The Georgetown basketball team is dealing with some bad news. Georgetown is without star freshman player Thomas Sorber for the remainder of the year, per the school. Sorber suffered a foot injury in a game that will require surgery. Sorber’s surgery is Wednesday. He closes his freshman campaign with the Hoyas averaging 14.5 points and […]
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Luka Doncic dedicated his All-Star break to improving his conditioning, spending time in Cabo training with Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Scott Brooks, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. The workouts, held on a private outdoor court, lasted two hours each day and were supplemented by weightlifting sessions at his hotel gym. The focused training regimen […]
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The Los Angeles Lakers take on the Dallas Mavericks Tuesday in what will be an emotional game for Luka Doncic taking on his former team. With James and Doncic making the perfect fit for the Lakers, their relationship has already grown to the point that the veteran has given his new teammate a nickname based […]
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Dave Canales is the head coach of the rebuilding Carolina Panthers and has his wife, Lizzy Canales, by his side. The couple have a documented rocky history but are now living in Raleigh, North Carolina. It has been a long road in Canales’ coaching career, which started at his alma mater in Carson, California. Canales […]
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A LITTLE-known restaurant that serves up Indian food alongside traditional Scots fare has been named the best in the country.
The People’s Choice Awards took place in Glasgow last night to honour the best business, from hotels to home improvements.
The event launched last year and this second edition saw the public nominate their favourites before a vote on selected finalists decided the big winners and highly recommended on the night.
And the The Malletsheugh in Newton Mearns scooped the best Restaurant going.
The family-run eaterie, which opened less than two years ago and also won best new restaurant at last year’s Scottish Curry Awards, was hailed by the awards team who were honouring those who go above and beyond across the nation.
The Malletsheigh’s Pav Birk was thrilled to win an award that the whole family had dreamed of since renovating and launching the restaurant and bar in August 2023.
Pav said: “This is crazy – we have won a national Best Restaurant award in our second year. Everyone told us no one wins that big for a good few years.
“We are so lucky to have been taken to the heart of our local community, they have welcomed our family into their lives and we feel so privileged.
“An award nominated and voted by our diners, our friends, is everything we dreamed of and more. Thank you People’s Choice, Paramount Creative, and most of all the public who support us in everything we do.”
The restaurant serves everything from ‘unctuous, deeply flavoured curries packed with zingy ginger, rich spices and the highest quality premium local ingredients’, to Scottish favourites from steak pie to fish and chips.
The event – which was hosted by by Des Clarke – was put on by Paramount Creative, which also created and run the Italian Awards, Scottish Fish and Chip Awards and Confetti Wedding Awards.
Warren Paul, CEO of Paramount, said: “This event feels like it has something really special – it seems to mean even more top the businesses honoured because they’re nominated and voted purely by the public.
“Knowing that this is driven entirely by the love and support of their customers clearly means the world to the business owners and their teams celebrating tonight.
“As with all of our events, these wins are a badge of honour and recognition that is so important in these tough times, when the cost of living is through the roof for all of us.
“It’s a privilege to be able to help recognise the hard work of people who do go above and beyond in business to ensure they give people true value for money – congratulations to all our winners and thank you to so very many members of the public for your votes.”
He added: “This event is going to grow and grow and we want to thank everyone for getting behind it, nominating and voting and showing the businesses who work so hard that those hours are worth it.”
ALDI has confirmed shoppers’ favourite £2.99 Liz Earle beauty dupe has been axed from shelves.
The German discounter, which is loved for its affordable takes on pricey makeup and skincare, has stopped making its hot cloth cleanser.
The beloved item was praised by many for its likeness to Liz Earle’s Cleanse & Polish cleanser, which retails for £30.
Aldi actually discontinued the product last spring but some shoppers are just realising it’s gone.
One shopper took to X, formerly known as Twitter, this week to find out where the item had gone.
They wrote: “@AldiUK is your hot cloth cleanser discontinued ? If not when will it be back in.
The bargain supermarket wrote back and broke the news, leading the disappointed shopper to say they were “gutted”.
The Sun also reached out to Aldi, who confirmed it was no more.
A spokesperson for the store said: “We continually review our range of products to make sure we’re meeting the needs of Aldi shoppers.”
Customers still on the hunt for an affordable cleanser could check out B&M Skin Technique Hot Cleanser with Vitamin C which retails for £2.49.
It’s not the first time Aldi has decided to wave goodbye to a product.
Earlier this month, it also axed its popular Very Berry Muesli, which has been missing from supermarket shelves.
The morning dish, which comes with rolled oats, nuts, seeds, and dried fruits such as berries, was a hit with customers and was sold for around £1.99.
In December, it quietly took two of its popular snack items off shelves – Coconut Rings and Chocolate Rich Tea biscuits.
The supermarket confirmed the news after one customer said her fiance loved them but couldn’t find them on shelves.
Unlike other major grocers, Aldi does not have a rewards or point card system but that does not mean you cannot save on your shop.
Every week the store releases a list of special buys, which are unique bargain products you can find online at Aldi and in store.
The store releases a fresh range of deals every Thursday and Sunday, so be sure to check regularly to see what’s new.
Meanwhile, the store also regularly sells fruit and vegetables at highly discounted prices, as part of its ‘super six’ deal.
It also does weekly saving offers on typically pricey items such as meat and fish.
ANALYSIS by chief consumer reporter James Flanders.
Food and drinks makers have been known to tweak their recipes or axe items altogether.
They often say that this is down to the changing tastes of customers.
There are several reasons why this could be done.
For example, government regulation, like the “sugar tax,” forces firms to change their recipes.
Some manufacturers might choose to tweak ingredients to cut costs.
They may opt for a cheaper alternative, especially when costs are rising to keep prices stable.
For example, Tango Cherry disappeared from shelves in 2018.
It has recently returned after six years away but as a sugar-free version.
Fanta removed sweetener from its sugar-free alternative earlier this year.
Suntory tweaked the flavour of its flagship Lucozade Original and Orange energy drinks.
While the amount of sugar in every bottle remains unchanged, the supplier swapped out the sweetener aspartame for sucralose.
UKRAINE has voted for Volodymyr Zelensky to remain the country’s President “indefinitely” under martial law defying Donald Trump.
The US President branded Zelensky a “dictator” last week, for not holding an election during the war.
The brave Ukrainian President vowed to step down “immediately” in exchange for peace or Nato membership.
But it seems that Kyiv has sided with its heroic leader as Ukraine‘s Parliament, the Verkhovna Rada passed a resolution today securing Zelensky’s presidency until the martial law is lifted.
Rada deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak said the decision is to hold elections after “a comprehensive, just, and sustainable peace is secured.”
A total of 286 deputies voted in support of the resolution, with no abstentions or votes against, he said.
Elections in Ukraine have been banned under martial law amid Putin’s ongoing illegal invasion.
The resolution also clarified it is currently impossible to hold free and fair elections because of the war.
It added that Zelensky was elected president of Ukraine in free and fair elections, and stressed that neither the Ukrainian people nor the Verkhovna Rada questioned the legitimacy of Zelensky’s current mandate.
The resolution states Ukraine‘s constitution demanded that Zelensky remain in power until a new president takes office.
As Zelensky was elected in 2014, fresh elections were due to be led last year – but were postponed because of the war.
The US President unleashed a harsh attack on the Ukrainian President last week blasting him as a “dictator” and a “moderately successful” comedian in a Truth Social post.
Trump wrote Zelensky was a “modestly successful comedian” and accused him of having “talked the US into a war that couldn’t be won”.
Trump blasted Zelensky as playing Biden “like a fiddle” – and called him a “dictator without elections”.
His attack came just hours after Zelensky attacked the US President – accusing him of living in a “Russian disinformation bubble”.
In response to Trump’s jibe, said he wasn’t offended.
He said: “I wasn’t offended, but a dictator would be. I’m not. I’m the legally election president.”
The two leaders have always had a a chaotic relationship that dates back even further to before Trump was elected, and when Zelensky was a TV comic.
The United States shockingly sided with Russia in a UN vote on a resolution demanding that Putin’s troops leave Ukraine.
The US President’s administration joined Iran, North Korea, Belarus, Hungary and 13 others to oppose the call — with China abstaining.
Yet 93 countries voted in favour of the Ukraine-tabled resolution — which branded Russia the “aggressor” — including the UK and most European nations.
SIR ALEX FERGUSON boasted a stacked attack of Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov and Carlos Tevez when Manchester United won the Premier League in 2009.
But the legendary Scot insisted Federico Macheda was his best finisher at the club – and the Italian striker believes he could still get into the current Red Devils team.
Macheda, 33, wrote his name into Old Trafford folklore with his dramatic 93rd minute winner against Aston Villa on his debut aged 17 in April 2009.
He repeated the trick a week later at Sunderland as United won the Premier League by four crucial points from Liverpool.
Macheda was the unlikely hero despite sharing a dressing room with legendary forwards Ronaldo, Rooney, Berbatov and Tevez – as well as a teenage Danny Welbeck.
His natural instincts in front of goal, demonstrated by his iconic turn and curl beyond Brad Friedel, earned a prestigious title from Fergie.
Macheda, who received an unexpected catch-up phone call from Ferguson this month after seven years without contact, told SunSport: “Sir Alex would tell everybody I was the best finisher in the club.
“I was surprised. It was the best team in the history of Manchester United with the names and quality.
“He must have some special feeling for me and for sure hoped things would be different for me.”
The Villa goal made Macheda a household name overnight and he acknowledges that magic moment will always be “part of me”.
But he failed to kick on from his “perfect” start, totalling five goals in 36 appearances, intertwined with loans to Sampdoria, QPR, Stuttgart, Doncaster and Birmingham.
Macheda admits it was his loans and lack of effort that meant he remained a cult hero rather than a club legend in Manchester, despite having the example of Ronaldo, the epitome of dedication, to learn from.
He said: “My dream was to keep going like I started but I knew it was impossible. I had not just one striker in front of me but four stars of crazy value, talent and history.
“Cristiano was an idol. It was never enough for him.
“Ronaldo was working next to me, swimming for one hour, but at 18 I didn’t understand this big mentality. I did what I was told but was not looking for extra steps.
“I never reached my full potential. Never.
“My United career should have been more. You get chances but I didn’t take some.
“The biggest regret is I didn’t focus fully or work as hard as I should.
“Football came naturally. It wasn’t arrogance, I just didn’t know.
“Sir Alex liked me lots as a player but I didn’t give him extra reasons to keep going with me.
“You must work 200 per cent every day to stay at United because they can have any player they want. I had the ability but you must give more than everything to stay.
“I understand this now I’m older.”
https://twitter.com/premierleague/status/1113728990110523392CLUB (ALL COMPS)
2008–2014 – Manchester United: 36 appearances (5 goals)
2011 – Sampdoria (loan): 16 (1)
2012 – Queens Park Rangers (loan): 6 (0)
2013 – VfB Stuttgart (loan): 18 (0)
2013–2014 – Doncaster Rovers (loan): 15 (3)
2014 – Birmingham City (loan): 18 (10)
2014–2016 – Cardiff City: 33 (8)
2016 – Nottingham Forest (loan): 3 (0)
2016–2018 – Novara: 52 (11)
2018–2022 – Panathinaikos: 116 (40)
2022–2024 – Ankaragucu: 41 (6)
2023 – APOEL (loan): 17 (2)
2024– – Asteras Tripolis: 21 (6)
INTERNATIONAL
2006–2007 – Italy U16: 10 (2)
2007–2008 – Italy U17: 3 (0)
2009 – Italy U19: 1 (0)
2009–2012 – Italy U21: 10 (4)
HONOURS
Manchester United
Panathinaikos
Macheda left United in 2014, joining his ex-academy coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Cardiff.
The “highlight” of his “rollercoaster” career was, interestingly, a four-month unemployed stint in 2016 when the then-25-year-old couldn’t find a club and “changed everything about myself” including hiring a mental coach.
He has since had stints in Italy, Greece, Turkey and Cyprus before returning to Greece in September.
Macheda signed for Asteras Tripolis during Claude Makelele’s 25-day managerial reign and fittingly took the vacant No41 jersey, the same number he wore for his famous breakthrough.
It is a far cry from the grandeur of Manchester United: the man who once played with a GOAT now trains next to a field of sheep and goats.
Just like 16 years ago, though, Macheda wants to fire his team to glory, either in the Greek Cup or a strong league finish, to take Asteras back into Europe.
Asteras, against whom Harry Kane went in goal and Erik Lamela scored that rabona in 2014, face Crete’s OFI on Wednesday in the cup semi-final first leg.
Star-man Macheda loves Greece and, fit and healthy, thinks he could play for another decade.
And with his six goals in 18 league games this term, he is matching United’s top scorers Bruno Fernandes and Amad Diallo in the Premier League and outperforming both Joshua Zirkzee (three) and Rasmus Hojlund (two).
Asked if he could do a better job in the current Red Devils starting XI, Macheda was candidly confident but admitted even Robert Lewandowski would struggle.
He replied: “Now? At 33? I think I could play there. Yes. Do better? I don’t know.
“I must say it’s not easy to play for Manchester United now but I think I could still play there.
“Personally, I like Zirkzee and Hojlund. The club is under pressure. The situation is not easy for any striker, even if you put Lewandowski in the team.
“But as a player, I can see myself playing there at the moment. A couple of games if Ruben Amorim needs me!
“I know the Premier League level. It’s very difficult but I could play there. Why not?”
Keeping tabs on his old employers has been more painful viewing this season with the fallen giants languishing 15th in the table despite Amorim replacing Erik ten Hag.
FEDERICO MACHEDA’S life changed forever when he scored a 93rd-minute winner to secure a crucial 3-2 win over Aston Villa on April 5, 2009.
Sent on for Nani at 2-1 down, Macheda came up trumps with his epic turn and finish into the corner – a goal that lives long in the memory for all United fans.
Here’s what Macheda remembers of that special day…
On finding out he would play
“We were short of strikers because Rooney, Tevez and Berbatov were unavailable. We had a reserve game at Newcastle on the Wednesday. Sir Alex said if I did well I might be in the first team on Sunday. I scored a hat-trick. Against Villa we were 2-1 down and on 60 minutes he called to me. I thought he was calling Danny Welbeck but he shouted again. It was my time. I went on and I was so sure of myself. I told all my friends that if I played, I would score.”
On the finish
“It just came in a moment. My technical abilities were pretty good. At this moment I wasn’t thinking about too much when I had the ball. It just came and I knew I had the chance to try and do something good. My instinct told me to do this. It was perfect.”
On Martin Tyler’s commentary
“The goal and the commentary are iconic. It’s the moment and the celebration from the fans. It’s something that remains. It’s not easy to have those kinds of moments in football.”
On the dressing room
“The dressing room was electrifying. When you win a game, it should be like this. But it was more than this. I was all over the place. I don’t know if I’ve seen this atmosphere again. Everybody was coming around me, kissing me, hugging me. Big players came to me to celebrate me. Sir Alex hugged me.”
On the man-of-the-match champagne and celebrations
“I didn’t drink it, I still haven’t. Gary Neville gave it to me afterwards. But I never drank it. Now it’s in my family’s house. My mother and father still love it. We went to a restaurant with my family. My goal was showing everywhere. I felt shy to see myself on TV. Everybody was talking about the goal.”
On the goal’s legacy
“It’s part of me of course. It was probably the most famous goal I scored. For sure it changed my life. My target when I went to Manchester was to play only one time for this club in this stadium. I was dreaming about a moment like this. Maybe that moment was even better than my dreams. Because everything was perfect.”
Macheda thinks no manager, not even Ferguson, could get a title-winning tune out of the current squad which features just three leaders.
But speaking at Asteras’ 6,500-seater stadium, he is adamant Amorim can deliver a Premier League within “two to three years” on three conditions.
Macheda added: “I believe yes he can. Amorim has a special connection. He’s one coach that can get Manchester United to fight for everything.
“I like Amorim even if you don’t see the results, maybe sometimes they play bad football.
“It’s difficult because for a club to be successful, you need great players.
“United doesn’t have the team at the moment to win the Premier League. They have good players but if you put any coach in, it wouldn’t change a lot.
“There are only a few leaders: Bruno, Maguire, Lisandro. But it’s not enough. Maybe the others are not ready to play for this club.
“Amorim should keep the legacy and history at Manchester United going by rebuilding like they used to with young players. Then I believe the wind will change.
“If they trust Amorim and give him time, bring in the right players and change some things in the club like the bad mentality, I believe Manchester United will be back in two to three years.”
CELEBRATING mothers is very important – as I constantly remind my own three children.
So I was delighted to discover CBeebies bigging up International Women’s Day with a special page on its website dedicated to “inspirational mums”.
How nice. And no shortage of mums for those BBC journos to choose from.
Staying sane while managing to get children fed, dressed and off to school seems pretty inspirational to me and that’s before we take into account the hundreds of other things mothers do each day.
But this being the BBC, it’s not mums like you or me that kids are being told to admire.
Indeed, some of the “women” CBeebies is promoting to its young audience are not women at all. Two of them are American drag queens, Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera.
Okay, perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised. After all, the BBC seems to be obsessed with drag queens.
From the cost of living crisis to dealing with diabetes, almost every news story seems to require the perspective of a drag queen or two.
But for children under the age of six? As part of celebrating inspirational mums? Give us a break, BBC, please.
But it gets worse.
Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera were not your bog-standard drag queens. They were not just men parading around in women’s frocks for a bit of light entertainment.
The BBC praises the pair for giving “a home, food, clothing and a sense of family to many LGBTQ+ kids made homeless by their biological families”. Sounds wholesome.
But what’s not pointed out is that this “home” was STAR House, in Greenwich Village, New York. STAR stands for Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries and Johnson and Rivera were prostitutes with deep connections to New York’s criminal underworld.
As “mothers”, these men ran a “home” awash with alcohol and drugs and completely lacking in basic sanitation.
It was an unhygienic, rubbish dump of a house and any children unfortunate enough to come across it would more than likely wind up shop-lifting or embroiled in pornography or prostitution.
Of course, in its rush to celebrate inspirational drag queen mothers, our licence-fee funded Beeb fails to mention any of this.
The BBC points out that this website is not current and has not been published for this year’s International Women’s Day.
But so what? When was it ever acceptable to introduce tiny tots to drag queen prostitutes?
Casual references to drag queens in discussions about “women” and “mothers” leave young children confused about gender and biology.
They instinctively know that girls grow up to be women and, perhaps, mothers, and boys to be men and maybe dads.
But here’s a website telling them something entirely different. It’s not just wrong to trick children like this, it could be dangerous too.
No parent in their right mind wants their beautiful son or daughter to be convinced they need to take powerful medication and undergo surgery in order to change their gender.
Under the guise of promoting transgender rights, activists have sexualised almost every part of childhood. In the process, they have robbed children of their innocence.
Joanna Williams
Far seedier is the casual sexualisation of children. Drag is a form of adult entertainment, perfect for a bawdy, drunken night out with friends but completely inappropriate for children.
Just look at the names of some high profile drag queens. There’s Flow Job, A’Whora and Ophelia Peaches for starters.
They are raunchy, sexualised performers who need to be slapped with an 18-certificate and kept out of schools and children’s libraries.
Once, we had a clear distinction between adulthood and childhood. Adults sought to protect children from ideas and behaviours they were too young to understand.
Sadly, this is not the case any more. It is not just the BBC that thinks highly sexualised content is suitable for children.
Local libraries hold “drag queen story hours” where permissive parents laugh about raising kids who know seven different words for “penis” before they can even read.
Shops, meanwhile, flog brightly coloured picture books like “Grandad’s Pride” to four-year-olds. It tells the story of an old man who comes out as gay and attends his first Pride Parade, in fetish gear, and, while there, kisses another man.
Don’t even get me started on the school curriculum.
Through “Relationships and Sex Education” classes, children have been introduced to a range of sexual practices that would make even seasoned porn-stars blush.
Personally, I would rather 10-year-olds be taught long division than learning about anal sex. But that’s just me.
Under the guise of promoting transgender rights, activists have sexualised almost every part of childhood. In the process, they have robbed children of their innocence.
This sounds old-fashioned, sentimental even. But it shouldn’t be.
Adults have a responsibility to protect children. But force-feeding them knowledge about sex and sexuality is the exact opposite of keeping them safe.
It is grooming children to be open to sexualised behaviour before they are physically or emotionally ready for it.
That the BBC engages in such practices is despicable. We need to let kids be kids.
A BBC Spokesperson told The Sun: “This archived page was published five years ago in the ‘grown-up’ section of the CBeebies website to celebrate International Women’s Day.”
THE first Call the Midwife spin-off series could be a prequel focusing on the early years of Trixie Franklin.
The character, currently played on the BBC One drama by Helen George, would take centre stage and be portrayed by another actress, possibly in her teens or early twenties.
It would take the story from the Seventies, where Call the Midwife has now reached, back to the Fifties when Trixie was starting out in her adult life and career.
The move comes after the Sunday night show’s creator, Heidi Thomas, said she could see the programme being rested soon and a spin-off made instead.
A TV insider said: “Trixie is an obvious choice of subject because she is one of the wilder characters at Nonnatus House and therefore has the potential for a more interesting back story.
“When we were introduced to her in series one in 2012 she was in her early twenties and was already very worldly. So there is much to take a deep dive into.
“But everything is at a very early stage and there are so many options open to the show’s creators because it’s still one of the Beeb’s most-watched programmes.”
Talking this week to the Radio Times, Heidi said that although they might take a break from making the show, she couldn’t see the CTM universe ending entirely.
She said: “Those of us who are most invested in the show – cast and producers alike, who have been there since the beginning – it is our lives.
“I don’t believe Call The Midwife will ever end. But I do think we might take a break at some point.”
She continued: “I’m not in a position to talk about things really. There is a sort of rolling, ongoing conversation that we always have at this point every year, which is: Is there an end point? What are we working towards?
“Increasingly, we do see opportunities to expand our storytelling world.
“So if we do take a break, it will be with a view to looking at other aspects of Call The Midwife.”
