David Miranda, a Brazilian politician, has died following a nine month battle in intensive care, according to a tweet on Tuesday from his husband, journalist Glenn Greenwald. He was 37 years old.

“It is with the most profound sadness that I announce the passing away of my husband @DavidMirandaRio. He would have turned 38 tomorrow. His death, early this morning, came after a 9-month battle in ICU. He died in full peace, surrounded by our children and family and friends,” tweeted Greenwald, who raised two adopted sons with Miranda.

His death led to an outpouring of tributes online. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called Miranda “a young man with an extraordinary trajectory who left too soon,” on Twitter.

“David was singular: the strongest, most passionate, most compassionate man I’ve known,” Greenwald tweeted.

“He inspired so many with his biography, passion, and force of life,” he wrote.

Miranda’s mother died when he was five years old, according to Greenwald, “leaving him an orphan” in Rio’s poor neighborhood of Jacarezinho.

Greenwald has been at the forefront of high-profile reports for exposing secrets in US intelligence programs. With the cooperation of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, Greenwald broke the story of the existence of a US National Security Agency program that is thought to have collected large amounts of phone and Internet data.

In 2013, Miranda was detained and interrogated at London’s Heathrow Airport for nine hours by British security forces under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000 as he was flying back to Rio from Berlin.

While in Berlin, Miranda stayed with filmmaker Laura Poitras, who has worked “extensively” with Greenwald on his stories about the National Security Agency, the reporter wrote at the time.

The Guardian newspaper revealed that it paid for Miranda’s flights to Germany. “Miranda is not a Guardian employee but often assists Greenwald in his work,” the newspaper said at the time. The UK authorities confiscated Miranda’s laptop and thumb drives.

According to a profile from TIME magazine, Miranda met Greenwald in 2005 “when he was playing volleyball on Ipanema beach and accidentally knocked over an American tourist’s drink. That tourist was attorney Glenn Greenwald, better known today for his journalism.”

The pair “fell in love and moved in together after just five days.”

“But by far David’s biggest dream, what gave him the greatest pride and purpose, was being a father. He was the most dedicated and loving parent,” Greenwald wrote on Twitter alongside images of their family.

“He taught me how to be a father. And our truly exceptional boys – with their own difficult start to live – is his greatest legacy,” he added.

China on Tuesday expelled a Canadian diplomat in Shanghai, a day after Canada announced it would expel a Chinese diplomat over allegations he was involved in efforts to intimidate a Canadian politician.

In a statement Tuesday, China’s Foreign Ministry said it strongly condemned the expulsion of Toronto-based diplomat Zhao Wei, and as “reciprocal countermeasure,” would declare Jennifer Lynn Lalonde, a consul of the Consulate General of Canada in Shanghai, persona non grata.

Lalonde has been asked to leave China before May 13, according to the statement.

The tit-for-tat move marks a new low in a years-long deterioration of ties between the two countries and comes amid a period of rising concerns in Canada about Chinese influence, including public uproar over allegations that China attempted to meddle in Canada’s 2019 and 2021 elections.

Hours after Beijing announced it would expel Lalonde, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson at a regular briefing threatened that China would “resolutely and forcefully respond” if the Canadian government “keeps acting recklessly” and accused Canadian media and some politicians of “fabricating false information.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa on Tuesday that Canada would “not be intimidated” by Beijing’s reaction.

“We will take whatever action is necessary to continue to protect our democracy and show that we’re standing up for our values and our principles. We understand there is retaliation but we will not be intimidated,” Trudeau said.

Canada moved to expel Zhao on Monday, following mounting public pressure on the Canadian government to respond to revelations the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) found an accredited Chinese diplomat in the country had taken efforts toward targeting opposition lawmaker Michael Chong and relatives who may be in China.

The alleged targeting took place after Chong sponsored a motion to condemn China’s treatment of its Uyghur Muslim minority group. The intelligence was first reported by Canadian newspaper the Globe and Mail earlier this month.

Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly on Monday said Ottawa “will not tolerate any form of foreign interference in our internal affairs. Diplomats in Canada have been warned that if they engage in this type of behaviour, they will be sent home.”

Beijing has repeatedly denied accusations of political interference in Canada.

The two countries’ relations have already come under significant strain in recent years, in particular following Beijing’s detention of two Canadians in China in move widely seen as retaliation for Canada’s 2018 arrest of a Chinese businesswoman Meng Wanzhou.

Beijing repeatedly denied that their cases were political retaliation, but the two men, former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor, were released on the same day Meng was allowed by Canada to return to China in 2021.

There have also been growing public concern about alleged Chinese interference within the country, including through the operation of overseas police stations and policing of speech in the country, which has a large community of people with Chinese heritage.

Mounting pressure

Allegations of Chinese interference in Canadian politics have become a growing challenge for the government of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who earlier this year initiated an investigation to identify and combat foreign interference in Canada’s elections and its democracy.

Trudeau has said intelligence services had failed to brief him about the alleged targeting of Chong. His Foreign Ministry summoned Chinese Ambassador to Canada Cong Peiwu last week after the media reporting on the intelligence emerged.

Chong, who represents the Wellington-Halton Hills district in Ontario, had called for Zhao’s expulsion and criticized Trudeau’s government for being too slow to act.

In a statement posted to Twitter on May 1, Chong said that he found out about the intelligence – which was referenced in a 2021 CSIS report – through the Globe and Mail report, despite having been briefed on general foreign interference threats by CSIS.

“Like many Canadians, I have family abroad. The PRC’s (People’s Republic of China) targeting of family abroad to intimidate and coerce Canadians here at home is a serious, national threat,” Chong wrote in the statement, in which he says he has family in Hong Kong.

Chong was among several political figures sanctioned by China in March 2021 in what Beijing called a response to American and Canadian sanctions against individuals and entities in its western region of Xinjiang “based on rumors and disinformation.”

China has been accused of committing serious human rights violations that may amount to crimes against humanity in its treatment of Uyghur and other Muslim minorities in the region. Beijing denies the claims, and rights groups have documented its efforts to quash international focus on the situation there.

In February 2021, Canada’s parliament passed its non-binding motion saying China’s treatment of Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region constitutes genocide.

Repercussions?

China has yet to specify what “countermeasures” it may take in response to Zhao’s expulsion, but these could include a tit-for-tat expulsion of a diplomat at Canada’s mission in China.

Beijing is also widely seen to have a track record of using economic or trade-related measures to express displeasure with diplomatic partners.

The expelled diplomat Zhao was listed in the Department of Global Affairs’ record of foreign diplomats as working in China’s Toronto consulate, the Globe and Mail reported earlier this month.

Prior to naming Zhao as “persona non grata” Monday, Foreign Affairs Minister Joly last week said Canada’s government needed to carefully weigh how China might react to a Canadian response.

China would “of course” take action against Canada’s “economic interest, consumer interest and also diplomatic interests,” Joly told parliamentarians on Thursday, adding that, “I know that we are under pressure to go fast, (but) we need to make sure as well that we protect our democracy.”

Growing up, Yasmine Arrington’s father was in and out of prison and in and out of her life. After her mother passed away when she was 13, Arrington and her two brothers were raised by their maternal grandmother.

Having dealt with these struggles from such a young age, Arrington knew firsthand the challenges that came with having an incarcerated parent.

“All too often you become marginalized or dismissed as a delinquent,” said Arrington, now 30. “Having an incarcerated father also took a toll emotionally, mentally. … (Incarcerated) parents oftentimes miss graduations. They miss birthdays.”

Despite the difficulties, Arrington became a student who was very involved in extracurricular activities. As a high school junior, she joined a leadership and social change program for teenagers called LearnServe in Washington, DC. There, she was asked, “What pisses you guys off?” The intent of the question was for students to analyze issues they saw in their communities, schools, and personal lives. Arrington chose mass incarceration and the effects of parental incarceration on children and families.

“My father has literally been in and out of jail and prison my entire life,” she said. “I began to do research, and I learned that there’s so many other people that are kind of my age experiencing what I’m experiencing.”

While applying for college scholarships with her grandmother, they noticed that there weren’t scholarships in her region specifically for teens who had incarcerated parents. Yet Arrington knew there were other students like her who had an incarcerated parent and wanted to go to college but needed financial assistance. So, in 2010, when she was 16, she created the nonprofit ScholarCHIPS – with CHIPS as an acronym for Children of Incarcerated Parents – to help young people like herself with scholarships, mentoring and a network of support.

The organization has since awarded more than $450,000 in scholarships and other aid and supported more than 80 scholars working toward their college degrees. New scholars join the program each year.

“Most of our scholars, when they apply to ScholarCHIPS, they say, ‘This is the first time I’ve ever told anyone’ that they have an incarcerated parent. So, ScholarCHIPS becomes a safe space where young people feel comfortable even divulging and sharing that information,” Arrington said.

Yasmine Arrington: My father is sort of a career criminal, and it’s a cycle that he has gone through for many years and a very, very long time. A lot of times I didn’t even know where my father was. Our communication was always sporadic. Sometimes he would reach out and then I wouldn’t hear from my dad for a long time – a year, two years, or more.

I never talked about it in school. It becomes a thing where someone can stereotype you or you can be stigmatized. So, most of the time we’re very silent about it. A lot of times it can get you down, get you depressed. Not having my father in my life for so long, I think that there was a gap in my childhood. And so when I became a teenager and a young adult, I really was looking for love in all the wrong places. I was still very insecure in a lot of ways.

Our scholars, they also have, for lack of a better term, suffered mentally, emotionally, or have had challenges. Having a parent that’s absent from the home, and particularly when you know that they’re incarcerated, a lot of questions go through your mind. Some of our scholars have close relationships with their incarcerated parents, and so when they’re able, they will go to visit their parents in prison. And that experience in and of itself is very humiliating. It is demoralizing. It becomes so layered and nuanced and complicated. It just sometimes makes our journey much more difficult.

Arrington: Our scholars are provided with brand-new laptops. We also have an emergency fund. When scholars have unexpected challenges that come up, for example their car may break down or they may be late on rent. Emergencies could be a number of things. We definitely step in to help.

Our scholars have the option (of) being matched with a mentor. And for those scholars who do opt in, we go through a thorough matching process. If a young person has never had someone in their family go to college, then we can match you with a mentor who has gone to college, who’s graduated, who is excited to be a mentor, who wants to walk you through this process, who wants to be a non-judgmental, supportive ear, a cheerleader, and a champion. Mentors serve as a listening ear, which is in many cases very helpful for our scholars. But also sometimes mentors become very resourceful, and they provide scholarship information that comes across their desk to their mentee, internship opportunities, lots of resources and opportunities. And ultimately with ScholarCHIPS, that’s what we want to continue to do – we are a network of support and a safety net which encapsulates within it numerous resources.

ScholarCHIPS offers community-building for our scholars, both virtually and in-person. It’s definitely a lifeline. We all are connected, particularly because of the lived and shared experience of having an incarcerated parent. So, we all sort of bond off that shared experience.

Arrington: The check-ins are very helpful because oftentimes we will discover a need a scholar has that we otherwise didn’t know. I ask our scholars questions about how their experience is going in college. Are there any challenges that they’re facing? Are there any current needs that they have? A lot of times we grew up where you don’t ask anybody for anything. Because if you do, you’re going to owe them something. Or if you ask somebody for help, that makes you weak. Or we’ve been accustomed to just doing things for ourselves and getting everything for ourselves for so long that a lot of us don’t even know how to ask for help.

I definitely stay in contact with scholars well after they’ve graduated. It really is a family of sorts. ScholarCHIPS (is) actually doing the real work (to) help to bridge the gap. And what happens is that not only do our scholars graduate, they gain a sense of confidence and they’re able to self-advocate for themselves once they get into their dream career. Just a little bit of support can go a very, very long way and make a difference not only in one person’s life, but in an entire family and then an entire generation.

Want to get involved? Check out the ScholarCHIPS website and see how to help.

To donate to ScholarCHIPS via GoFundMe, click here

Two fishermen who were accused of cheating during the Lake Erie Walleye Trail fishing tournament last September – after it was discovered their fish were stuffed with lead weights and fish fillets – will serve jail time for the crime, according to court documents from a Thursday sentencing hearing.

As part of an agreement reached in March, Jacob Runyan and Chase Comnisky pleaded guilty to charges of cheating and of unlawful ownership of wild animals. Additional charges of attempted grand theft and possessing criminal tools were dropped as part of the plea deal.

Runyan and Cominsky will each serve 10 days in jail and six months’ probation, according to court documents. They are required to forfeit their boat and trailer to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife.

The men will also each pay a $2,500 fine. The court said half the fine may be suspended if Runyan and Cominsky chose to make a charitable donation of $1,250 to a non-profit organization instead.

The judge also imposed a three-year suspension of their state fishing licenses.

How did they cheat?

Runyan and Cominsky had been set to win a $28,760 prize until Jason Fischer, director of the Lake Erie Walleye Trail tournament, became suspicious.

They were disqualified from the tournament.

The moment when Fischer discovered the alleged cheating was documented in several videos that went viral at the time.

They showed Fischer, surrounded by competitors, slicing open the fish with a knife and pulling out what he said was a lead ball.

Fischer later provided photos of metal objects and fish fillets that the tournament host said he had pulled from the walleye, allegedly inserted by the two accused to increase the weight of their catch.

A Chinese naval flotilla led by a powerful destroyer has been on a 12-day circumnavigation of Japan’s main islands in a display of military power as tensions simmer over Taiwan and as Japan prepares to host G7 leaders next week.

Japan’s Defense Ministry on Thursday released a map showing the Type 055 guided missile destroyer Lhasa, one of the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s most powerful warships, leading a four-ship flotilla that also included a smaller destroyer, a frigate and a supply ship on the clockwise circumnavigation.

The Japanese map shows the voyage began April 30 in the Tsushima Strait between South Korea and Japan, progressed through the Tsugaru Strait at the northern tip of Hokkaido on May 5 and 6 and then was in the Izu island chain south of Tokyo on Thursday.

In a story published after the Japanese Defense Ministry release Thursday, China’s state-run Global Times linked the flotilla’s journey to “Japan’s recent provocative remarks” about Taiwan, the democratically ruled island over which the Chinese Communist Party claims sovereignty despite never having ruled it.

“While the voyage is likely a routine PLA Navy far sea exercise that does not violate any international law or target any third party, it could be seen as a strong message to Japan,” the Global Times report said, citing Chinese experts.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in an interview with Nikkei Asia on Wednesday that “the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait is critical not just for our country, but for the whole international community.”

And Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi on Wednesday said Tokyo had sent a message of protest to Beijing over comments by China’s ambassador that Japan would be “dragged into the fire” if Tokyo linked Taiwan to its own security.

“We are already in discussions, but no details (have been) finalized yet,” Hayashi said.

Tensions rise before G7 summit

The Chinese circumnavigation also comes as leaders of the Group of Seven prepare to meet in Japan beginning May 19.

Chinese naval flotillas have performed circumnavigations of Japan in the past – most notably when a Chinese-Russian flotilla of 10 ships did so in October 2021 – and analysts say more can be expected as the PLA Navy more frequently flexes its muscles outside China’s nearby waters.

But the timing and route of this exercise linked with the media reports raises concerns, the analysts say.

“What is most troubling is that by linking the PLAN surface action group’s route selection to Kishida’s comments on Taiwan, China’s state media is seeking to make it into a show of force,” said John Bradford, senior fellow at the S. Rajaratman School of International Studies in Singapore.

“Delivering these sorts of threats further undermines confidence and drives up regional tensions,” he added.

James Brown, professor of political science at Temple University in Japan, said the timing of the Chinese naval activity before the G7 summit in Hiroshima is important.

“While much of the focus in Hiroshima will be on Ukraine, the Japanese hosts will seek to link the issue to security in East Asia,” Brown said.

“Prime Minister Kishida is likely to reiterate his message that ‘Ukraine today could be East Asia tomorrow.’ By ‘East Asia,’ he means the prospect of China attacking Taiwan,” Brown said.

“The Chinese show of force is intended to deter Japan from deepening security cooperation with the United States and other Western partners. It is likely to achieve the opposite,” he said.

A rocket launched from the Gaza Strip hit a residential building in Israel on Thursday, causing the first Israeli death after days of violence between the two sides that had already claimed at least 30 Palestinian lives.

The rocket hit a four-storey apartment building in Rehovot, south of Tel Aviv, and wounded five people, the Magen David Adom medical service (MDA) said.

“MDA Paramedics have pronounced one victim dead with severe shrapnel wounds, and evacuated 5 victims, including a 74-year-old male, and a 50-year-old male, two females in their 70s in moderate condition, and one in mild condition. Two further victims were evacuated with stress symptoms,” MDA said in a statement.

“When we arrived on scene we saw massive destruction, we immediately went in to search the apartments, in a third floor apartment we found an unconscious male victim with a severe multi-trauma injury, and could only pronounce him dead,” said Magen David Adom (MDA) EMTs Yedidya Hakmon and Tomer Pashko.

An 82-year-old woman was wounded after a rocket fired from Gaza hit the yard of her house in the Negev region in Israel on Thursday, it said in a later statement.

At least 547 rockets were fired from Gaza toward Israel as of 2:30 p.m. local time (7:30 a.m. ET), according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), as Palestinian militants retaliated against ongoing heavy airstrikes from the Israeli military. The IDF has been targeting what it says are Islamic Jihad operatives and infrastructure along the strip since Tuesday.

Four leaders of the Palestinian militant organization have so far died in the bombardments. Al-Quds Brigades Commander Ali Hassan Ghali, who was in charge of the Al-Quds Brigades rocket unit, died in the strikes Thursday morning, the militant group said in a statement.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had already tweeted early Thursday that they had “targeted Ali Ghali, the commander of Islamic Jihad’s Rocket Launching Force,” along with what they said were two other Islamic Jihad operatives in Gaza.

Among the 30 Palestinians killed since Tuesday, 15 people died on Tuesday, seven people on Wednesday, and six on Thursday, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza.

A further 93 people have been injured since airstrikes on Gaza started at dawn on Tuesday, including 32 children, the ministry added.

20 years of experience with rockets

Ghali was one of the founders of the militant group’s rocket unit, with more than 20 years of experience with rockets, the Islamist group said Thursday.

Ali Hassan Ghali was in charge of the unit in the militant organization’s al Quds Brigades when he was killed, they said.

He was born in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip in 1975 and joined Islamic Jihad in the early 90s, they said.

Ghali supervised training militants in launching rockets and himself manufactured rocket launchers, Islamic Jihad said.

He became head of the unit and a member of the al Quds Brigades military council in 2019 when his predecessor, Khaled Mansour, was killed.

Ghali had survived several previous assassination attempts, Islamic Jihad said.

His brother Mahmoud Ghali and his nephew Mohammad Mansour were killed alongside him at his sister’s house, the group said.

Civilian deaths

Tensions between Israeli and Palestinian forces have skyrocketed in the past week, after a prominent Palestinian detainee died while he was on hunger strike in an Israeli prison.

Islamic Jihad fired more than 100 rockets towards Israel last Tuesday in response to the death of Khader Adnan, a former spokesman for the militant group who became a symbol of Palestinian resistance to Israeli detention policies.

Israel has since been striking Islamic Jihad targets using unmanned drones for surveillance as it monitors militant preparations to propel rockets, IDF chief spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Wednesday.

Palestinian militant groups have also claimed responsibility for launching rockets towards Israel as a result.

The Israeli military exchanged heated barbs with Islamic Jihad over Palestinian civilians killed in the strikes, as humanitarian bodies sounded the alarm on the high civilian death toll in Gaza.

Israel said on Thursday that four of the Palestinian civilians killed in Gaza, including children, were killed by Islamic Jihad rockets that fell short and landed in the strip – a claim which Islamic Jihad rejected as a “lie.”

IDF chief spokesman Hagari said the four were killed “as a result of failed rocket launches by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization.”

Approximately a quarter of all rockets launched since Wednesday fell inside the Gaza Strip, the IDF said.

Islamic Jihad rejected the accusation that it was responsible for any Palestinian deaths.

On Wednesday, the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged all parties to exercise “maximum restraint” over the heavy bloodshed in Gaza.

“The Secretary-General condemns the civilian loss of life, including that of children and women, which he views as unacceptable and must stop immediately,” a statement by Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for the Secretary-General, said.

“Israel must abide by its obligations under international humanitarian law, including the proportional use of force and taking all feasible precautions to spare civilians and civilian objects in the conduct of military operations. “

The statement added the Secretary-General also condemns the “indiscriminate launch” of rockets from Gaza into Israel, adding it “violates international humanitarian law and puts at risk both Palestinian and Israeli civilians.”

Meanwhile, Egyptian and Qatari officials said they were separately engaging in talks to reach a ceasefire in Gaza – but to no avail.

King Charles III and Queen Camilla have shared their “most sincere and heartfelt thanks” in a new message from the monarch released by Buckingham Palace on Monday, as the coronation long weekend comes to an end.

The newly-crowned sovereign wrote that he and his wife wanted in particular to pay tribute to those who helped make events in London, Windsor and beyond “as happy, safe and enjoyable as possible.”

“To those who joined in the celebrations – whether at home, at street parties and lunches, or by volunteering in communities – we thank you, each and every one,” King Charles wrote. “To know that we have your support and encouragement, and to witness your kindness expressed in so many different ways, has been the greatest possible Coronation gift, as we now rededicate our lives to serving the people of the United Kingdom, the Realms and Commonwealth.”

In addition to the King’s message of gratitude, the palace released four new official photographs of the King, Queen and members of the royal family taken after Saturday’s historic coronation service. All were taken by renowned British photographer Hugo Burnand at Buckingham Palace.

One portrait shows the King photographed in the palace’s Throne Room dressed in the full regalia – the Robe of Estate and the Imperial State Crown while holding the Sovereign’s Orb and Sovereign’s Sceptre with Cross.

He is seated on one of a pair of 1902 throne chairs that were built for use at King Edward VII’s coronation by future King George V and Queen Mary.

In a separate portrait, Queen Camilla was photographed wearing Queen Mary’s Crown and Robe of Estate in the Green Drawing Room.

The King and Queen also sat for a portrait together in the Throne Room.

Finally a fourth photograph was released of the King and Queen flanked by “working royals” – members of the family who carry out official duties on behalf of the monarch.

London-based Burnand has long held close ties to the royal family, having previously taken the official photos for both Charles and Camilla’s wedding in 2005, and William and Kate’s wedding in 2011. He’s also been privately taking photographs of Charles and Camilla for over two decades.

Burnand also took several photos of the King and Queen released by the palace ahead of the coronation.

The coronation of King Charles III on Saturday was a once-in-a-generation royal occasion, with thousands turning out in the streets of London to watch history in the making despite gloomy and wet weather conditions.

The service, rich in tradition and pageantry, was held at London’s Westminster Abbey – the nation’s coronation church since 1066.

Music underpinned the entire celebration, in keeping with history. Each stage was marked by either a grand choral work, an ethereal motet, an extravagant organ composition or an evocative melody, all performed by some of the most accomplished singers and musicians in the world.

The Duke of Sussex flew back to the UK for his father’s big day, sitting in the third row, wearing a morning suit with his military medals. He arrived alongside his uncles, Prince Edward and Prince Andrew, and two of his cousins, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie.

He did not appear later on the Buckingham Palace balcony for the customary appearance, instead catching a commercial flight back to Los Angeles to join the fourth birthday celebrations of his son, Prince Archie.

The occasion marked the first time the prince had publicly reunited with members of his family since the release of his controversial memoir, “Spare.”

The rest of the holiday weekend saw the sunshine return once more as thousands across the country took part in street parties and community lunches in celebration of the newly-crowned King. Others attended a jubilant coronation concert held in the grounds of Windsor Castle.

Meanwhile on Monday, Prince Louis, the youngest child of the Prince and Princess of Wales, conducted his first royal engagement at the age of five, as part of the Big Help Out – a nationwide volunteering initiative marking the end of the coronation weekend.

The youngster, who is fourth in line to the throne, joined his parents and siblings, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, in helping to renovate a scout hut.

For the second year running, the Phoenix Suns have been blown out of the Western Conference semifinals as they fell to a 125-100 defeat against Nikola Jokić and the Denver Nuggets.

In a series which many predicted would contain the eventual winner of the Western Conference, only one team showed up in the deciding game – that was the Nuggets, who wrapped the series up 4-2.

Jokić excelled once again and continued his incredible playoff run – putting up 32 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds – in aan impressive performance.

‘The Joker’ set the tone from the off and torched the Suns in the first quarter. The two-time MVP scored or assisted on 26 points in the opening 12 minutes – the Suns had just 26 points as a team.

The Nuggets took a 44-26 lead after the first and never looked back.

Jokić controlled the game with his triple-double and with Jamal Murray and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope contributing over 20 points each, the Nuggets eased their way to victory.

The result, and particularly the performance, will be a concern to Suns fans as many will feel it is a repeat of Phoenix’s horrific Game 7 display last year.

In 2022, it was the Dallas Mavericks who blew out the Suns with a 123-90 win in a crucial playoff tie, and once again the Suns have not been able to produce in a win-or-go-home game.

Devin Booker struggled with his shot and could only muster up 12 points in his 36 minutes on the court. Kevin Durant was also far from his best in a disappointing night for the Suns franchise.

“It was a bad feeling,” Durant told reporters after the game. “It was embarrassing. They came out and got us in the mouth and we couldn’t recover.”

Cameron Payne, who surprisingly led the Suns in scoring, also told reporters: “I wish it would have been at least closer. Of course, I want to win, but this just doesn’t look good.”

Denver head coach Michael Malone was full of praise for this team after the series win.

“When we defend, when we rebound, when we run, when we share the ball, we all believe we’re the best team in the NBA,” he told reporters after the game.

NBA Playoffs

Elsewhere in the playoffs, the Boston Celtics clinched a Game 6 win against the Philadelphia 76ers, despite not having home court advantage.

The Celtics ground out a 95-86 win to ensure the series goes back to Boston for Game 7 in a brilliant team performance on the road.

The series decider should be an incredible matchup with both teams looking to right some wrongs from previous years, and it seems the Sixers are up for the challenge.

“If I have to go to war on the road, Game 7 in Boston, I would want to go with this group,” Sixers’ Tyrese Maxey told reporters. “I know we’ve got some fighters, I know we’ve got some resilient guys. I’m ready to get it on.”

Game 7 will take place Sunday with the time unconfirmed awaiting the result of Game 6 from the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors series.

Another parent’s attempts to “psych her out” spurred Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce to compete in her son’s sports day, the Olympic sprinter said in an interview with The Guardian this week.

Fraser-Pryce, a two-time Olympic champion in the 100 meters, inevitably ended up winning the parents race with ease and footage of her crushing victory later went viral on social media.

The Jamaican said a friend and fellow parent had laid down a challenge two weeks before the sports day.

“She started sending me photos of her working out in the gym. And then she told me she was coming for me!” Fraser-Pryce told The Guardian’s Sean Ingle.

“I was like, ‘You can’t be serious girl!’ And when we got to sports day, she even started giving me the eyes, trying to psych me out.”

Fraser-Pryce added that she had not initially intended to compete in the race but changed her mind once her five-year-old son Zyon fell in an event and her husband finished fourth in the dad’s race.

“I just had to show up,” she said. “I had to preserve my name.”

The rest was captured on video by those watching the race – Fraser-Pryce blazing ahead of her other competitors as she claims one of the easier victories of her career.

At the age of 36 and with eight Olympic medals already to her name, Fraser-Pryce is still running some of the fastest times of her career having won gold at the world championships last year.

This week, she was crowned Sportswoman of the Year at the Laureus World Sport Awards in Paris following her success in 2022.

“As competitors, as individuals, as moms and dads, we must believe that we can produce greater things that we may not always immediately see,” Fraser-Pryce wrote on Instagram after receiving the award.

“The discipline, the drive and the passion we apply daily in training, in recovery, in trying new strategies can deliver more than we think ourselves capable.”

Erling Haaland’s arrival at Manchester City last summer was met with equal measures of excitement and curiosity.

At the age of 22, the Norwegian forward had already established himself as one of the best goalscorers in European football – first at Red Bull Salzburg, then with two prolific seasons at Borussia Dortmund.

But now he was moving to a team already replete with attacking talent and a league in which big-name signings have come and gone without leaving an impression.

Would he adapt to life in the Premier League? The answer has been yes, emphatically – even to the extent that Haaland has surpassed the expectations of some of his greatest admirers during his first 10 months at Man City.

The numbers behind Haaland’s first season defy belief. He’s scored 51 club goals in 47 games this season: 35 in the Premier League, 12 in the Champions League, three in the FA Cup and one in the League Cup.

Only Dixie Dean, who scored 63 in the 1927/28 season, has more goals in English football during a single top-flight campaign.

Haaland’s Premier League tally, which includes four hat-tricks, is a league record for a single season, breaking the previous mark held jointly by Alan Shearer and Andy Cole.

Shearer and Cole recorded their 34-goal seasons at a time when Premier League teams played 42 games, rather than the current 38; Haaland currently has four games remaining to add to his haul, including when City faces Everton on Sunday.

Forming a potent partnership with midfielder Kevin De Bruyne – perhaps the best passer of the ball in European football – Haaland has made an immediate impact at City.

But De Bruyne’s laser-like passing hasn’t been the sole reason for his success, nor the excellence of teammates Jack Grealish, Rodri, or Bernardo Silva, to name a few. Haaland, Addo observes, has modified his game to devastating effect since arriving in the Premier League, taking his pace, power, and deadly finishing to another level.

“I think he’s learned to be patient, to wait for the situation in the box and to take the right runs inside the box,” Addo says.

“Even though there were games where you didn’t see him too much on the ball, you could see that he was always ready. Even if it’s in the last minute, he’s always ready to score, always ready to make the right run in the right situation.”

Addo, a former Dortmund player and Ghanaian international, oversees the development of the Bundesliga club’s talented crop of young players. He believes Haaland became a more complete player in Germany, scoring a greater number of right-footed and headed goals, as well as improving his movement off the ball in defense and attack.

The pair have written to each other from time to time over the past year and Haaland gave gifts to some of his former coaches after Dortmund and City played each other in the Champions League earlier this season.

“As a human being, I’m happy for him,” says Addo. “He has the mindset, he has the ability to score, to run, to have the right positions, to be hungry. If he keeps this hunger, which I guess he will, then surely, he will be the best striker ever.”

Addo recalls times when Haaland would score two or three goals in a game for Dortmund, only to be angry with the coaches when he was substituted off.

“This is the mentality you wish on every player – that he’s never satisfied, that he doesn’t relax, he doesn’t feel comfortable even though he scores a lot of goals,” says Addo. “He always wants more.”

Haaland’s finishing has been at its deadliest this season when he’s inside the penalty area, according to Opta data from Stats Perform, which shows 11 of his 35 league goals coming from inside the six-yard box.

Scoring goals has always been at the heart of Haaland’s game, ever since he was a young boy playing in Bryne – a town of around 12,000 people on the southwestern tip of Norway.

At the age of 16, he moved from Bryne to Molde FK to play in the top flight of Norwegian football under the guidance of former Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer; from there, he made his name with Salzburg, Dortmund, and now Man City.

Berntsen makes sure to watch all of Haaland’s games, so long as they don’t clash with the schedule of his beloved Liverpool team. He finds a certain novelty in watching the powerful forward – now six-foot-four and reportedly carrying 12 kilograms of muscle compared to 15 months ago – exhibit the same qualities as when he was a young kind.

“In practice, just like now, he scored a lot of goals. He smiled a lot and trained a lot, so in a funny way, it’s quite like now,” says Berntsen.

“If you see the matches now, many of his movements are familiar … he has quite the same playing style as before. The main thing with Erling was he scored a lot of goals and was funny and loveable guy.”

With his move to Man City, Haaland followed in the footsteps of his father, Alf Inge – a former defender and midfielder who also had stints at Nottingham Forest and Leeds. His mother, Gry Marita Braut, was a Norwegian heptathlon champion.

A figure of influence over his son’s professional career, Alf Inge even caused a stir in the stands during this week’s Champions League semifinal when he was moved to a different seat after taunting Real Madrid fans at the Bernabéu.

But when Haaland was a youth player at Bryne, it was rare to see his father on the sidelines at training sessions.

“He left Erling on his own because he could see that Erling had fun, developed, got better and better and better in a good, safe environment with friends,” says Berntsen.

“As it became clear that Erling is something special and he had to move from Bryne to Molde … Then his father became very important, of course, and he had to prepare Erling for how to meet a new job, how to be accepted in the world, how to be a professional.”

Haaland’s professionalism is a quality regularly singled out by teammates and coaches as a reason for his success.

Manchester City midfielder İlkay Gündoğan said he is the first to arrive at the training ground, while Grealish has called Haaland “the best professional I have ever seen” when it comes to diet, treatment, and recovery.

At Dortmund, Addo says that Haaland had his own personal trainer to help with physical conditioning, explaining how “even if he’s off the pitch, he does a lot on his body.”

His dedicated approach has already reaped rewards; more goals, records, and accolades are likely to be a mainstay of Haaland’s career if he is able to stay healthy.

“He’s still young and he will improve even more,” says Addo. “He will be the best player on this planet one day. He’s very close now – maybe the best player already.”