Yet to make his debut for Newcastle after signing from Brentford towards the end of the transfer window, Yoane Wissa has been ruled out of tonight’s match with injury and is expected to be out for several more weeks. The striker is suffering from a knee injury he suffered on international duty with DR Congo in a match against Senegal.
FTC and seven states file lawsuit claiming resellers’ violations of ticket purchasing limits were ignored
The US Federal Trade Commission and seven states accused Live Nation and its ticketing arm Ticketmaster of costing fans millions of dollars by tacitly allowing ticket brokers to scoop concert tickets and sell them to at a significant markup, the agency said on Thursday.
The lawsuit deepens Ticketmaster’s legal woes, which began after its botched 2022 sale of tickets to Swift’s much-hyped Eras tour.
President says show was pulled off air because it had ‘very bad ratings more than anything else’
Donald Trump celebrated ABC’s decision to indefinitely suspend Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show, saying on Thursday that the comedian was “not a talented person” who “had very bad ratings”.
“Well, Jimmy Kimmel was fired because he had bad ratings more than anything else, and he said a horrible thing about a great gentleman known as Charlie Kirk,” Trump told reporters on Thursday during his state visit to the United Kingdom. “Jimmy Kimmel is not a talented person. He had very bad ratings, and they should have fired him a long time ago.”
When a regime can use the power of the law to punish speech because it does not like that speech, then speech is not free
Jimmy Kimmel, the late-night host, had his show suspended “indefinitely” from ABC on Wednesday after the Federal Communications Commission, the US’s broadcast media regulator, threatened the television network.
The FCC threats came in retaliation for comments Kimmel made on his show regarding Charlie Kirk’s death and the Trump administration’s response to it. “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the Maga gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel began.
He’s back! Kevin de Bruyne returns to Manchester, having only just left, this time plotting City’s downfall. “I’ve spoken to Kevin, I’ve asked him a few things,” said Antonio Conte, the Napoli coach. Well, it would probably be awkward if he hadn’t, but sure. De Bruyne, inevitably, has settled beautifully in Italy, and has already scored twice in three league games this season (a free kick and a penalty).
"He’s been a part of this club for 10 years and had a great coach like Pep Guardiola,” Conte continued of the Belgian. “Kevin will be excited to be playing but I’m hoping that after the starting whistle he will find his feet and remember he’s playing for our great Napoli.” Well, it would certainly be awkward if he didn’t, but sure.
Gianluigi Donnarumma has said he believes Pep Guardiola will help improve his ball-playing skills and that Manchester City were interested in signing him before the summer.
Donnarumma joined from Paris Saint-Germain for about £30m (€35m) on transfer deadline day. The move caused surprise because of the view that the 26-year-old is not as accomplished with his feet as Ederson, who left for Fenerbahce, or James Trafford, the £27m signing from Burnley in July.
Kamala Harris watched mortified as her running mate, Tim Walz, fell into JD Vance’s trap in last year’s vice-presidential debate and “fumbled” a crucial answer, she writes in a campaign memoir.
The former Democratic presidential nominee also admits that Walz had not been her first choice for vice-president in her book 107 Days, obtained by the Guardian ahead of its publication next week. Harris writes that her “first choice” would have been the then transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, a close friend of hers who is gay.
Donald Trump has accused Vladimir Putin of letting him down in a joint press conference with Keir Starmer during which the US president piled criticism on his Russian counterpart.
Trump said on Thursday that he had hoped to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine soon after entering office, but that Putin’s actions had prevented him from doing so.
Late co-founder previously expressed that he would want his wife to lead in the event of his death, organization says
Erika Kirk, the widow of Charlie Kirk, has been appointed as the new CEO and chair of the board for Turning Point USA.
The organization announced on Thursday that the late CEO and co-founder of Turning Point USA, who was shot and killed at an event last week, had previously expressed that he would want his wife to lead in the event of his death.
Core budget to fall to $3.2bn next year and initial minimum 3,000 job cuts expected amid streamlining process
The UN will need to cut $500m (about £370m) from next year’s budget and lose 20% of its staff as it struggles to cope with a massive reduction in funding by the Trump administration.
The plan, in gestation since Donald Trump started cutting his foreign aid budget, is likely to involve an initial minimum 3,000 job cuts out of a 35,000-strong main workforce. The overall UN core or regular budget would be cut from $3.7bn to about $3.2bn next year. It means reductions of 15.1% in resources and 18.8% in posts in the regular budget compared with the 2025 budget.
Palestinian musicians were joined by stars including Neneh Cherry and Louis Theroux for a massive four-hour fundraising concert in London. Their artistry revealed the strength and breadth of a culture under siege
It’s a muggy midweek afternoon when a trail of people draped in black and white keffiyeh scarves, Palestine flags and Free Palestine slogan T-shirts begin to trickle into Wembley Arena. In the foyer of the venue, 56-year-old Kiran has just arrived from her home in Milton Keynes.
“I’d never protested in my life before October 2023,” she says. “It’s been so horrific to see what’s happening in Gaza, I felt I had to do something since if you don’t make a stand now, when would you ever? Things might feel futile but this is a way to show the world we care and that we stand together more than we are torn apart.”
Piastri says drivers not team will decide outcome of title
Comments follow controversial swap by McLaren
Oscar Piastri has insisted that he and his McLaren teammate, Lando Norris, are in control of their own destiny as they fight for the Formula One world championship after the pair were involved in a highly controversial swap imposed by the team at the Italian Grand Prix.
Given the pair are in a two-horse race for the title, the question of team orders playing a potentially decisive role loomed large after Monza. Max Verstappen won the race but McLaren’s decision to have Piastri return second place to Norris, after the British driver lost the position due to a slow pit stop caused by a faulty wheel gun, was contentious.
Disruption seen across country as PM Sébastien Lecornu urged to rethink budget cuts
Hundreds of thousands of people have marched in street demonstrations across France as trade unions held a day of strike action to pressure the new prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, to rethink budget cuts and act on wages, pensions and public services.
There was disruption to public transport as train, bus and tram drivers went on strike, hospital staff joined protests and nine out of 10 pharmacies were closed as pharmacists protested against pricing policies. About one in six teachers at primary and secondary schools went on strike, as well as school canteen staff and monitors. Several high schools from Paris to Amiens and Le Havre were blockaded by students. Protesters held more than 250 demonstrations and marched in cities from Paris to Marseille, Nantes, Lyon and Montpellier.
She was discovered by Pharrell Williams, signed by Kanye West and worked with Beyoncé – all by her early 20s. Now the star of Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest film is creating a buzz in Hollywood
Teyana Taylor is – as she often says to interviewers – the entertainment equivalent of “a Glade plug-in” air freshener: put her in “any socket” and she will make “every room smell good”. And, at 34, she has the CV to prove it. After kicking off her career at 15 as a choreographer for Beyoncé (she later showcased her own moves to millions in the headline-grabbing video for Kanye West’s 2016 single Fade), the New York native began making her own critically acclaimed, cutting-edge R&B. She has also acted in a slew of movies and TV shows – including an award-winning turn as a mother who kidnaps her son from the care system in 2023’s A Thousand and One – and worked as a creative director for brands and a host of other musicians.
But Taylor also likens herself to another household item. “I am a sponge,” she says. “I’m never above being a student.” This was especially true on the set of her latest project, Paul Thomas Anderson’s vigilante group caper One Battle After Another. Observing castmates including Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn and Benicio del Toro – plus the director himself (to many, the greatest of his generation) – turned her into “SpongeBob SquarePants. I get to have my notebook and take all these notes and soak everything in.”
Asencio and three former youth players to face trial
Case relates to alleged incident in Gran Canaria in 2023
The Real Madrid defender Raúl Asencio and three former youth players at the club are to stand trial in connection with the alleged filming and distribution of sexual videos involving two women, one of whom was a minor at the time.
According to court documents, three of the defendants are accused of “one count of distributing child pornography, as well as two offences against privacy”. Their bail has been set at €20,000 each (£17,400). The fourth, who is understood to be Asencio, is accused of two offences against privacy and has had his bail set at €15,000.
Maple Leafs have gone under the radar at Women’s Rugby World Cup but underdogs can upset the champions
For anyone who might be thinking champions New Zealand are a shoo-in to make the Rugby World Cup final, Canada have three key attributes to suggest they can knock out the Black Ferns in their semi-final on Friday evening: Belief, fast ruck speed and Sophie de Goede.
Canada are the world No 2 side and came close to beating England at the 2024 WXV 1, yet have gone under the radar in the buildup to this tournament and during its early stages, with much of the attention focused on the potential for a rematch of the 2022 final between New Zealand and hosts England. Against the Black Ferns in the last four at Ashton Gate, Canada will still be viewed as underdogs in some circles, something the team have spoken about a lot, according to the wing Alysha Corrigan.
Tens of thousands more forced to flee makeshift homes and shelters daily in face of new Israeli offensive
More than a quarter of a million people have been displaced from Gaza City in the last month, according to figures from the UN, with tens of thousands more forced to flee makeshift homes and shelters daily in the face of a new Israeli offensive.
Multiple strikes by Israeli artillery, tanks and warplanes hit Gaza City again on Thursday as a UN official said “new waves of mass displacement” were under way, after about 60,000 fled the new assault in 72 hours earlier this week.
This nostalgic tale of first love is an agonising masterclass in modern romance. No wonder it’s become such a sensation – and that a movie is on the way
It’s often said that the romcom is dead. Kiss goodbye to the crisp charm of Nora Ephron’s freshly sharpened pencil bouquets in the fall, embrace the era of musings on love as nothing more than a maths equation. Then along comes gripping teen romance The Summer I Turned Pretty and it gets us at the first Taylor Swift track.
Across its 26-episode run, the adaptation of Jenny Han’s trilogy of novels has won the hearts of millennials who have been desperately yearning for a nostalgic watch to fill the void of 00s romcoms. Reminiscent of rose-tinted love stories of their youth, before dating apps, catfishing and ghosting entered their vocabulary, the show’s potency has been such that Prime Video even issued a warning asking viewers not to use hate speech towards the cast. It isn’t real, no matter how visceral it feels, and the streamer didn’t even wait 24 hours to let fans know that a feature film finale is on the way.
In reaction to the news that Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show has been indefinitely suspended, the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) said that “Trump’s FCC identified speech it did not like and threatened ABC with extreme reprisals. This is state censorship.”
On X, the president of the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada, Tino Gagliardi, issued a statement in response to ABC taking Jimmy Kimmel Live!, which employs musicians from the American Federation of Musicians Local 47 in Los Angeles, off the air. In it he said:
This is not complicated: Trump’s FCC identified speech it did not like and theatened ABC with extreme reprisals. This is state censorship. It’s now happening in the United States of America, not some far-off country. It’s happening right here and right now.
This act by the Trump administration represents a direct attack on free speech and artistic expression. These are fundamental rights that we must protect in a free society. The American Federation of Musicians strongly condemns the decision to take Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air.
As a Guild, we stand united in opposition to anyone who uses their power and influence to silence the voices of writers, or anyone who speaks in dissent. If free speech applied only to ideas we like, we needn’t have bothered to write it into the constitution. What we have signed on to – painful as it may be at times – is the freeing agreement to disagree.”
Democracy thrives when diverse points of view are expressed.
The decision to suspend airing Jimmy Kimmel Live! is the type of suppression and retaliation that endangers everyone’s freedoms. Sag-Aftra stands with all media artists and defends their right to express their diverse points of view, and everyone’s right to hear them.
A separate research found that at the current rate of global heating, more than 70,000 people will die in the US by 2050
Smoke billowing from wildfires will cause a growing number of deaths around the world in the decades ahead as the planet continues to heat up, new research has found.
Wildfire smoke is expected to kill as many as 1.4 million people globally each year by the end of the century if planet-heating emissions are not curbed, according to a study published on Thursday.
The sporting superstar walked away from success and adulation at 26 – much to everyone’s bemusement. He opens up about his secret life and the depression, cocaine, overdoses and aggressive cancer that almost killed him
‘I’m a person who doesn’t say very much,” Björn Borg says with a wry smile. Which may be the understatement of the century. Borg, the greatest tennis player of his day, has spent 42 years saying nothing since he announced his retirement at the age of 26.
When he broke that news in 1983, it was one of the biggest shocks in the history of sport. Not simply because he was at his peak, but also because he was the rock star tennis player – beautiful, mysterious and followed by a flock of teenybopper fans. When Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz triumphed in the US Open earlier this month, aged 22, he became the second youngest player to have won six major tournaments. Borg beat him by four months.
(Signum) Viktoria Mullova and Alasdair Beatson end their cycle of Beethoven violin sonatas with energised and immaculate performances
Viktoria Mullova began her cycle of the Beethoven violin sonatas partnered by Kristian Bezuidenhout, but Alasdair Beatson has been the pianist for the last three instalments. They end the series with a pairing of the second of the Op 12 set in A major with the last of the sonatas, in G. All of the performances use historical instruments, with Mullova playing her gut-strung 1750 Guadagnini and using a classical bow, while here Beatson plays a different keyboard for each sonata. For the rather Mozartian Op 12 no 2 he uses a copy of a Walter fortepiano made in 1805, seven years after the sonata was composed; while for the much more ambitious keyboard writing of Op 96 it’s a copy of a Graf from 1819.
What is common to the performances of both sonatas is the sheer joie de vivre of the playing. Everything seems energised, and if the precision and immaculate ensemble is sometimes at the expense of obvious affection for the music and perhaps the last degree of warmth, that’s usually a small price to pay. The fine detail of both the violin and the keyboard playing is exquisite; the shape of every phrase, you feel, has been considered and weighted accordingly, without losing any sense of spontaneity, so the music never stales.
His contract to 2027 includes break clause this summer
Benfica play at Chelsea in Champions League
José Mourinho has been confirmed as Benfica’s head coach on a contract until the summer of 2027, with a break clause at the end of this season. His fourth game, on 30 September, will take him back to his former club Chelsea in the Champions League.
The 62-year-old takes over from Bruno Lage, who was sacked after Benfica’s 3-2 Champions League defeat by Qarabag on Tuesday. Benfica said in a statement that a break clause would allow the club or Mourinho to end his deal in the 10 days after their final game of this campaign.
The big firms making these pledges are not charities. We know there will be a quid pro quo; we just don’t know what it is yet
Peter Kyle, until two weeks ago the technology secretary, once warned that tech companies such as Meta, Google and Microsoft were so powerful that the UK needed to approach them with “a sense of statecraft” and “humility”, and treat negotiations with them similarly to diplomacy between nations. That vision endures in the form of the UK-US tech prosperity agreement struck this week. While officially a new bilateral partnership, this seems to be a deal aimed at facilitating investment from US technology companies rather than advancing collaboration on goals such as AI safety, copyright protections for British rights holders or a digital services tax.
The rationale is clear: US firms stand alone atop the global AI value chain, making the country an obvious partner for a UK government seeking to “turbocharge” its AI sector. Against a challenging economic backdrop, the promise of “a combined £31bn” in support for UK AI infrastructure such as datacentres offers welcome headlines.
Matt Davies is economic and social policy lead at the Ada Lovelace Institute. Imogen Parker of the Ada Lovelace Institute also contributed
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