Thousands throw bottles and flares as tensions soar after huge rally to mark anniversary of train station disaster

Hundreds of riot police separated opponents and loyalists of Serbia’s autocratic president, Aleksandar Vučić, in central Belgrade on Sunday as political tensions boiled after a year of anti-government protests.

Several thousand people faced off on both sides of the police cordons, with officers in riot gear standing in rows between shouting crowds who threw bottles and flares at each other.

• Bengals blow late lead again in 47-42 loss to Bears

• JJ McCarthy impresses in Vikings win over Lions

• Colts suffer rare loss as Steelers defense shines

Caleb Williams connected with Colston Loveland for a 58-yard touchdown with 17 seconds left, and the Chicago Bears beat the Cincinnati Bengals in a wild game that featured three touchdowns in the last two minutes and two lead changes in the final minute.

The ex-diver is so fantastic that this needle-based Bake Off wannabe is 80% better every time he’s on screen. He absolutely makes this show

‘A new generation of knitters is taking the world by storm,” says Tom Daley, striding towards us in his ankle-length woollen poncho. “With just two needles, they are testing the limits of creativity.”

And so it proves, as 10 of “the nation’s finest” amateur wool enthusiasts join the Olympic diver (and recently murdered Celebrity Traitor) “to battle it out, stitch by stitch” for the chance to win the ineffably snuggly eight-part series Game of Wool: Britain’s Best Knitter.

• Guardiola: Bournemouth goal was ‘due to the official’

• Man City manager hails ‘incredibly coachable’ striker

Pep Guardiola praised Erling Haaland after the striker’s two first-half goals inspired Manchester City to a 3-1 victory over Bournemouth and took them second in the table, though the manager also criticised officiating at the Etihad Stadium during his nine years in charge.

Haaland’s 12th and 13th league goals of the season came on 17 and 33 minutes, Nico O’Reilly’s third for City coming on the hour. Tyler Adams equalised in the 25th minute for the visitors but it was a controversial goal as David Brooks placed a hand on Gianluigi Donnarumma at Alex Scott’s corner, removing it from the goalkeeper at the last moment.

Reform UK leader to set out ‘pro-entrepreneurship’ agenda while rowing back on tax cuts pledge

Nigel Farage will promise a bonfire of business regulation as he spells out his party’s economic policies in more detail than ever in an attempt to bolster its reputation for fiscal credibility.

The Reform leader will give a speech in London putting deregulation at the heart of his economic agenda, while also dropping a commitment made at the last election to deliver £90bn of tax cuts.

Critics believe cut would mostly benefit better-off people with larger homes and increase carbon emissions

Proposals being considered by Rachel Reeves to cut tax on electricity bills will backfire, experts have warned, resulting in a giveaway to richer homeowners and undermining the UK’s climate commitments.

The chancellor is understood to be looking at plans to eliminate the 5% VAT charge on electricity bills as a fast and simple way to reduce bills for consumers and ease the cost of living pressures that have aided the rise of Reform UK.

Vikings tame Lions, Panthers edge Packers on day of shocks
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Steelers 0-7 Colts 4:17, 1st quarter

The Steelers go out with a whimper again and again. Pittsburgh’s second punt goes deep, Josh Downs is there but spills it and the Steelers recover. Instant red zone for Pittsburgh. They edge closer but Indi’s defense forces a fourth down, they go for it and Rodgers fires a fastball at his tight end Darnell Washington. He would have had a walk-in touchdown if he had caught it. Colts take over with 95 yards to travel.

British Transport Police say LNER worker ‘undoubtedly saved lives’ as suspect remains in custody

A “heroic” rail staff member who intervened in a mass stabbing to save the lives of high-speed train passengers suffered life-threatening injuries, police said on Sunday, as a suspect remains in custody.

The member of LNER staff was recorded on CCTV attempting to stop the attacker as the train travelled between Peterborough and Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire, British Transport Police said.

Additional reporting: Harry Taylor and Vikram Dodd

London mayor says government should stay true to its beliefs and face down those who claim net zero adds to cost of living

Keir Starmer’s government has shown a lack of confidence that it has the answers to the country’s problems, the mayor of London has said, as he called on the chancellor to back green investment in this month’s budget.

Speaking on the eve of a summit of world mayors in Rio de Janeiro, Sadiq Khan said the Treasury should be more supportive of the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, in his pursuit of the government’s target of an 81% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2035.

• Barcelona beat Elche after last weekend’s clásico defeat

• Last-gasp own goal hands Inter fortunate win at Verona

Goals from Lamine Yamal, Ferran Torres and Marcus Rashford guided Barcelona to a 3-1 victory over Elche on Sunday, propelling the defending champions to second place in La Liga with 25 points, five adrift of the leaders, Real Madrid.

Looking to bounce back after their 2-1 loss to Madrid in last weekend’s clásico, Barcelona wasted no time in asserting their dominance at Montjuïc’s Olympic Stadium. They made the most of two defensive errors by Elche in the opening minutes to grab a two-goal lead with strikes by Lamine Yamal and Torres in the ninth and 11th minutes.

• Jessica Pegula beats Gauff 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-2

• World No 1 Sabalenka defeats Paolini in earlier match

Coco Gauff’s serving woes followed her into the final week of the season, as the American’s title defence at the WTA Finals in Riyadh began with a bruising 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-2 loss to her compatriot Jessica Pegula in their first match of the group stages.

Despite fighting hard and remaining competitive until the end, the third seed simply could not overcome her 17 double faults against an in-form Pegula, the fifth seed, who maintained her composure after getting pulled into a final set by her struggling opponent, and saved her best level for the closing stretch of the match.

In an exclusive extract from her forthcoming autobiography, the former England goalkeeper reveals how her life unravelled during the Covid lockdowns of 2020

In early 2020, on the eve of lockdown, Phil Neville, then head coach of England, dropped Mary Earps from the squad.

For the first time ever, I began to feel something unimaginable; I felt disillusioned with football and unsure what I was doing in life, chasing this dream that was constantly in reach but never fully within my grasp. And then, abruptly, lockdown hit. And the world changed, at either the best possible time for me – or the very worst.

• Final: India, 298-7, beat South Africa, 246, by 52 runs

• Shafali and Deepti shine for hosts in Navi Mumbai

At last, 50 years on from their debut on the world stage, India’s dream came true: a first World Cup triumph, in front of a deafening full house in Navi Mumbai, as they defeated South Africa by 52 runs.

Laura Wolvaardt struck a magnificent century, going back-to-back after her winning effort against England in the semi-final, but while she finished the tournament with 571 runs – the most by any woman in a World Cup – the ultimate prize belonged to India.

On Friday Pep Guardiola suggested Erling Haaland’s teammates may wish to support the Norwegian in the goalscoring stakes. Cut to 48 hours later and guess who did the business yet again – twice – for Manchester City to take them into a 2-1 half-time lead that proved unassailable?

Step forward the phenomenon who now has 13 Premier League goals and a seismic total of 98 in 107 appearances in England’s top flight. After him, this year, Burnley’s Maxime Estève – via two own goals – is City’s highest league contributor, followed by Phil Foden, Tijjani Reijnders, Matheus Nunes and Rayan Cherki, who have all scored once.

Patel reportedly became furious after revelation he flew to visit girlfriend as agency fires official who oversees fleet

A top FBI official with 27 years standing has reportedly been fired by the bureau after its director, Kash Patel, became enraged by press stories revealing he had used a government jet to travel to see his girlfriend sing the national anthem at a wrestling match.

Steven Palmer, who had worked at the bureau since 1998, was fired as head of the FBI’s critical incident response group which is responsible for handling major security threats as well as overseeing the agency’s fleet of jets. He was the third head of the unit to be dismissed since Patel became the second Trump administration’s FBI director in February.

Targeting the negativity of the far right, the big winner of last week’s poll was able to cut through with voters

One of the tightest elections in Dutch history produced an outcome so close that first steps in negotiating a new coalition government have yet to begin. But at a time when the forward march of the far right across Europe is dominating headlines, sapping the confidence of mainstream parties, one uplifting takeaway was immediately clear: a less divisive kind of politics can still cut through with the public, if it is prosecuted with conviction and panache.

The big and unexpected winner of last week’s poll was 38-year-old Rob Jetten, the charismatic leader of the centrist liberal party D66, which almost tripled its vote and is set to top the polls by a whisker. Basing his campaign on the Obama-style slogan “Yes we can”, Mr Jetten presented himself as an optimistic unifier to an electorate exhausted by the polarising politics of Geert Wilders, whose anti-immigrant Freedom party (PVV) dominated the outgoing coalition. He now has a very good chance of being the country’s youngest-ever prime minister.

Former president also praises Mamdani’s campaign against rivals Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa

Zohran Mamdani, who holds a lead in polling ahead of New York City’s mayoral election on Tuesday, reportedly received a call Saturday from his fellow Democrat Barack Obama – and the former president offered to be a “sounding board” if his advantage turns into victory.

Obama also praised the campaign Mamdani had run against his main independent rival, former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, and the Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa.

Reuters contributed to this report

From a Van Gogh self-portrait to Gauguin’s dreamscapes, new studies show that seeing original art can calm stress and boost health

In an era characterised by burnout and doomscrolling, a therapeutic alternative is hanging on a gallery wall. When volunteers at London’s Courtauld Gallery stood before Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait With Bandaged Ear, Manet’s Bar at the Folies-Bergère, and Gauguin’s Te Rerioa, their stress and inflammation levels dropped compared with those of volunteers viewing reproductions. Science suggests that original art is a medicine that one can view rather than swallow.

That art can lift spirits is well known. But that it calms the body is novel. A study by King’s College London asked participants to look at masterworks by 19th-century post-impressionists – Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec, Manet and Gauguin – while strapped to sensors. Half the group saw the originals in the gallery, half viewed copies in a lab. The results were clear: going to art galleries is good for you – relieving stress and cutting heart disease risk, as well as boosting the immune system.

Laure Beccuau said ‘upper echelons of organised crime’ unlikely to be involved as one perpetrator remains at large

The brazen daytime heist at the Louvre was carried out by petty criminals rather than professionals from the world of organised crime, the Paris prosecutor has said, describing two of the suspects as a couple with children.

The assertion comes two weeks after thieves parked a stolen truck outside the world’s most-visited museum, used a furniture lift to reach the first floor, then smashed their way into one of the museum’s most ornate rooms. Less than seven minutes later, they escaped on scooters with crown jewels worth an estimated €88m (£76m).

Back-row made a big impact with stunning try against Australia but might do well to let his rugby do the talking

The sporting gods can sometimes be mischievous. Steve Borthwick’s vision of rugby heaven is a cohesive team that consistently delivers without huge amounts of fuss and squeezes the life out of opponents like a white-shirted python. Control, physicality, tactical acumen and work rate will forever be more central to his vision of Test match success than individual front-page razzle-dazzle.

And what happens? With almost comic timing the door to the England dressing room has been flung off its hinges by a 20-year-old rock star forward with the ability to transform games on his own. Henry Pollock has now scored three tries in 61 minutes of international rugby, is all over social media and already has half the rugby world itching to punch his lights out.

Mother of Bella May Culley, 19, awaiting sentencing on Monday, says conditions have improved after transfer to new jail

A pregnant British teenager accused of drug-smuggling has been moved to a mother-and-baby unit in a Georgian prison, her mother said.

Bella May Culley, 19, who is reported to be eight months pregnant, was arrested at Tbilisi airport in May.

It is unclear whether Martin O’Neill will lead out Celtic in next month’s League Cup final. For now, the interim manager will settle for taking them there. St Mirren lie in wait after a frantic, controversial semi-final in which the 10 men of Rangers competed admirably. Celtic needed extra-time to see off their oldest foes. The outcome will matter far more to O’Neill than the earlier scale of worry Rangers caused him. A turbulent week for Celtic, which included the resignation of Brendan Rodgers, ended with their supporters hailing O’Neill in song.

Rangers’ task was rendered harder by the actions of Thelo Aasgaard seven minutes before the interval. The midfielder was high and reckless when catching Anthony Ralston, a red card the correct punishment. Rangers felt the numbers should have been levelled in first half stoppage time after the Celtic centre back Auston Trusty crazily kicked the head of Jack Butland. Trusty escaped with a booking.

More to follow

• Hellen Obiri regains title she won in 2023 race

• Benson Kipruto wins men’s race by less than a second

Hellen Obiri set a women’s course record to win the New York City Marathon on Sunday while her fellow Kenyan, Benson Kipruto, won the men’s race by edging Alexander Mutiso by less than a second.

Obiri, who also won the race in 2023, finished in two hours, 19 minutes and 51 seconds. Obiri was running with 2022 winner Sharon Lokedi until she pulled away from her countrymate in the final mile, surging ahead and winning easily, besting the previous course record of 2:22:31 set by Margaret Okayo in 2003. Defending champion Sheila Chepkirui finished third. All three beat the previous course best.