Spain celebrated its first international trophy in 11 years after beating Croatia on penalties in the UEFA Nations League final on Sunday.

Dani Carvajal’s cheeky ‘Panenka’ penalty settled the shootout after the game had finished 0-0 after extra-time inside the De Kuip stadium, Netherlands.

The Real Madrid defender showed nerves of steel to send the goalkeeper the wrong way before chipping the ball down the middle of the goal – a technique named after Czech football great Antonin Panenka.

“I saw that he [the goalkeeper] threw himself on every penalty kick and just as I was going to hit the ball, I saw that he dived,” Carvajal told reporters after the game.

“I slowed down my kick to not give him time to react. The most important thing is it went in and we’re champions.”

Aymeric Laporte missed the chance to win the title for Spain moments before after goalkeeper Unai Simon had saved from Lovro Majer.

The Manchester City defender sent his penalty smashing against the crossbar but Simon was on hand again to save from Croatia’s Bruno Petkovic, handing Carvajal the decisive kick.

Carvajal’s goal sent the Spanish fans into a frenzy, as they celebrated the team’s first international trophy since it won the European Championships in 2012.

Croatian heartbreak

The jubilant scenes followed a rather dour, goalless game with neither side playing particularly well.

Croatia certainly had the most backing inside the stadium but its fans looked heartbroken at the final whistle.

It was also arguably the last chance for Croatia captain Luka Modric to cap off his brilliant international career with a trophy.

Modric inspired his country to the World Cup final in 2018 and to third place at Qatar 2022, but has fallen short of lifting silverware.

It remains to be seen whether the 37-year-old will retire from international duty before having another chance in an international final.

About 43 million people across the southern United States are at risk for severe weather Sunday night as storms batter the Lower Mississippi Valley and central Gulf Coast states, bringing the threat of heavy rain, hail and damaging winds.

There is an enhanced risk of severe weather, considered Level 3 of 5, for an area across the lower Mississippi River Valley, including Arkansas, northern Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle.

A tornado watch was issued Sunday for 4 million people across much of Mississippi, eastern Arkansas, northeastern Louisiana and western Tennessee, including Memphis, until 2 a.m. ET.

Storms over Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the far western Florida Panhandle were also expected to bring showers and severe thunderstorms, as well as an increased threat of severe wind gusts of 75 mph or greater, according to the National Weather Service.

Overnight, there were 220 reports of severe weather, including eight tornadoes, across parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and along the Gulf Coast.

As of Sunday evening, more than 470,000 customers were without power in the South, including more than 220,000 in Oklahoma and more than 70,000 in Texas and another 98,000 in Louisiana, according to PowerOutage.us.

The Public Service Company of Oklahoma’s outage map indicated there are about 200,000 customer outages in the region, particularly in and around Tulsa.

“Due to the level of damage and hazards, this will be a multi-day recovery event,” the company said in a Facebook post. “Estimated times of restoration for customers who can accept power will be available Monday morning.”

The City of Tulsa said nearly 250 power poles/lines were down and said 911 received more than 4,500 calls about those lines between midnight and 5 a.m. City officials urged residents to stay off the roads and stay home on Sunday if possible.

The Tulsa Police Department has activated the Incident Management Team and officers were prioritizing storm-related injury and emergency calls, the department posted on Facebook.

“More than 35 City of Tulsa crews are clearing Tulsa’s main streets, with others working to assess storm conditions neighborhood-by-neighborhood. Work will occur during daylight hours throughout the next few days,” the post said.

Near-record heat hits south

The risk of severe weather is just one of a number of weather issues facing the Southeast.

Showers and thunderstorms may also produce flooding from the mid-South to the Gulf Coast, according to the National Weather Service. Heavy rainfall could lead to isolated flash flooding, especially across portions of the Florida Panhandle and northern and central Florida.

Meanwhile, as the South sees hail and heavy rainfall, parts of the Gulf Coast are under excessive heat warnings. A total of 32 million people across central and southern Texas, Louisiana and southern Mississippi are under heat alerts today, which will likely continue for several days.

Temperatures will soar into the triple digits with heat index values in some areas close to 120 degrees. The heat is 10-15 degrees above normal for this time of year, and a handful of records could be either set or tied.

Cities across the south are preparing for hot weather by opening cooling centers, as some are still cleaning up from storms that have left thousands without power.

The City of Houston is opening cooling centers from 3 p.m. – 7 p.m. CT on Sunday and Monday as the city braces for high temperatures. Caddo Parish in Louisiana has also opened additional cooling centers as the parish still grapples with power outages and storm cleanup.

“Parish officials will continue to monitor the power restoration with SWEPCO and Homeland Security to determine how long centers will be open,” the parish said in a release.

Storms left several dead in south

The severe weather comes days after storms tore a deadly path across Texas, Florida and Mississippi.

The tornado, packing estimated peak winds of 140 mph, damaged homes and businesses in the town of some 8,000 residents, including the local fire department and EMS, as well as multiple mobile homes, Perryton Fire Chief Paul Dutcher said, noting many of the department’s trucks were damaged.

In Mississippi, one person died after severe weather swept through the state overnight, the Mississippi Department of Emergency Management said in a release. Preliminary reports showed more than 70 homes have been damaged.

A person in Florida died after being trapped when a tree fell on their home, Escambia County officials said. The county, which includes Pensacola, was hit with flash flooding emergencies overnight as water inundated roadways entered several structures.

Many of the areas hit with severe conditions Thursday could see storms return.

Large hail, damaging winds and tornadoes are possible in Montgomery and Mobile in Alabama, Little Rock, Arkansas; Jackson, Mississippi; and Tallahassee, Florida.

A marginal, Level 1 of 5 risk is in place from South Dakota to Florida and for parts of the mid-Atlantic. Cities in the marginal risk area, which could see large hail and damaging winds, include Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, DC, Denver and Jacksonville, Florida.

More than 50 million people across the Southeast face the threat of severe storms on Monday as widespread power outages have left nearly half a million across the South in the dark, including some sweltering under record-breaking temperatures.

A level 2 of 5 slight risk of severe weather is in place across parts of the Gulf Coast and Southeast, including the cities of New Orleans and Baton Rouge in Louisiana, Jacksonville, Florida; Mobile, Alabama; and Savannah, Georgia. The main threats are damaging wind gusts, large hail and isolated tornadoes.

A level 1 of 5 marginal risk stretches from central Texas to southern Florida and north to western North Carolina, leaving cities like Atlanta, Charlotte, North Carolina; Austin, Texas; and Tampa, Orlando and Miami in Florida under the threat of large hail and damaging wind gusts.

The same system spawned a reported tornado in Mississippi late Sunday, leaving multiple injuries and structural damage around Bay Springs and Louin, according to preliminary reports from the National Weather Service.

A shelter “for all those displaced from the recent destruction of tornado activity,” was set to open Monday morning, the Jasper County Sheriff’s Department said in a Facebook post.

Meanwhile, around 35 million people are under heat alerts from a blistering heat wave that has settled across much of Texas, Louisiana and southern New Mexico and Mississippi, according to the National Weather Service.

Many are facing the heat without air conditioning as nearly 500,000 customers were without power in the South as of Monday morning – including more than 200,000 in Oklahoma and more than 90,000 in Texas and another 85,000 in Louisiana, according to PowerOutage.us.

The National Weather Service is advising residents to stay inside during the hottest part of the day, drink plenty of water and not leave children or pets in vehicles.

“In case we haven’t said it enough,” the National Weather Service Midland, Texas, tweeted, it’s going to be “HOT. Try to spend as little time as possible outdoors, but if you must be outside, take frequent breaks in the AC, drink plenty of water & spend as much time as possible in the shade.”

As the heat wave continues, over 40 daily records could be tied or broken across Texas this week. The worst of the heat is expected from Monday through Wednesday.

The combination of temperature and humidity – or the heat index – could climb to 113 to 122 degrees in cities like Houston, San Antonio, Brownsville and Dallas.

Several daily heat records were already broken on Sunday. Del Rio, Texas, recorded a temperature of 111 degrees Sunday, breaking a previous daily record of 106 degrees set in 2011. Austin Camp Mabry, Texas, tied its record of 106 degrees set a dozen years ago and McAllen, Texas, reported a record-breaking 105 degrees.

“Temperatures in the 100s will not only rival daily high temperature marks for the nation but may tie or break existing records,” the National Weather Service said. “There will be little relief overnight with lows in the upper 70s and 80s.”

Cities across the south – some still cleaning up from last week’s storms – are preparing for hot weather by opening cooling centers.

The City of Houston will have cooling centers open again from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Monday as the city braces for high temperatures. Caddo Parish in Louisiana has opened additional cooling centers as the parish still grapples with power outages and storm cleanup.

New Orleans’ emergency preparedness campaign is working with the New Orleans Fire Department to set up hydration stations to provide water and sunscreen Sunday and Monday.

Meanwhile, there were more than 70 storm reports across the Southeast on Sunday, including six tornado reports, mostly in central Mississippi, according to the Storm Prediction Center.

Hail 2 inches wide or larger was also reported Sunday in Hunt, Texas, and Kerrville, Texas.

On Monday, the threat of excessive rainfall moves eastward to the southeastern parts of the country, bringing the threat of thunderstorms and flooding over parts of the Southeast, southern Mid-Atlantic, and Southern Appalachians.

When this year’s all-woman team arrived on Antarctica’s Goudier Island to run the world’s most remote post office, it was shovels they needed rather than stamps.

They’d traveled some 8,000 miles from the UK, by plane and boat, and Britain’s Royal Navy were already on hand to help them dig out their new home at the Port Lockroy scientific base, which was buried up to four meters deep under several tonnes of December snow.

It wasn’t just the frozen wastes that first struck postmaster Clare Ballantyne, who at 23 years old was the baby of the four-woman group. It was that “there’s penguins everywhere.”

More than a thousand Gentoo penguins live on this tiny island on the western side of the Antarctic peninsula, around the size of a soccer field. Since 1944, when the UK’s first permanent Antarctic base was established here, it’s also become a haven for explorers, scientists and – in recent years – tourists.

As well as the post office, there’s a museum and gift shop. In the 2022/23 season, nearly 16,000 visitors from more than 200 ships passed through, making this one of the busiest places in the “frozen continent.”

Each year, a team is selected to run and maintain the site from November to March, or summertime in the southern hemisphere. Around 4,000 people applied for this, the first post-Covid season, but just four made the cut: Ballantyne, base leader Lucy Bruzzone, wildlife monitor Mairi Hilton and shop manager Natalie Corbett.

The job also involves counting penguins: The scientific data they gather on the Gentoos’ breeding patterns is part of a decades-long study of the colony.

‘Living on top of each other’

The chosen candidates beat out odds of one in a thousand – but this is not a cozy posting. For five months, they share a single bedroom. There’s no running water, no internet and very little leisure time: just one day off every two weeks.

“It’s a very intense experience,” says Vicky Inglis, field operations coordinator for the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust, “living on top of each other, nowhere you can escape.”

And then, of course, there’s the pungent pong of penguins. “At a certain point in the season, the snow goes and it’s not mud – it’s all guano,” says Inglis. Guano, in layman’s terms, is seabird poop – and there’s a lot of it.

Food is largely canned or dried, other than what comes off the cruise ships that visit. These expedition ships – typically small 200-passenger craft, rather than the behemoths you might see down in the Med – also offer the chance to have a luxurious hot shower.

In their snatches of leisure time, the 2023 team say on their blog, “We spend quite a bit of the day sleeping! Then we’ll go for a walk around the island, very slowly to absorb everything – the smaller things you wouldn’t usually notice in particular – limpets, moss, starfish and krill. We also take photos, read books and chat – much like the original men who lived on base.”

‘Cheeriness goes a long way’

When it comes to choosing candidates, “there is no recipe we can follow,” says Camilla Nichol,CEO of the trust. “It’s about your ability to work together as a team. Cheeriness goes a long way, being able to see the light in life and resolve problems quickly.”

What the posting lacks in creature comforts, it makes up for in sublime wonder. “Antarctica is like nowhere else on Earth,” says Nichol. “The scale of it is so vast, it’s so pristine, the air is so clear. Suddenly you feel very small as a member of the human race. There are forces, there is nature; the environment is so much more vast than we are.”

Going to a continent so little touched by humans made Nichol realize the human responsibility to look after it. “I came away very much with a sense of purpose.”

Recruitment recently closed for the 2023/24 season and the newest batch of recruits will set off at the end of this year. They’ll be continuing an important scientific legacy, says Nichol. “We’re representing and telling a story of a period of Antarctic history that is little told,” but “it speaks to everything we worry about today.

“It’s the birthplace of climate science in Antarctica. It’s the place where discoveries are made, which we can act on here.” The hole in the ozone layer was discovered in Antarctica in 1985 by a junior researcher for the British Antarctic Survey. It led to the Montreal Protocol and the banning of CFCs – proof that environmental disasters can be halted when nations work together.

The tourism boom

Nichol notes that there has been “a bit of a decline in recent years in the breeding success” of the Gentoo penguins, but says “the causal connection is the tricky bit.” While climate change is probably “the biggest driver,” they also need to carefully examine if there’s a “human element” as well.

Antarctica tourism has boomed significantly in the past couple of decades, but Nichol is quick to point out that the Antarctic plains are still a big area – larger than the UK. There aren’t legally enforced limits on tourism, she says, but it’s very strictly managed through the IAATO (International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators) and also by the Antarctic Treaty permitting system.

There are legal codes for everything from the polar worthiness of the ships, to waste and water management to biosecurity. Says Nichol, “It’s a regulated industry, it is growing and we’re expecting a bumper year this year.”

Drone footage from a unit of Ukraine’s 92nd mechanized brigade, published by the Wall Street Journal, shows the surrender taking place in a trench in the eastern city of Bakhmut in May.

“When he realized that he was going to die, he threw his machine gun aside, raised his hands and said that he would not continue to fight,” Fedorenko said.

“At that time, we had a ‘copter with explosives ready to eliminate him. But since the enemy threw away his weapon and gestured that he was going to surrender, it was decided to give him an order to surrender.”

The video appears to show a Russian soldier running from Ukrainian assault drones in the trenches of the Bakhmut battlefield. The soldier then stops and attempts to communicate with the drone through hand gestures.

Following the surrender, reporters at the Wall Street Journal interviewed the Russian soldier at a detention facility in the Kharkiv region on May 19, under the supervision of a guard.

The reporters also spoke with the Ukrainian drone pilot, according to the paper, who said he decided to spare his life after watching his pleas.

“Despite that he is an enemy […] I still felt sorry for him,” he reportedly said.

The pilot dropped a note to the soldier telling him to follow the drone if he wanted to surrender, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Footage appears to show the soldier following the drone, dodging a mortar along the way.

Upon arriving at a Ukrainian position, the soldier reportedly dropped to his knees and removed his helmet and flak jacket.

Ukrainian forces took him into their custody, loaded him into a Humvee truck, and he was later brought to a detention facility in the Kharkiv region, the paper reported.

“This is probably an unprecedented case when, through the coordinated work of the brigade and the aerial reconnaissance component, we managed to capture the occupier,” Ukrainian commander Fedorenko said.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Russian soldier and former prison marshal was working as a liquor-store manager before he was drafted in September last year.

Before being sent to Bakhmut, he said he had performed guard duties and built fortified positions in Luhansk.

The eastern city of Bakhmut, toward the northeast of the Donetsk region, has seen some of the fiercest fighting of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and is a key part of Kyiv’s counteroffensive.

The months-long battle has been compared to the kind of fighting seen in World War I, with soldiers fighting in muddy trenches dodging artillery fire, and has been described by the head of the Russian Wagner mercenary group as a “meat grinder.”

Cheap commercial drones have become a crucial tool in the Ukraine war, both as surveillance platforms and offensive weapons.

Ukrainian soldiers have become deft at jerry-rigging off the shelf drones to drop explosives on enemy troops and vehicles.

Drones have also saved lives.

Footage of that attack, which critically wounded the woman’s husband, was also captured on the same drone’s camera and, along with intercepted phone calls, has been used by Ukrainian prosecutors to build an in absentia war crimes probe against a Russian commander.

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson deliberately misled lawmakers over breaches of his own Covid-19 lockdown rules, a parliamentary committee has found, in a devastating and unprecedented report that lambasts Johnson’s conduct and recommends he is refused a pass to enter the parliamentary estate.

The committee’s report found that Johnson “committed a serious contempt” of parliament when, after the so-called “Partygate” scandal which revealed that illegal gatherings took place at Downing Street, Johnson told parliament that rules were followed at all times.

The findings amount to a historic admonishment of a former prime minister, who won a landslide electoral victory less than four years ago but saw his political career collapse amid a series of scandals.

“The contempt was all the more serious because it was committed by the Prime Minister, the most senior member of the government,” the Privileges Committee wrote in its report, published Thursday. “There is no precedent for a Prime Minister having been found to have deliberately misled the House.”

“He misled the House on an issue of the greatest importance to the House and to the public, and did so repeatedly,” the members wrote, adding that Johnson also misled the committee when he presented evidence in his defense.

Johnson resigned as an MP in fury on Friday, days before the report’s publication, nullifying the committee’s recommendation that he be suspended for long enough to force a by-election in his constituency.

But the report added a further, damning recommendation in light of his resignation: that Johnson is denied a former member’s pass to enter parliament, a longstanding convention for ex-MPs.

“We came to the view that some of Mr Johnson’s denials and explanations were so disingenuous that they were by their very nature deliberate attempts to mislead the Committee and the House, while others demonstrated deliberation because of the frequency with which he closed his mind to the truth,” the report found.

It marks the end of a lengthy investigation by the committee – the majority of whom represent Johnson’s Conservative Party – that Johnson and some of his allies attacked as a “kangaroo court.”

But it may not end the Partygate saga. MPs must now vote to accept the report’s findings, a potentially embarrassing exercise certain to expose divisions between Johnson’s supporters in parliament and the current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Committee lambasts Johnson’s ‘vitriol’

The investigation’s focus was on Johnson’s conduct during the Covid-19 pandemic, when he was prime minister and found by police to have breached his own rules limiting gatherings.

One contemporary Downing Street staffer, in a piece of written evidence submitted to the committee, described the prime minister’s residence as “an island oasis of normality” during lockdown.

“This was all part of a wider culture of not adhering to any rules,” the staffer wrote. “Birthday parties, leaving parties and end of week gatherings all continued as normal. Those responsible for the leadership of No. 10 failed to keep it a safe space.”

Unlike a police investigation and a separate parliamentary probe into the parties themselves, this inquest looked at whether Johnson knowingly misled lawmakers in the House of Commons when he reassured them that he was unaware of the parties.

Its findings were unanimous and unambiguous. “We think it highly unlikely on the balance of probabilities that Mr Johnson … could have genuinely believed at the time of his statements to the House that the Rules or Guidance were being complied with,” the report said.

The report also rebukes Johnson for his attacks on the committee’s impartiality, finding that he committed contempt of parliament on several more occasions when giving evidence and when he resigned as MP.

“This attack on a committee carrying out its remit from the democratically elected House itself amounts to an attack on our democratic institutions,” the committee wrote in its report, calling Johnson’s language “vitriolic” and “completely unacceptable.”

Had Johnson stayed on as a parliamentarian, the committee would have recommended a 90-day suspension from the Commons – a ban nine times the threshold that would force a sitting member of parliament to hold a by-election to reclaim their seat.

Johnson, in his own response to the report, called its publication a “dreadful day for democracy.”

“This report is a charade. I was wrong to believe in the committee or its good. faith. The terrible truth is that it is not I who has twisted the truth to suit my purposes,” he said.

‘A pound shop Trump’

Johnson’s reputation is steeped even deeper in disgrace following the publication, despite his furious attempts to discredit the committee in recent days.

He was condemned by Angela Rayner, the deputy leader of the opposition Labour Party, as “not only a law-breaker but a liar.”

“He’s not fit for public office and he’s disgraced himself and continues to act like a pound-shop Trump in the way in which he tries to discredit anybody who criticizes his actions,” Rayner told broadcasters on Thursday.

“A decent public servant would have done the honorable thing, would have had a little bit of humility and would have apologized to the British public for what they put them through.”

As well as being the first PM ever to be fined by police while in office, Johnson’s entire premiership was dogged by scandal, ranging from financial irregularities to members of his team being accused of sexual misconduct.

His popularity plummeted toward the end of his time in office – both among the British public and his own MPs. His attempt to come back after his successor Liz Truss was forced to resign fell short after it became apparent that a majority of Conservative MPs would block it.

Johnson has been in a war of words with Sunak, his former finance minister and eventual successor, in recent days – and Sunak has now sought to put distance between Johnson and himself.

Sunak’s spokesperson told reporters Thursday that the committee Johnson has repeatedly attacked is “a properly constituted committee carrying out work at the behest of Parliament.”

Over the weekend, Johnson and two of his allies said they would quit as MPs immediately, forcing three difficult by-elections for a government that is languishing in opinion polls.

The former PM’s departure from the House of Commons is not necessarily good news for Sunak, whom Johnson criticized in his resignation statement.

Johnson and his allies still largely hold Sunak responsible for his predecessor’s political downfall. Johnson has always been an influential figure among Conservative voters, whether inside or outside of parliament.

The prospect of Johnson outside of parliament, writing columns and giving speeches aimed at the voters Sunak needs to win the next election will no doubt cause yet more anxiety in Downing Street.

Tributes have been paid to two-time Oscar-winning actor and former UK politician Glenda Jackson, who died peacefully after a short illness at the age of 87.

“She recently completed filming ‘The Great Escaper’ in which she co-starred with Michael Caine.”

Larner also added a personal comment about his relationship with Jackson: “Today we lost one of the world’s greatest actresses and I have lost a best friend of over 50 years,” he said.

Hollywood actor Michael Caine, the last of Jackson’s co-stars, said after her death that she was “one of our greatest movie actresses,” adding: “It was a privilege to work with her on The Great Escaper recently, our second film together.

“It was as wonderful an experience this time as it was 50 years ago. I shall miss her,” he continued.

Born in the northwestern town of Birkenhead in England in 1936, Jackson joined an amateur theater group as a teenager before winning a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

After graduating she starred on London’s West End and made her Broadway debut in 1965 in a production of “Marat/Sade.”

The screen followed. She won her first Academy Award for Best Actress for her role opposite Oliver Reed in the 1969 period drama “Women in Love.”

Her second came soon after for the 1973 romantic comedy “A Touch of Class” – two years after her notable depictions of Queen Elizabeth I in both the BBC’s biographic film “Elizabeth R” and the historical drama “Mary, Queen of Scots.”

Fearless politician

In 1992 she turned to politics, becoming a Labour MP while the party was in opposition. She was an MP for 23 years, during which her party came to power in a landslide under Tony Blair.

In that time, Jackson was appointed a junior transport minister in 1997 and held the post for two years. She made a bid to become mayor of London in 2000, but lost out to independent candidate Ken Livingstone.

She never achieved high-ranking roles in politics but became known for her fearlessness.

Jackson fell out with Blair as he took Britain to war in Iraq, and was a bitter opponent of former Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, memorably criticizing her on the day of her funeral in 2013.

“The first prime minister of female gender, ok. But a woman? Not on my terms,” she said.

Blair said in a statement shared on Twitter on Thursday that the “truly formidable” actor and MP “will be much missed.”

He expressed his “great sadness” and gave his “sincere condolences” to “all who knew and loved her,” adding: “Glenda brought the same great passion to her political life as she did in her long and glorious acting career.”

The film star returned to the stage in 2016 by starring in a West End production of “King Lear.” Jackson received further accolades when she won a Tony Award in 2018 for her appearance in the Broadway production of “Three Tall Women.”

Her latest on-screen project, “The Great Escaper,” is in post-production, according to IMDb.

‘Talented’ and ‘formidable’

Actor Michael Warburton, who most recently appeared in the Netflix thriller “The Strays,” said in a tweet, “She really was a hugely talented, intelligent & charismatic Actress.”

British former professional boxer Frank Bruno on Twitter shared a fond memory he had of the actor, writing: “RIP Glenda Jackson I remember when I was introduced to her she said “I understand you fight people for a living” I said Your a distinguished actress “Boxing is just show business with blood” She was a nice lady.”

Tulip Siddiq, Labour MP for the UK constituency of Hampstead and Kilburn, tweeted: “Devastated to hear that my predecessor Glenda Jackson has died. A formidable politician, an amazing actress and a very supportive mentor to me. Hampstead and Kilburn will miss you Glenda.”

Staging the US Open for the first time in its 128-year history, the ultra-exclusive Los Angeles Country Club has become the center of the golfing world this week.

Yet not everyone has given the host glowing reviews, including the major’s reigning champion Matt Fitzpatrick.

The size of crowds and the difficulty of the course have become two hotly-debated topics across the first three days of the tournament, with England’s Fitzpatrick having his say.

After shooting the tournament’s third hole-in-one on Friday, the world No. 8 said he wished more people had seen it, adding that he was “surprised” at what he felt was a lack of numbers – and noise – behind the ropes.

And following Saturday’s third round, Fitzpatrick – whose hopes of becoming the first player to defend the US Open title since Brooks Koepka look slim – again spoke about the quality of the course and the atmosphere.

“I’d almost argue that some of the fairways, with it getting firmer, are arguably impossible to hit,” he told Sky Sports.

Last month’s PGA Championship winner Koepka said on Friday he was not a “huge fan” of the course and Fitzpatrick said he agreed with what the American said, for example, about blind tee shots.

“I’m not a huge fan of blind tee shots, and then I think there’s just some spots that no matter what you hit, the ball just ends up in the same spot,” Koepka said.

Fitzpatrick added: “I’ve seen Brooks’ comments and I tend to agree with what he feels like that about this golf course. There’s multiple times I’ve hit great drives this week and you’re in the rough by a foot and you’ve got no shot.

“I just don’t think that’s the sign of a great golf course.”

Koepka was even-par following Saturday’s third round, effectively ending any hopes of securing a second consecutive major title.

Fitzpatrick enters the final round just one stroke ahead of the American.

The North Course has split opinion throughout the week and not all have shared in the reigning champion’s assessment. Irish golfer Padraig Harrington, level with Fitzpatrick at one-under par overall, praised the course’s “excellent setup.”

“We were going out there today wondering would there be a bit of bite in it, would there be a bit of fight back,” Harrington told reporters.

“These are probably the best greens we’ve ever putted on in a major. I’m telling you, these are just a pure bent surface which is beautiful to putt on. If you produce good greens, you’re going to get good scoring.”

World No.1 Scottie Scheffler, who is still in contention at nine under overall, said he liked the course “a lot.”

Scheffler said, per ESPN: “I think it’s a very interesting place to play golf. I think some of the setup stuff has been also a little bit interesting. It can be frustrating at times with how firm the greens are and how much softer the fairways are.”

Thursday’s opening round heralded a day of unprecedented low scoring, headlined by American duo Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele both shooting an eight-under 62 to break the major’s all-time low round scoring record within 22 minutes of each other.

A first round scoring average of 71.38 marked the lowest ever recorded in a first round at a US Open, beating the previous low of 72.29 at the 1993 tournament and sparking a debate around what a ‘typical’ score should be at a tournament famed for its difficulty.

As predicted by several players, an upturn in sunshine from Friday afternoon led to a downturn in scoring averages. Yet firmer greens and fairways brought fresh criticisms of the course, and atmosphere, from Fitzpatrick on Saturday.

In terms of the size of the crowds in LA, the United States Golf Association (USGA), the sport’s governing body in the US, limited ticket sales to the tournament, citing “capacity limitations” at the course when tickets first became available for purchase in November 2022.

“Very poor … It’s disappointing on the USGA side,” said Fitzpatrick of the atmosphere, according to Barstool Sports journalist Dan Rapaport.

Yet not all competitors were as scathing as the defending champion. While Los Angeles-born Collin Morikawa praised the tournament’s “amazing” energy, South Korean golfer Tom Kim used the same adjective to describe the venue.

“Man, I would have loved to see this place packed,” Kim told reporters Saturday.

“I think once you get into some holes there’s a lot of people. I think it’s pretty cool … it’s LA and it’s the US Open, can’t get any better.”

The Brazilian men’s national team wore an all-black kit for the first time in its 109-year history during a friendly match against Guinea in Spain on Saturday as part of the team’s anti-racism campaign.

Players from both teams either took a knee or sat down on the Espanyol stadium’s pitch and observed a minute’s silence prior to the match in Barcelona.

Brazil played the first 45 minutes of the game wearing black shirts, shorts and socks before reverting to its traditional yellow jersey after the break. The slogan of the campaign, “Com Racismo nao tem jogo,” meaning, “With racism, there is no game” was displayed on the front of the shirts.

The slogan is part of the Brazilian Federation’s campaign, with the support of FIFA, the sport’s world governing body, to end racism in soccer and society, according to a statement from the Federation released on Saturday.

One of the country’s best players, the Real Madrid forward Vinícius Jr., was subjected to persistent racist abuse during Real’s 1-0 defeat to Valencia at the Mestalla Stadium in May, making it the 10th incident involving the Brazilian forward that Spain’s LaLiga reported to prosecutors during the 2022-2023 season.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino visited the Brazilian delegation Thursday, announcing his full support for the anti-racism campaign.

As for the match, Brazil won 4-1 with goals scored by Joelinton, Rodrygo, Eder Militão and Vinícius. Guirassy scored the only goal for Guinea.

Vinícius donned the emblematic No. 10 jersey, the number once worn by the great Pele, the first time, according to the Brazilian Federation.

Vinícius was invited by Infantino to participate in a FIFA anti-racism committee with players who will help suggest a course of action to deal with discriminatory behavior in football, the FIFA president said on Thursday.

Brazil is set to play its next friendly match on Tuesday against Senegal in Lisbon, Portugal.

Andy Murray is enjoying something of a renaissance. The former world No.1 won his second consecutive tournament on Sunday to increase hopes of successful run at Wimbledon next month.

The Scot secured a 6-4 6-4 win over France’s Arthur Cazaux at the final of the Nottingham Open, a Challenger event, to add to the Surbiton Trophy he won last week.

But perhaps the best part of his day came after victory on the Nottingham grass.

During an on-court interview after the match, the 36-year-old said he hoped to see his children on Father’s Day, to which cries of “we’re here” could be heard.

“I didn’t know they were here,” the father-of-four said. “I had no idea they were coming.

“They came last week for the final at Surbiton and they turned up and it started raining. So then they had to go home for the kids’ bedtime so they missed the end of the match.

“It’s great that they managed to come today.”

Murray, a two-time Wimbledon champion, missed this month’s French Open to focus his preparations for Wimbledon. He will next play the Queen’s Club Championships in London, which starts on Monday.

The three-time grand slam champion is expected to rise to No. 38 in the ATP rankings following his win in Nottingham – he is currently 44th in the world. It would be his highest ranking since coming back from hip surgery in 2019.