Lake Placid. She announces her departure as the world’s No 1-ranked skier, the owner of three overall World Cup titles and three distance globes, and a four-time Olympic medalist – including the famous 2018 team sprint gold she won with Kikkan Randall that marked the first Olympic title in US cross-country skiing history.
Oscar-nominated star of two-part musical forced to cancel press stops as film is predicted to deliver year’s biggest box office opening
Ariana Grande has tested positive for Covid amid the whirlwind press tour for Wicked: For Good, precluding some promotional appearances in New York.
The Grammy award winner and Oscar nominee posted an Instagram story on Thursday captioned “moments before Covid” along with a photo from her appearance on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon from earlier this week. Grande, who plays Galinda/Glinda in the second part of Jon M Chu’s film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical, will reportedly miss a few upcoming press appearances, including a slot on The Kelly Clarkson Show.
Democrats expressed outrage after Donald Trump accused a group of Democratic lawmakers of engaging in “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH” and that they should be arrested after they posted a video in which they told active service members they should refuse illegal orders.
The video, released on Tuesday, features six Democratic lawmakers who have previously served in the military or in intelligence roles, including senators Elissa Slotkin and Mark Kelly, and representatives Maggie Goodlander, Chris Deluzio, Chrissy Houlahan and Jason Crow.
The Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has told Cop30 delegates that he will take his fossil fuel transition roadmap to the G20 in Johannesburg this week to campaign for it, despite reports that petrostates have said they will not accept the plan.
Before leaving Cop30 in Belém, the figurehead of the global south told civil society representatives he was ready to fight for the proposal to phase out oil, coal and gas in whatever forum was necessary.
Within hours of Donald Trump signing the Epstein Files Transparency Act into law, Republican senators were on the ground to issue a pointed message to the US attorney general, Pam Bondi: don’t bury these documents.
The bill’s passage marked a rare moment of bipartisan support in an otherwise ideologically fractured Congress as it now sets a 30-day deadline for the release of Department of Justice files related to the actions of convicted sex offender of minors and financier Jeffrey Epstein, dubbed by a judge “the most infamous pedophile in American history”.
Wright says ‘someone like Jude frightens these people’
‘They cannot get to this guy. He’s a winner’
The former England striker Ian Wright has defended Jude Bellingham, insisting some people are not “ready for a black superstar”.
Bellingham has come in for criticism in some quarters for his reaction to being substituted during England’s World Cup qualifying win in Albania on Sunday, amid some suggestions he is a disruptive influence in the squad. However, Wright says some people are “frightened” of Bellingham’s success.
Liz Kendall and Jo Stevens intervene after about 20 people claim they witnessed or were victims of Farage’s behaviour
Cabinet ministers have described detailed and multiple allegations of racism by Nigel Farage as a teenager as “repulsive” and doubled down on Keir Starmer’s call for Farage to address the claims.
Liz Kendall, the secretary for science and innovation and technology, said she was appalled by the descriptions reported by the Guardian.
Release of documents comes amid conjecture Trump may have authorized the agency to assassinate Venezuelan president
The White House under Gerald Ford tried to block a landmark Senate report that disclosed the CIA’s role in assassination attempts against foreign leaders and ultimately led to a radical overhaul in how the agency was held to account, documents released to mark the 50th anniversary of the report’s publication reveal.
The documents, dating from 1975, were posted on Thursday by the National Security Archive, an independent research group, as it sought to highlight the report’s significance amid conjecture that Donald Trump may have authorized the agency to assassinate Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, amid a massive US military build-up against the country.
By any metric, the rise of the Stone Roses was a sudden and remarkable thing. It took place over the course of 12 months. At the start of 1989, they were just a local cause of excitement in Manchester, largely ignored by the traditional outlets for alternative rock in Britain. John Peel wasn’t a fan. The music press had barely mentioned their most recent single, Elephant Stone. They were barely able to fill even a more modest London venue such as Dingwalls. But by November they were huge. Their single Fools Gold had entered the charts at No 8 and their performance was the big attraction on that week’s Top of the Pops – a barely imaginable state of affairs for most indie bands in the late 80s.
In retrospect, you can find any number of reasons why the Stone Roses cut such an extraordinary path, clearly attracting a far bigger and broader audience than usually displayed an interest in alternative rock at the time. They were set apart by their look – which seemed to align them more to the burgeoning acid house scene – their cockily belligerent attitude and the skill of the guitarist John Squire, unashamedly virtuosic in a world of distorted thrashing downstrokes.
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