53 m. ago Michael Phelps is right. USA Swimming’s failure runs deeper than medals

The 23-times gold medallist warns of drift and weak leadership. Governance failures, and a troubled safeguarding record, could cost the US more than podium places at LA 2028In three years’ time, the swimming programme for the Los Angeles Olympics will unfold over nine days and nights on the grandest stage the sport has ever known. A purpose-built pool inside SoFi Stadium in Inglewood will be the centerpiece of a 38,000-capacity open-air natatorium, transforming the $5bn home of the NFL’s Rams and Chargers into the largest swimming venue in modern history. For the United States, a rare Summer Games on home soil should be a coronation, a chance to showcase the depth of its talent in the country’s most spectacular arena. Yet Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of them all, fears the US swimming program is in no shape to seize the moment.Phelps has launched a withering attack on USA Swimming’s leadership, accusing it of “weak” stewardship, “poor operational controls” and presidi...

Events

53 m. ago ‘The Black experience is more than just London’: Chiedu Oraka, the Hull rapper handpicked to support Coldplay

When Chris Martin called, the MC saw an opportunity to rep his city, pursue his goal of being rap’s next ‘king of the north’ – and expand perceptions of Black British identity‘When I say ‘Hull’, you say ‘City’! Hull  ” Chiedu Oraka grins, pointing his mic towards the middle of a near-empty recording studio. Silence – for now, at least. Next week, that pause will be filled by 20,000 voices at Craven Park stadium, where the local rapper will open Coldplay’s latest UK run of Music of the Spheres tour dates. And he is determined to make that crowd his own. “There’s going to be people there who haven’t seen me before, so I want to give them everything – new songs, old ones and a party,” he says. “I’m proper buzzing for it.”Last year, Oraka played Glastonbury, opened for Skepta at South by Southwest and supported the Brit-award-winning rapper Casisdead. But these Coldplay shows are the 37-year-old’s biggest gigs yet – and Hull’s most high-profile music events in years. The gigs ...

Politics

1 hour ago A capella Flower Of Scotland at Murrayfield began with a 'mistake', says Scottish Rugby

The mix-up which sparked the worldwide trend initially led the events manager to think she would lose her job

Politics

1 hour ago Biggest Loser star's heart attack and health battle after show finished filming

A new Netflix docuseries looks behind the scenes of the hit reality show

Events

2 h. ago Several Palestinian people reported injured in overnight attack by Israeli settlers in West Bank – Middle East crisis live

Settlers attacked Palestinian people in village of Susya, south of Hebron, while separately settlers reportedly attacked village of Atara and set fire to vehiclesHere is some more detail on the controversial plan to significantly expand a settlement near occupied East Jerusalem.The decision from the Supreme Planning Council, which meets next week, is expected to support the plan after rejecting objections by Israeli NGOs.The expected decision in favour will come after Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich – who backs both the plan and the imposition of Israeli sovereignty through the occupied West Bank – gloated that he believed construction on E1 would “bury the idea of a Palestinian state”. Continue reading...

Events

4 h. ago Arne Slot drops biggest hint yet on Liverpool's Alexander Isak transfer chase

Arne Slot has made it clear that he wants Liverpool to secure another attack as they remain determined to add Alexander Isak, who is pushing for a Newcastle exit

Politics

5 h. ago Limitless: Live Better Now review – Chris Hemsworth has absolutely no sense of rhythm

The Thor star’s documentary about improving his mental resilience sees him trying to learn the drums. But given how dreadful he is, promising to join Ed Sheeran on stage may have been a mistake So, you know how there was once the Era of All the Chrises? Pine, Evans, Pratt, Hemsworth. And they all looked the same, especially Pratt ‘n’ Evans and Pine ‘n’ Hemsworth (plus Hemsworth had 17 brothers who also looked the same, which felt like an unnecessary layer of complication). Then Evans became Captain America and Hemsworth became Thor and that sorted things out a tad, although Pratt ran interference as Star-Lord in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise for a bit.Anyway. Limitless is a reality-documentary sort of thing by the Hemsworth one (if you need further elucidation, he is Australian and looks like a handsome teddy bear with an unparalleled fitness regime). In the first series he investigated ways to deal with stress and shock, and how to slow the ageing process and other ills tha...

Politics

5 h. ago ‘What about our lives?’: emotions run high in frontline Ukrainian city over ceding land to Russia

Trump’s talk of ‘land swaps’ as a simple transaction belies grim reality of what it would mean for people in Zaporizhzhia The city of Zaporizhzhia, an industrial hub in south-east Ukraine, is as good a place as any to grasp the stakes of freezing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine along its current frontlines, or of implementing a “land swap for peace” deal as envisioned by Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.Since Russian troops began rolling into Ukraine in February 2022, Zaporizhzhia, with its broad avenues and Stalin-era apartment blocks, has been a 30-minute drive from the frontline. It has been under near-constant attack from missiles and drones. On Sunday, a Russian guided air bomb hit a bus station, wounding 24 people – just another day of suffering in a city that has known many of them. Continue reading...

Politics

8 h. ago Actress' 'biohazard diarrhoea' destroys plane bathroom and cancels whole flight

United Airlines passenger Meghan Reinertsen, 29, has explained the cause of the in-flight chaos that led to the cancellation of her flight after she was forced to spend 90 minutes locked in the bathroom

Politics

8 h. ago After uproar, documentary on Hamas 2023 attack will screen at Toronto Film Festival

The Toronto International Film Festival will screen a documentary on the 2023 Hamas attack, after all, following an uproar over the film’s disinvitation from the upcoming festival

Culture

12 h. ago Priscilla Presley spent years fighting her former business partners over money. Then they dropped a medical bombshell

Priscilla Presley has been locked in a multi-year legal battle with her former business partners

Economics

12 h. ago Katie Price once branded Peter Andre's wife Emily 'disgusting' in a quickly

Katie Price and Peter Andre have been locked in a bitter war of words this week after the Mysterious Girl hitmaker released a statement explaining he had his two children with Katie living with him 'for their safety'

Economics

13 h. ago Teens arrested after boy, 17, horrifically injured in Wigan machete attack

The incident happened at around 5:30pm on Wednesday on a street in Wigan and left the young victim 'bleeding heavily' with potentially life-changing injuries to his hand

Events

14 h. ago Emmerdale Kammy Hadiq's 'exit sealed' following aftermath of Vinny's violent attack

Emmerdale viewers saw Vinny blame Kammy for his violent attack in tonight's episode, with the resident later telling Vinny that covering for him was 'ruining his life'

Events

14 h. ago Gangster who enjoyed lavish lifestyle funded by crime and helped buy AK47 machine gun among Jamie Rothwell associates to be locked up

Craig Makinson enjoyed holidays and expensive cars

Events

14 h. ago Stockport County's major £50million stadium expansion approved

It will bring the total capacity to 18,000

Economics

15 h. ago Alexander Jensen targets instant Aberdeen Hampden return as dream Euro run also in his cross hairs

The defender is desperate for a quickfire return to the national stadium this year

Events

15 h. ago The Biggest Loser’s Bob Harper says Jillian Michaels didn’t reach out to him after ‘widowmaker’ heart attack

Harper and Michaels worked together for 12 seasons of the weight-loss reality series

Events

16 h. ago Welsh rugby's giant new 20st enforcer looks to make huge difference as Tandy watches on

The Welsh-qualified lock has been signed as an enforcer in the Dragons pack

Politics

16 h. ago Trump’s DC takeover is a move of staggering hypocrisy | Rebecca Solnit

Donald Trump is concocting a drama in DC because he would like us to really stop talking about the Epstein filesThe most violent day in the history of Washington DC, leaving aside the War of 1812, was 6 January 2021, and the instigator was Donald J Trump, who this week has endeavored to seize control of the nation’s capital, after reports that a former employee of the “department of government efficiency” (Doge) was assaulted in the city.In a sense the new event echoes the old; both are illegitimate power grabs made on the basis of lies. In 2021 it was a lie about the outcome of the 2020 presidential election; in the summer of 2025 it’s lies about crime levels. Reliable sources – including the Biden Department of Justice in January – have noted that violent crime there is at a 30-year low. Five people died as a result of that 2021 attack on Congress, and dozens of law enforcement officers were injured, some gravely, by the mob Trump incited. On his first day in office in 2025 he par...

Politics