Fans of Newcastle United had expected the club’s new owners to deliver success – but perhaps not this much, this soon.

A goalless draw against Leicester City on Monday secured Newcastle’s spot in next season’s Champions League for the first time in 20 years, a sensational rise for a team on course to be relegated from the English Premier League 18 months ago.

Even manager Eddie Howe, who joined Newcastle in November 2021, has been surprised by the progress, admitting that Champions League qualification “wasn’t something that was on our radar” at the start of the season.

“It was about trying to grow away from relegation after last year’s battle with it,” Howe told BBC Sport. “We’re way ahead of schedule but we’ll certainly take it and we’re delighted to be there.”

For a long time, Howe has been synonymous with Bournemouth – the club he represented for much of his playing career, then guided from the third tier of English football to the Premier League as manager.

But now he is at the heart of Newcastle’s return to European football, ending decades of underachievement and frustration for fans in the north-east of England.

“We have an incredible team,” forward Allan Saint-Maximin told NUFC TV. “Now we have our name in the history of the club … Let’s see what’s going to happen in the Champions League.”

Newcastle’s previous owner, retail magnate Mike Ashley, was a deeply unpopular figure with Newcastle fans, often criticized for his lack of investment in the club.

The arrival of new owners in October 2021 – a three-party consortium led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) – ushered in a new era.

Change quickly followed as Howe was installed as manager in the place of Steve Bruce and Newcastle rose from 19th to 11th in the Premier League that season.

This year, the club has benefited from a sensible transfer strategy. The likes of forward Alexander Isak, midfielder Bruno Guimarães, and right-back Kieran Trippier have been excellent additions over the past 18 months, while goalkeeper Nick Pope, who produced a superb save to deny Leicester City victory on Monday, has had 14 clean sheets in the league.

Defenders Fabian Schär, Sven Botman, and Dan Burn have also been central to the club’s success; only Manchester City (31) has conceded fewer goals than Newcastle (32) this Premier League campaign.

Writing in The Athletic, former striker Alan Shearer, Newcastle’s all-time top scorer, thanked Howe for “not going down that well-trodden route of instant gratification” with player signings.

“The easy thing, the lazy thing, is to say you’ve splurged a fortune, but not compared to plenty of others and what you’ve actually done is take a club at its lowest ebb, bottom of the Premier League, and offered balance to years of under-spending or misspending,” Shearer wrote.

“Thank you for buying well and sensibly, for making your foundation a core of character.”

The three-party consortium which now owns Newcastle is being fronted by Amanda Staveley, the CEO of PCP Capital Partners who is often seen celebrating with players and coaches after games.

The involvement of the PIF, a sovereign wealth fund chaired by Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has raised controversy, particularly given Saudi Arabia’s human rights record.

Hatice Cengiz, the fiancée of the late Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, has called the owners a “shame and embarrassment” for Newcastle United, saying that she hoped the fans and players would “hold their owners to account.”

The Premier League, meanwhile, said it received “legally binding assurances” that Saudi Arabia “will not control Newcastle United Football Club” amid concerns that the nation’s Crown Prince oversees the PIF.

Newcastle is 80% owned by the PIF, making the club the richest in the world. But qualifying for the Champions League is also a financial boon, with each of the 32 clubs competing in the group stages this season receiving €15.64 million (around $16.84 million), according to UEFA.

As the season draws to a close, Newcastle has one final game against Chelsea to consolidate its third-place position in the league, though Manchester United, currently one point behind, still has two games left to play.

Regardless of results in those matches, Newcastle is guaranteed to play in the Champions League next season – a moment fans could hardly have dreamed of two years ago.

“It was a great season,” forward Joelinton told NUFC TV. “The fans were behind us all season, they support us everywhere – at home, away – and they deserve this moment.”

Damar Hamlin “has not been practicing” but is “in the building working,” Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott said in a press conference on Tuesday.

Hamlin went into cardiac arrest after making a tackle and appearing to be hit with a helmet in his chest during the first quarter of the Bills’ Monday Night Football game against the Cincinnati Bengals on January 2. CPR was performed on Hamlin when he lost his pulse and needed to be revived through resuscitation and defibrillation.

In April, Hamlin was cleared to resume football activities after it was determined that his cardiac arrest was caused by commotio cordis, which can occur when severe trauma to the chest disrupts the heart’s electrical charge and causes dangerous fibrillations.

The 25-year-old was cleared to resume football activities last month and said he has been planning to make a comeback to the NFL.

However, McDermott says Hamlin has yet to take the practice field in earnest yet, remaining coy about his day-to-day activities.

“We’re just going to continue to take it one day at a time,” he told a press conference. “And just support Damar in every way possible.”

He added: “He’s in the building working.”

Hamlin was named the 2023 George Halas Award winner by the Professional Football Writers of America earlier in May.

The annual award is given to an NFL player, coach or staffer “who overcomes the most adversity to succeed.”

In April, the safety said his heart is still in the game and he was excited to make his comeback to the NFL.

“I just want to show people that fear is a choice. You can keep going at something without having the answers and without knowing what’s at the end of the tunnel,” he said. “You might feel anxious – you might feel any type of way – but you just keep putting that right foot in front of the left one and you keep going. I want to stand for that.”

The Bills are going through voluntary organized team practice activities in which no live contact is permitted, but 7-on-7, 9-on-7, and 11-on-11 drills are permitted.

In June, the team will hold a mandatory minicamp for players.

Typhoon Mawar was barreling toward Guam early Wednesday, threatening to slam into the US territory as the strongest storm there in decades.

The typhoon, which strengthened rapidly in recent days, is posing a “triple threat” of devastation including deadly winds equivalent to at least a Category 4 hurricane, exceptional storm surge and torrential rainfall, according to the National Weather Service office in Guam.

Mawar has been described as “one that will be remembered for decades,” said Landon Aydlett, the warning coordination meteorologist from the weather service in Guam. It is expected to strike the island – and possibly make a direct landfall – on Wednesday afternoon, local time (late Tuesday or early Wednesday, Eastern Time).

As of early Wednesday local time, Mawar’s center was 80 miles from Guam, and conditions were deteriorating quickly as the storm’s outer bands moved through the area and the core of the storm approached.

Mawar’s maximum sustained winds were 140 mph early Wednesday, the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. That’s down from 155 mph earlier, which at the time gave it super typhoon status (sustained winds of at least 150 mph).

Forecasters had warned that Mawar could reach the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane – sustained winds in excess of 157 mph – before landfall. Fluctuations in strength still were possible Wednesday morning, and the storm is expected to remain very intense as it moves over Guam towards the west and northwest over the next several days.

The storm’s forward movement slowed to 6 mph Wednesday morning. Such a slow pace would lead to prolonged impacts from the winds and greater amounts of rainfall.

“Guam will see devastating impacts from Typhoon Mawar,” the National Weather Service in Guam said.

If the typhoon does make a direct landfall, the island would be thrashed with the storm’s strongest winds and highest storm surge.

Though Guam is located in the West Pacific Ocean – an area prone to the world’s strongest tropical cyclones – a direct hit from a storm this strength is exceedingly rare and has only happened around eight times in the last 75 years. The island is just 30 miles long, so the center of a storm moving over would be akin to threading a tiny needle.

Mawar could be the strongest storm to directly impact Guam since at least 1976, when Typhoon Pamela struck with sustained winds of 140 mph. If Mawar strikes with higher sustained winds, it would be the strongest since Super Typhoon Karen, widely regarded as the worst storm to ever hit the island, struck in 1962 with sustained winds of 172 mph.

Human-caused climate change is stacking the deck in favor of more intense storms like Typhoon Mawar. Not only are these systems generating more rainfall and larger storm surge – they are also more likely to be stronger and are intensifying faster.

Mawar underwent extreme rapid intensification from Monday into Tuesday, with top wind speeds increasing by 50 mph in just 18 hours. Scientists have warned that the rapid intensification of tropical cyclones – like typhoons and hurricanes – is more likely as ocean temperatures climb and lay the groundwork for cyclones to explode at breakneck pace into deadly storms.

As winds teeter near Category 5 strength, considerable damage is likely to buildings that are not reinforced with concrete, forecasters warned. Extensive roof damage is possible, along with flying projectiles that are lofted into the air by the powerful winds.

“Electricity and water may be unavailable for days and perhaps weeks after the storm passes” and “most trees will be snapped or uprooted,” the weather service in Guam warned. Up to 70% of the island’s foliage could be ripped away by Mawar’s powerful winds.

An exceptional storm surge up to 25 feet will pose a significant risk to life and property on the island, especially in the most vulnerable coastal locations near the eyewall.

Storm surge fatalities are historically the leading cause of hurricane-related deaths within the United States, according to the National Weather Service. This level of storm surge will likely cause severe coastal erosion and “large boats could be torn from moorings” according to the weather service.

In addition to the coastal flooding from storm surge, flash flooding is possible as the storm is forecast to bring 10 to 15 inches of rain, with locally higher amounts up to 20 inches possible.

A flood watch is currently in effect for the entire area as rain will pick up in intensity as the storm approaches. Even “higher rainfall totals” are possible if the storm slows its forward speed the weather service warned.

Landslides will also become likely as the ground becomes saturated and the soil along hilly terrain becomes unstable.

First things first: Despite some truly terrifying tales of survival, you are incredibly unlikely to be duking it out with a shark any time soon.

But sharks do occasionally attack humans.

New Jersey teenager Maggie Drozdowski was injured by an apparent shark bite while surfing on May 21, 2023, while there were two separate incidents of Florida men being bitten by sharks earlier the same month, one while angling off a dock and the other while spearfishing in the water. And in Hawaii, a 60-year-old man was attacked by a shark but was able to swim to a catamaran for help just weeks earlier in March.

On South Australia’s west coast, a 46-year-old schoolteacher was presumed dead after being attacked by a shark on May 15 while surfing, just months after a teenage girl was attacked and killed by a shark while swimming in a river in Perth, Western Australia.

While these kinds of encounter understandably strike fear into would-be ocean swimmers, there’s no need to panic about your upcoming beach vacation. The chances of being attacked by a shark are extremely low.

The Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File found only 57 confirmed, unprovoked shark bites on people and 32 confirmed, provoked bites in 2022 worldwide.

Think about it a minute – the world population is 8 billion people. Many of those live near or vacation at the coast. And only 89 bites were logged. Your chances of drowning are much, much higher.

In 2022, the United States led the way in unprovoked attacks at 41; Florida had the highest state total at 16.

Before you get in the water

Know your environment

Sharks are salt-water creatures. The ocean is their home; we are the visitors.

“If you’re going to the ocean, you have to assume you could encounter a shark regardless of when or where that is,” said Neil Hammerschlag, director of the Shark Research and Conservation Program at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School.

“Fortunately, humans aren’t on the menu, and also fortunately, sharks tend to avoid people.”

Still, there are places you’re more likely to encounter a shark.

River mouths are not the best place to swim

You should avoid estuaries, said Richard Peirce, an author, shark expert and former chair of the UK-based Shark Trust and Shark Conservation Society.

Their often-murky waters are a favorite with bull sharks, which are the most likely to attack humans along with great whites and tiger sharks.

“An awful lot of attacks occur in river mouths, where there is silt and other material in suspension in the river – people washing their clothes, people washing themselves,” said Peirce.

Hammerschlag pointed out another area where an encounter is more likely: deeper channels between the shoreline and sandbars farther out.

Avoid areas with fishing

Before you jump in the sea, have a look around the horizon: What do you see? If you see fishing boats, Peirce says “forget it.”

“Whether the fishing activity is commercial or recreational, material will often be being discarded, and unwanted dead fish, fish parts and the action of gutting fish are all putting chum in the water and inviting attention from sharks,” he said.

Before you go in, watch for unusual fish activity, such as a whole bunch of small- and medium-sized fish jumping out of the water, Hammerschlag said. That’s a possible sign a shark might be nearby.

He also advised to not swim within roughly 50 yards of where someone is fishing from shore.

Avoid dusk and dawn

Swimming early in the morning or late at night can be lovely, but it’s also the time when a shark attack is most likely.

“A lot of shark attacks are cases of mistaken identity,” Peirce says, “due to reduced visibility and identification ability on the behalf of the shark.”

Hang with lifeguards

Chris Lowe, professor in marine biology and director of the Shark Lab at California State University, Long Beach, advises to “do your homework” before you go into unfamiliar waters. Bone up a little bit on species you might encounter in different places.

If you have any questions, ask a local lifeguard. He said they are a great resource.

“I always recommend people go to guarded beaches. It’s a lot safer,” he said.

Don’t wear shiny objects in the water

“Be careful with jewelry, anything that flashes because sharks are always looking for fish.” Lowe said.

In murky water, a shark may think that flash is a sign of a meal. “And you don’t want your hand or foot to get confused with that.”

Follow your instincts

“Probably the most important thing is to follow your gut,” Hammerschlag said. “If you feel wary about getting in the water … just don’t go in the water.”

“A lot of people who have been bitten actually said they had a weird sensation before that, like they had an inner voice telling them to get out of the water and they didn’t listen to it,” he said.

If a shark is nearby

Don’t panic

So you’re being circled by a shark. The worst thing you can do right now is panic.

“Don’t start splashing around – you’re just going to excite, incite and encourage the shark’s interest,” said Peirce.

Humans, apes, dogs and cats all have paws and hands. If we want to explore something we pick it up and we touch it, we feel it, we put it to our nose.

“A shark has got no paws or hands, so if it wants to explore something, the only capability it’s got to do that is to put it in its mouth,” said Peirce.

“That’s why we often get exploratory bites which don’t result in death and sometimes don’t even result in serious injury. If you go swimming and splashing away, you’re almost inviting the shark to come give you an exploratory or an attack bite.”

Maintain eye contact

As the shark swims around you, keep your head on a swivel and try to maintain eye contact.

“Sharks are ambush predators,” Peirce explained. “If you’re turning around and facing it the whole time while it circles you, it’s not going to be half as comfortable as if it’s able to sneak up from behind.”

Hammerschlag concurred, saying you should posture your body toward the shark so it knows you see it and you’re following it. Then slowly back up toward your exit to a boat or shore.

If you’re surfing, track the shark with your board, Lowe said. “Let the shark know it’s being watched.”

Marine biologists and shark divers Adriana Fragola and Kayleigh Grant show how that eye contact method works with tiger sharks. In a viral TikTok video (see top of story), the shark is seen as Fragola splashes away, capturing its attention. She turns around, faces the approaching shark, remains still in the water and gently deflects the shark away with her hand.

“You’re definitely never going to outswim or outrun a shark if it were actually chasing you,” Fragola says in the video.

Stay big or get small

This is where it gets complicated. If a shark is clearly in attack mode, you need to make yourself as big as possible in the water, according to Peirce.

“The bigger you are in the water, the more respect you’ll get,” he said.

But if the shark seems to simply be passing through, Peirce’s advice is to roll up into a ball.

“If a shark sees you as a competitor for its food source, that can be one reason it attacks you,” he explained.

“If I didn’t want to be seen by a great white shark as a competitor – and if it wasn’t showing massive interest in me – I would actually curl up so he shows even less interest in me.”

If you’re being attacked

Don’t play dead

This isn’t a bear, it’s a shark. If you find yourself in an aggressive encounter, give it hell: punch, kick and poke at sensitive spots – but be careful where you aim.

“There’s all this talk about punching a shark in the nose. That’s OK, but remember that just underneath the nose is a mouth,” said Peirce.

“This is a moving object in the water and you’re not staying still either, so what you don’t want to do is end up effectively punching at the mouth or anywhere near it.”

A good shot to the gills can also do the job: “The gills are very sensitive – giving a shark a whack in the gills isn’t a bad idea.”

Are you carrying anything with you? If so, turn it into a weapon.

“If you’re a diver with an underwater camera, use it, if you’re a snorkeler, rip off your snorkel and use it to poke the shark,” Peirce says.

“I’ve had a lot of sharks come at me, and it’s (been) enough to use a shark billy – a small metal rod between two and three feet long – and I’ve just given them a little nudge on their nose.”

It’s a good idea to swim with other people, Lowe said. Not only does that decrease the chances of an attack, he said, but you’ve got someone to assist you to a boat or shore if you are bitten.

Cut off the angles

If you’re a diver and you run into trouble, try to get into a position where the shark can’t get behind you, says Peirce.

“Keep your back to something like a coral reef. Then you’ve only got one direction to look. You’re protected from behind, for example, and that enables you to keep the shark in sight in front of you and maybe swim to the top of the reef slowly to where your boat is.”

Slowly back away

Displace the least amount of water possible. Try not to thrash and splash around as you gradually swim backwards toward shore.

“You must try and keep the animal in sight and very slowly and gently try and swim backwards and get into shallow water. Again, you’ve got to be careful – large sharks can attack in very shallow depths.”

Doing the above may help to a degree, but Peirce says the likelihood of escaping without injury when a big shark attacks is slim.

“If a white shark is in full attack mode, there’s not much you’re going to be able to do at that point,” he says.

A ban on short domestic flights for journeys that can be completed in two-and-a-half hours by train was signed into law in France on Tuesday.

Clement Beaune, France’s transport minister, heralded the decree.

“This is an essential step and a strong symbol in the policy of reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” Beaune said in a statement.

“As we fight relentlessly to decarbonize our lifestyles, how can we justify the use of the plane between the big cities which benefit from regular, fast and efficient connections by train,” he added.

Only three routes have been discontinued: those linking Paris-Orly airport to the cities of Bordeaux, Nantes and Lyon. Connecting flights will be unaffected.

For the ban to apply, the EU insisted the air route in question must have a high-speed rail alternative that makes it possible to travel between the two cities in less than two-and-a-half hours. There must also be enough early and late-running trains to enable travelers to spend at least eight hours at the destination.

Some have criticized French President Emmanuel Macron for watering down proposals from his own environmental panel, which had recommended a ban on flights where a train journey would take fewer than four hours.

Critics have pointed out that high-speed train lines were already draining passengers away from airlines and that the ban pays lip service to climate concerns without really doing anything about them.

“No one will be fooled by this measure: passengers are naturally turning away from taking flights on these routes,” Guillaume Schmid, former vice president of Air France’s pilots’ union, tweeted.

“The French flight ban is a symbolic move, but will have very little impact on reducing emissions,” said Jo Dardenne, an aviation director at cleaner transport campaign group Transport & Environment.

T&E estimates that the three routes affected by the ban represent only 0.3% of the emissions produced by flights taking off from mainland France, and 3% of the country’s domestic flight emissions (counting only mainland domestic flights).

Marilyn Lomas had finally made it. In front of the Ecuadorian migrant, her husband, and their two children, was the Suchiate. The mighty river’s waters can occasionally turn dangerous for migrants and marks the southwestern most part of the 956 kilometer (594 mile) border between Mexico and Guatemala.

“The situation [in Ecuador] is very bad. There’s a lot of crime. It’s really bad,” she said as she and her family recently crossed the river on a flimsy raft along with roughly a dozen migrants who typically pay a dollar to local guides to help them across, with luck, without getting wet.

Other than the Suchiate, there was nothing stopping the family from crossing from the Guatemalan department of San Marcos into the Mexican state of Chiapas. Historically, migrants coming from the south have faced few or no restrictions in Guatemala or Mexico. But that dramatically changed in 2019.

In May of that year, then-United States President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on all Mexican goods entering the US if Mexico did not limit the number of Central American migrants moving through the country.

After intense negotiations between the two countries, Trump announced on June 7 a deal had been reached by which Mexico was going to “take strong measures to stem the tide of migration through Mexico, and to our southern border,” the then-president tweeted.

Two weeks later, Mexico’s defense secretary announced that nearly 15,000 troops had been deployed to the US-Mexico border, in addition to 2,000 members of the National Guard that had already been deployed to Mexico’s southern border with Belize and Guatemala, adding to the 4,500 troops already spread across the area.

But the enforcement has been chaotic, sporadic and, in the words of a former top Mexican official, “inefficient.”

Tonatiuh Guillén was commissioner of Mexico’s National Migration Institute until 2019. After only seven months in his post, he resigned because he strongly disagreed with his boss, president Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s decision to “militarize Mexico’s borders.”

Asked whether Mexico was doing the United States’ dirty work when it comes to immigration policy, Guillén said that “Mexico’s migration policy is aligned with the overall goals and strategies the US government had under Trump, and now, by extension, under Biden.”

US migration policy today in many ways still depends on Mexico’s cooperation, as another immigration deal illustrates: Earlier this month, the White House announced that Mexico agreed to take back migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela beginning on May 12, the day after Title 42 ended. The agreement marks the first time the US will deport non-Mexicans back across the border.

‘This is not about doing the United States’ dirty work’

Mexican President Obrador denies Mexico is doing the US’s bidding when it comes to migration.

“This is not about doing the United States’ dirty work,” he said on his daily morning address on March 2, arguing that cracking down on undocumented migration was necessary to protect victims of smugglers.

“This is about protecting migrants. Just look at what’s happened, so many tragedies involving migrants in trailers,” the president said. Fifty-one migrants were found dead in sweltering conditions inside a semitruck in San Antonio, Texas last June. Two months later, another 47 migrants were found alive crammed inside a truck in Matehuala (San Luis Potosí state), Mexico.

López Obrador says part of the solution is “cooperating with the U.S. government so that there’s no chaos, and much less violence, at the border. We’re also helping at [Mexico’s] southeast [border] so that migrants are protected. We have been receiving information that there are many smugglers, more than usual, many traffickers of people, who are offering to transport migrants for $8,000 to $10,000,” the president said.

But Guillén, his former immigration commissioner, points out that tragedies have also occurred in the course of immigration enforcement, saying he was horrified by the fire that killed 40 mostly Central American migrants at a facility of Mexico’s National Migration Institute in Ciudad Juárez, across the border from El Paso, Texas.

He sees this tragedy as one of the most deplorable examples of his country’s failure to address its migration challenge humanely.

Clashes between members of the National Guard and migrants became frequent at the Mexico-Guatemala border during the summer of 2019. There have also been clashes in the following years which have suggested that Mexican authorities do not have the numbers nor the strategy to adequately confront the problem.

According to statistics published Monday by the Mexican government, between September 2021 and June of last year, nearly 23,458 members of Mexico’s armed forces were deployed to the country’s borders to enforce Mexican immigration policy. The military detained 345,854 migrants during that period.

That’s what Marilyn Lomas and her family, the Ecuadorian migrants, were hoping to do: get a permit to travel across Mexico unimpeded and then cross the border into the United States.

“With God’s favor, everything is possible,” she said.

As the Colombian military frantically searches for four children missing after a jungle plane crash over two weeks ago, new details are emerging about the plane’s history – and local concerns over the safety of air travel in that part of the Amazon.

The single engine Cessna 206 HK-2803 that crashed into the rainforest on May 1 was carrying seven people, of which four were children.

Search and rescue teams have located three adult bodies, but only traces of the children, aged 11 months to 13 years old: a baby bottle, hair ties, a make-shift shelter and even what appeared to be small footprints.

Indigenous activists who mourned the deaths in a statement earlier this week said the crash was no surprise, accusing airline companies operating in the Amazon of chasing profits and the Colombian government of failing to uphold safety standards.

“The Colombian state is responsible for this tragedy and all those similar,” indigenous advocacy group OPIAC said, alleging an “absolute negligence” of controls and procedures for air safety in the area, and pointing out that indigenous people in the area have few alternative travel options.

The report states that the plane was built in 1982 and, prior to the 2021 crash, had accumulated over 10 thousand flight hours.

The three crew on the plane at that time only suffered minor injuries and were rescued by indigenous scouts, however the plane suffered considerable damage to the propeller, engine and wing section, the report states. Aviation engineers had to replace the entire front and left wing of the aircraft to make it airworthy again.

“It’s true that [the] plane crashed in the jungle, but nothing happened,” said Giselle Lopez, owner of Avianline Charter’s SAS, the charter company that owns the aircraft, which also has a contract for air ambulance services in the Amazon region.

Missing for nearly three weeks

The missing children’s wellbeing has become a national concern in Colombia.

President Gustavo Petro drew global attention to the incident earlier this week with a tweet prematurely celebrating their rescue; he later deleted it, saying the news had not been confirmed.

Colombia’s military has taken pains to highlight its search and rescue efforts to the public, with Air Force General Pedro Sanchez on Friday saying that over 150 uniformed men had been deployed to “saturate the jungle.”

“We will search inch-by-inch until we find them,” he vowed in an appearance on the military’s Instagram page.

On Friday, the military released a map of the area of operation, covering a stretch of jungle of over 300 square kilometers (115 square miles), roughly six times bigger than the island of Manhattan.

In addition to canine and search teams, rescuers have tried to make contact with the four children by broadcasting a recording of their grandmother’s voice speaking in the indigenous Huitoto language, their native tongue.

Relatives say the children knew the jungle well, and are holding out hope that they will be found alive.

“Maybe they are hiding,” said Fidencio Valencia, the children’s grandfather, speaking to Colombia’s Caracol TV on Thursday.

“Maybe they don’t realize that they are looking for them; they are children… but we hope that they are alive and have access to water, because water is life.”

Seven people were arrested on Tuesday in relation to incidents of racist abuse directed at Real Madrid star Vinícius Jr. this season.

Spanish police said four young men had been detained for allegedly hanging an effigy of Vinícius off a bridge in Madrid in January, while three others were arrested on suspicion of being involved in the racist insults aimed at the Brazilian during Sunday’s match against Valencia.

Both incidents are being treated as hate crimes.

The incident with the effigy occurred in the Spanish capital near Real’s training center ahead of the team’s Copa del Rey quarterfinal against Atlético Madrid on January 26.

In videos which were widely viewed on social media, the effigy – which was dressed in a Real Madrid shirt with Vinícius’ name and No. 20 on the back – was shown hanging along with a banner which read: “Madrid hates Real.”

“Three of those arrested are active members of a radical fan group of a football club from Madrid,” the police statement read.

“The investigation carried out by police through evidence gathered, witnesses and open-source digital research, among other things, led to the identification of the four men suspected of the crime.”

The police statement added that the three fans belonging to an ultra group had previously been identified at matches classified as “high risk” in the police’s attempts to clamp down on violence in sport.

Vinícius has been subjected to racist abuse from the stands on numerous occasions during La Liga matches over the past two seasons, most recently against Valencia on Sunday.

The referee’s official report from the game described the incident, noting a fan had shouted “monkey, monkey” at Vinícius during the second half. Video footage of the match from DAZN España also shows that the Real Madrid star was subjected to various other racist insults throughout the game.

Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva came to Vinícius’ defense on Monday, saying that it’s “not possible that almost in the middle of the 21st century, we have racial prejudice gaining strength in several football stadiums in Europe.

“I think it is important that FIFA, the Spanish league, and leagues in other countries take real action because we cannot allow fascism and racism to dominate football stadiums,” he added.

On Monday, the lights at Rio de Janeiro’s iconic Christ the Redeemer statue were turned off to show solidarity with Vinícius.

In a statement released on Tuesday, LaLiga said it is formally calling to be given sanctioning powers to better fight racism in Spanish football.

At present, LaLiga says it cannot punish clubs or fans for incidents of racist abuse and can only pass on any reports of abuse to Spanish football federation (RFEF) committees or regional prosecutors, who deal with them as legal cases before sporting punishments are handed out.

As a result of this and amid increasing criticism at the lack of action taken over racist incidents, LaLiga says it “will now proactively seek an amendment to the law that enables it to enact disciplinary action moving forward.”

Spain has racism problem, football chief says

The head of the RFEF, Luis Rubiales, admitted on Monday that there is a racism problem in the country.

“We have a problem,” Rubiales told a media conference. “The first thing is to recognize that we have a problem in our country of behavior, education, racism.

“While there is just one fan, one undesirable, a group of undesirables, who insults due to sexuality, skin color or creed, then we have a serious problem. A serious problem that also stains a whole team, a whole fan base, a whole club, a whole country – and we are a welcoming country.

“Vinícius Junior and any footballer, woman or man, who suffers an insult, any violent act, has my support and that of the entire RFEF because we are here to help and ask them to help us improve,” he added.

Rubiales also criticized LaLiga president Javier Tebas, who got involved in a back-and-forth with Vinícius on Twitter after Sunday’s match.

Tebas tweeted Vinícius Jr. telling him to “inform” himself on LaLiga’s jurisdictions and role in racism cases and chiding him for twice not meeting with him to discuss the matter.

When Vinícius replied: “I am not your friend to talk with about racism. I want actions and punishments. Hashtags don’t move me,” Tebas again took to Twitter in an attempt to defend himself and LaLiga’s actions in the fight against racism.

Rubiales urged Vinícius Jr to ignore Tebas’ “irresponsible behavior.”

“I want to also ask him [Vini] to please ignore the irresponsible behavior of the President of LaLiga, who on social media engaged with a footballer who, hours earlier had received several racist insults of tremendous severity,” Rubiales said.

“Directors are not here to get involved in engagements on social media, we’re here to try and solve problems – and this footballer was attacked very seriously.

“It was not the time [to jump on social media],” he added.

After 20 incredible years in the NBA, LeBron James has added to speculation that he could finally be hanging up his sneakers for good.

This comes after the Los Angeles Lakers were swept out of the Western Conference Finals by Nikola Jokić and the Denver Nuggets following a disappointing 113-111 Game 4 loss.

“We’ll see what happens going forward. I don’t know,” the NBA’s all-time leading scorer said to reporters post-game. “I’ve got a lot to think about to be honest.

“Just for me, personally, going forward with the game of basketball, I’ve got a lot to think about.”

ESPN’s Dave McMenamin said he followed up with James following the press conference to further elaborate on his comments adding that retirement is under consideration.

“When you say you got to think about stuff, what thread should we be pulling on that?” McMenamin said he asked to which James replied, “If I want to continue to play.”

James later added that he’d have to think about it when pushed further about walking away next year, according to McMenamin. The Lakers star has one year left in his contract with the team after signing a two-year contract extension prior to the season.

In the win-or-go-home game, LeBron and Co. were looking to make history by overcoming a 3-0 series deficit to advance to the NBA Finals.

Mission impossible almost got off to the perfect start, but the Nuggets came up strong in the clutch and thwarted James’ efforts to send the game to overtime.

Marked by Nuggets wing Aaron Gordon, ‘King James’ missed two opportunities to save the game. The first a tough shot way off the mark, bouncing off the side of the glass. Then with the season truly on the line, Gordon blocked a James floater with 1.1 left on the clock.

Monday’s reversal on considering retirement comes as a surprise after the four-time champion previously said he’d like to play his final NBA season alongside his son Bronny James in an interview with The Athletic in 2022.

“My last year will be played with my son,” James said. “Wherever Bronny is at, that’s where I’ll be. I would do whatever it takes to play with my son for one year. It’s not about the money at that point.”

Despite the loss and his postgame comments, James’ Game 4 performance showed the 20-year veteran could easily continue his stellar career, to play with Bronny, if he so wished.

LeBron played all 48 minutes, scored 40 points on 15-of-25 shooting, grabbed 10 rebounds and dished out nine assists, as the 38-year-old left it all on the floor in an all-encompassing performance.

Yet, as so often in his long career, LeBron’s individual brilliance wasn’t enough and the Nuggets were able to advance to the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history without dropping a game in the series.

Jokić had another standout series for Denver, and the two-time regular season MVP was awarded the Magic Johnson Western Conference Finals MVP trophy.

In Game 4, the ‘Joker’ was at his all-around best, with 30 points, 14 boards and 13 assists. The latest in a long line of triple-doubles also meant that Jokić broke Wilt Chamberlain’s 1967 record of the most triple-doubles in a playoff run – the Serbian star adding his eighth of the postseason.

“I think he’s showing other people nationally that he’s real. Like what he’s doing is real. The MVPs are real. The triple-doubles are real,” said Nuggets head coach Michael Malone on his star player. “The guy is a great player; give him his damn respect. Stop chopping him down at the knees. He’s a great player and give him the respect he deserves.”

The Nuggets can now look forward to the NBA Finals as they wait to see who wins between the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals.

They say lightning does not strike twice but – for the second time in under a week – a bird has died after meeting the cruel fate of being hit by a flying baseball in an MLB game.

Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallen mirrored Randy Johnson when he accidentally killed a bird last week with a throw and, continuing the trend, the Cleveland Guardians’ Will Brennan unfortunately followed suit on Monday.

The outfielder accidentally killed the bird when he smashed a groundball in the second inning of the Guardians’ game against the Chicago White Sox.

Taking to Twitter after Monday’s game, Brennan apologized for his part in the avian affair.

“I truly am sorry @peta and bird enthusiasts. An unfortunate sacrifice,” the rookie shared.

The bird’s passing did not prove to be a bad omen for the Guardians with Gabriel Arias notching a run later that inning.

The Guardians went on to beat the White Sox 3-0 in the first game of their three-game series.

The latest incident comes some 20 years after the most infamous avian casualty episode, which saw then Diamondbacks pitcher Johnson take out a bird in a flurry of feathers back in 2001.

Johnson, who was known for his 100+ mph fastballs, was throwing a pitch in the seventh inning of a spring training game when a bird flew by at just the right moment and was hit by the ball, with an explosion of feathers heralding the bird’s unfortunate demise.