Los Angeles Dodgers two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani is set to undergo a minor knee procedure during the All-Star break after lingering irritation in his left knee forced him to skip both his final pitching start of the first half and Tuesday’s All-Star Game in Philadelphia, the team confirmed this week.

Ohtani was scratched from his scheduled Friday start against the Arizona Diamondbacks due to continued discomfort in his left knee, a team statement said. He remained available as the Dodgers’ designated hitter throughout the weekend series, homering in his very first at-bat after being pulled from the pitching rotation, his 21st home run of the season and eighth leadoff blast, tied with Washington’s James Wood for the most in the majors. Following Sunday’s series finale against Arizona, Ohtani is scheduled to have fluid drained from his left knee, followed by a cortisone injection intended to relieve the inflammation.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the decision to use the All-Star break for treatment was a proactive one rather than a response to any acute setback. “He’s been managing this quite well, the knee,” Roberts said. “So if there’s a chance that we could kind of be proactive and get it drained and do whatever we need to do to try to manage it, along with the rest for the All-Star break, we were going to do that.” Roberts confirmed the procedure does not involve surgery and said he does not believe the injury will prevent Ohtani from continuing to pitch in the second half of the season, though the team has not yet finalized exactly where he will slot back into the rotation following the break.

Ohtani’s knee issue traces back to at least June 11, after he experienced inflammation following a stolen base attempt during a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. He missed only one game immediately following that incident and had continued playing through the discomfort in the weeks since, with the Dodgers monitoring the injury closely and limiting his stolen base attempts as a precaution. The injury involves the same left knee that underwent surgery in 2019 to repair a bipartite patella, a rare congenital condition in which the kneecap develops as two separate bones rather than one.

Speaking with reporters, Ohtani offered his most detailed public explanation yet of the injury, describing the discomfort as centered specifically around his kneecap. “It’s more around the kneecap. My range of motion is a little limited, and that’s why we’ve been monitoring it over the last few weeks,” Ohtani said. He indicated the decision to treat the knee now, rather than continue pushing through it, was based on how the joint had responded over recent starts. “There’s a lot of just up and down, just seeing how the knee really handled the last couple weeks. And really, the decision was made to do the injection after seeing how the knee reacted over the last couple weeks.”

Ohtani made clear he believed he could have taken the mound Friday had the situation called for it, but said the team ultimately opted for a longer-term approach given the timing within the season. “If I had pushed it, I probably could have pitched today. But the goal is to use these extra days to be in a better place for my next start,” Ohtani said. He explained that pitching, rather than hitting, places the greater strain on the injured knee. “Pitching puts much more stress on it than hitting. At the plate, I’ve basically been able to do everything without any problems.”

Ohtani attributed part of the issue to his pitching mechanics rather than viewing it as an isolated injury, describing the broader physical toll of returning to full two-way duty this season. “I see the overall wear and tear. What’s been happening over the course of this year, I believe it’s more of a wear and tear,” he said. “But in terms of the knee, I think it’s more of my pitching mechanics. So that’s something I need to work on.” He added that he plans to adjust his mechanics, potentially related to how he plants his foot during his pitching motion, in order to reduce pressure on the joint going forward.

Roberts emphasized that the team’s cautious approach reflects a broader philosophy of prioritizing Ohtani’s long-term health over short-term results, even amid Ohtani’s pursuit of individual accolades this season. “I think that No. 1, he’s always said, we’ve always said, the goal is October, for all of our players,” Roberts said. “With that, yeah, he’s had the Cy Young in mind, and understandably so. But nothing is going to come in front of being healthy for October.” Roberts also noted that Ohtani likely would have continued pitching through the discomfort had the injury occurred later in the season, during the postseason push. “The knee flared up; sometimes it calms down,” Ohtani said of the injury’s inconsistent pattern over recent weeks.

Despite the injury, Ohtani’s production has remained remarkable through the first half of the season. He enters the break with a .290 batting average, a .943 OPS and 21 home runs, alongside an 8-2 record and 1.79 ERA as a starting pitcher, a mark that ranks second in all of Major League Baseball among qualified starters. Ohtani was the leading vote-getter among National League players heading into this year’s All-Star Game and remains a heavy favorite to win his fourth consecutive Most Valuable Player award, despite now being sidelined for the Midsummer Classic itself. He was originally expected to serve as the NL’s starting designated hitter and to potentially get one or two at-bats in the game, though he was not expected to pitch or participate in the Home Run Derby even before the knee issue was disclosed.

Ohtani has also been managing other minor physical issues this season, including a tweaked right biceps that forced an early exit from a July 3 game and a blister on his right hand, though the Dodgers have said neither factored into the decision to treat the knee during the break. The Dodgers enter the second half of the season with the best record in Major League Baseball, sitting at 61-36 and holding an 11.5-game lead in the National League West despite having just been swept by the Diamondbacks to close out the first half.

With the procedure scheduled for after Sunday’s game and the All-Star break providing several days of additional recovery time, the Dodgers remain optimistic that Ohtani will return to his usual pitching schedule shortly after the break, though the club has said further details on his exact return timeline and rotation slot will be finalized as he responds to the treatment in the coming days.

With a packet of biscuits in one hand and her smartphone in the other in the biscuits sucrées aisle of her local Hyper U supermarket west of Paris, Nathalie sees red. Literally.

“Look at that!” she says showing me her phone. 0/100 is marked in red lettering.

“This is one of Malo’s [her 12-year-old son’s] favourites but it’s not only full of sugar and saturated fats, there are four additives as well including one health risk,” she says.

Nathalie clicks on the additive in question: E450. “A mineral which, taken in excess, can lead to bone marrow and kidney problems,” she reads.

“Honestly, that they can put this sort of thing in food aimed at children drives me nuts!” she says.

We scan an Italian alternative whose packaging gives you the impression those biscuits have been hand-made by peasant women wearing black shawls.

The score is not much better: “Malo hates shopping with me now,” says Nathalie. “You spend ages scanning and he can never have what he wants.”

The app, having activated the red alert, suggests a healthier alternative. It’s organic, containing wholewheat, fruit and fibre.

“You end up buying a lot more organic stuff so it’s more expensive,” she says.

Nathalie is one of a growing number of people using Yuka, an app developed in France, to shop more healthily. Not just for food but cosmetics and toiletries too.

Download it and you can use your phone to scan the barcodes of any one of the six million products on the Yuka database (about 1,200 new ones a day) and it’ll tell you immediately – green for good, red for bad, yellow for could be better. If you want to know more, you can delve further. Pages and pages if you want.

Started in 2015, Yuka now has 85 million users in 12 countries: numerous European ones plus the US, Canada and Australia.

The third-biggest user is the UK with around five million, second is France with six million, but the biggest by a very long way is the US with 28 million.

Yuka has some high-profile fans in the US. For example, Donald Trump’s Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F Kennedy Jr, says it’s his favourite app.

No, Lee Jung-hoo did not make the 2026 MLB All-Star Game, despite putting together one of the finest offensive seasons of any outfielder in the National League through the first half of the year, leaving the San Francisco Giants center fielder off the roster for what would have been his first career selection.

The Giants will instead be represented by just two players at Tuesday’s All-Star Game in Philadelphia: right-hander Logan Webb, who earned his third consecutive selection after being named the National League’s starting pitcher of the month for June, and second baseman Luis Arraez, who has continued hitting well above .300 while showing defensive improvement at his position. Lee, despite arguably outperforming both teammates by several statistical measures relative to his position, was passed over entirely.

Lee’s absence from the roster comes during a breakout season that many around the Giants organization view as the long-awaited fulfillment of the promise that led San Francisco to sign him out of the KBO, South Korea’s top professional baseball league, to a six-year, $113 million contract two winters ago. Through 80 games this season, Lee has slashed .317/.348/.452 with five home runs and 33 RBI, numbers that place him among an elite group of hitters across all of Major League Baseball. According to figures cited by SI.com’s OnSI network, Lee is one of only a handful of qualifying hitters in the majors with a batting average of .300 or better, ranking third in the National League behind Miami’s Otto Lopez, at .431, and Arraez, at .330, both of whom did make this year’s All-Star team. Lee also ranked sixth in the National League with 96 hits and seventh with 68 singles.

Lee’s early-season form was even more dominant than his current numbers reflect. As of June 9, Lee was hitting .338 and comfortably in the conversation for the NL batting title, according to Just Baseball. His production cooled somewhat over the remainder of June, but his overall body of work remained among the best of any NL outfielder heading into the All-Star break.

SI.com’s Matthew Postins argued directly that Lee deserved a spot on the roster given his production relative to the reserve outfielders who were ultimately selected. “Giants right fielder Jung Hoo Lee has a right to have beef with MLB over not making his first All-Star Game. He has the numbers to be in the mix,” Postins wrote. He noted that the National League’s reserve outfielders, Arizona’s Corbin Carroll, the Chicago Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong, St. Louis’ Jordan Walker and Washington’s James Wood, were all recognizable names, with all but Walker having made previous All-Star appearances. “Lee could make the argument that MLB could have spread the wealth. Maybe next year. But Lee has the right to feel snubbed,” Postins wrote.

Just Baseball similarly identified Lee, along with third baseman Casey Schmitt, as a player who had a legitimate case for All-Star inclusion despite San Francisco’s overall struggles this season. “While he’s slowed down a bit over the last few weeks, Jung Hoo Lee has finally played like the player the Giants were expecting when they signed him to a $113 million deal a few winters ago,” the outlet wrote, noting that Lee was the best player in the KBO at the time of his signing and appears to finally be showcasing that ability in the majors.

Lee’s path to this breakout season has not been smooth. He missed the majority of his first year with the Giants in 2024 due to shoulder surgery and posted only a slightly above-average campaign in his second season last year. This year, at age 27, Lee appears to have finally found consistent footing at the major league level, delivering the kind of all-around offensive production that had made him such a prized international free agent target when he signed with San Francisco.

Ironically, Lee’s strong individual season has come during one of the more difficult team-wide stretches in recent Giants history. San Francisco has been among the worst teams in baseball through the first half of 2026, currently tied for the third-most losses in the sport and sitting roughly 15 games below .500. That poor overall record has fueled speculation about the team’s direction heading toward the trade deadline, with some outlets floating the possibility that the Giants could look to move Lee as part of a broader rebuild, while others have argued the opposite, that Lee should be viewed as a core cornerstone the team builds around rather than trades away.

Giants fans had pushed for Lee’s inclusion during the earlier phases of All-Star voting, with fan blog McCovey Chronicles specifically encouraging supporters to direct votes toward Lee during Phase 1 balloting, citing the tear he had been on at the time. Ultimately, however, that support was not enough to secure him a spot on the final roster, whether through fan voting, the players’ ballot, or the additional selections made by league offices and team representatives to fill out reserve and injury-replacement spots.

With Webb and Arraez set to represent the Giants at Citizens Bank Park on Tuesday, Lee will instead spend the All-Star break away from the festivities, continuing to build on what has already become the best offensive season of his young major league career. Barring a late add due to injury replacements elsewhere on the National League roster, a scenario that remains at least theoretically possible before the game, Lee’s first All-Star selection will have to wait until at least next year, even as his 2026 numbers stand as strong evidence that the recognition may simply be a matter of time.

Homebuyers searching for a bargain have made a Pennsylvania port city one of the hottest housing markets in the country.

Erie, Pennsylvania, is situated on Lake Erie and is the home of Pennsylvania’s only Great Lakes port and the community’s affordability and quality of life have helped vault it up the rankings of Realtor.com’s hottest housing markets.

The June edition of the hottest housing markets report ranked Erie second in the country, trailing only Hartford, Connecticut, which topped the list for the second consecutive month. The report gauges demand based on unique views per property on the Realtor.com platform, along with the pace of the market based on the number of days a listing remains active online.

Erie, Pennsylvania, as seen from Lake Erie. (Marli Miller/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

In June, Erie attracted 3.3 times the national average number of viewers per property, while the average listing was sold in just 29 days – the same as Hartford and six days faster than a year ago. By contrast, the median U.S. home was on the market for 53 days before being sold in June.

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“The hotness in Erie is largely fueled by significant inventory scarcity,” said Realtor.com senior economist Hannah Jones.

“While other markets have seen some progress in inventory availability, Erie continues to see falling levels of for-sale listings. As a result, the market continues to heat up relative to the rest of the country,” she said.

HOUSING AFFORDABILITY TO IMPROVE AS HOME PRICE GROWTH COOLS, REALTOR.COM FORECASTS

The Northeast is the hottest region in the country and dominated the top 20 rankings. (Getty Images)

Erie, which has a population of about 91,000, has a median listing price of $239,000 – a level that’s about $200,000 lower than the national median and is roughly half of Hartford’s.

That made Erie the second most affordable city in the country among the 20 hottest housing markets, behind only Binghamton, New York, which had a median home price of $227,000 last month.

“For buyers looking to be in the Great Lakes region, Erie may be top of the list with appealing quality-of-life amenities and widespread affordability.”

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Erie has a tight inventory of home listings, which has led to one of the lowest times on the market in the country. (Getty Images)

Realtor’s report noted that the Northeast and Midwest continue to dominate the top 20 hottest housing market rankings, with 16 of the high-demand communities being located in the Northeast.

Nationally, median list prices declined 2.5% year over year in June, and pending home sales moved higher for the seventh straight month.

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“That combination of falling prices and rising contract signings signals that sellers are meeting buyers where they are,” Jones said. “Sellers who are pricing realistically are being rewarded with engagement.”

A Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton nicknamed Gus goes up for auction Tuesday at Sotheby’s in New York City, with the auction house estimating the fossil could fetch between $20 million and $30 million, the highest presale estimate ever placed on a dinosaur skeleton, even as paleontologists warn the sale could push one of the most complete T. rex specimens ever found permanently out of scientific reach.

Gus was discovered in 2021 on a 6,500-acre cattle ranch in Harding County, South Dakota, owned by Gary “Gus” Licking, after whom the dinosaur is named. The skeleton measures roughly 38 feet from nose to tail and stands more than 12 feet tall, and is composed of 183 individual bone elements, representing about 61% of the dinosaur’s possible bone count and 75% to 80% of its original bone mass by weight, according to Sotheby’s. The skull alone measures 54 inches and retains roughly 82% of its possible bones. Marks across the skeleton, including healed fractures and what appear to be bite wounds to the skull, suggest Gus survived violent encounters with other predators during its lifetime roughly 67 million years ago, during the late Cretaceous period.

The excavation and preparation of Gus took nearly five years in total. Licking had spent years walking his property and noticing small bone fragments and teeth scattered across the land, eventually growing convinced something significant lay beneath the surface. He was proven right when paleontologists with Theropoda Expeditions, a Texas-based commercial excavation firm, found the fossil on the exact parcel of land Licking had pointed them toward. The team spent three years carefully extracting the skeleton from the ground, followed by another two years cleaning, cataloging and assembling the bones into their current mounted, predatory pose. Licking died roughly a year into the excavation, though his widow, Dana, continued following the project’s progress.

Thomas Heitkamp, president of Theropoda Expeditions, described the painstaking nature of the reconstruction process. “It really does feel like tackling the world’s hardest puzzle, except we have to find all the pieces first,” Heitkamp said. “All those bones separated for 67 million years that we can now, almost magically, fit back together. There’s something deeply satisfying about that.”

Cassandra Hatton, Sotheby’s global head of science and natural history, said the combination of factors that make Gus stand out is difficult to overstate. “The completeness, the quality, the size, and the preservation” set the specimen apart, Hatton told Reuters, emphasizing that finished fossils require significant expertise to properly identify and assemble. “What I think is really important for people to understand, when we talk about dinosaur fossils, is that they don’t come out of the ground complete,” Hatton said. “It takes highly specialized, careful, diligent, skilled people to recognize what they’re looking at, to tell the difference between a piece of rock and a piece of this animal.”

Gus’s opening bid is set at $19 million, according to Sotheby’s online registry. If the fossil sells within its estimated range, it would fall short of the current auction record for a dinosaur fossil, set in 2024 when Apex, a Stegosaurus skeleton, sold for $44.6 million to billionaire investor Ken Griffin, who has since loaned the specimen to the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Notably, Gus’s estimate could prove conservative, given that Apex itself carried a presale estimate of only up to $6 million before ultimately selling for nearly eight times that figure.

The auction continues a lineage of high-profile dinosaur sales dating back nearly three decades. Sotheby’s held the first-ever dinosaur auction in 1997, when Sue, a T. rex discovered in 1990 near the same South Dakota region where Gus was found, sold for $8.4 million to a group of institutions purchasing on behalf of Chicago’s Field Museum, where the specimen remains on display today. Sue, at 90% of its possible bone mass, remains the largest and most complete T. rex skeleton ever discovered, edging out Gus on completeness even as Gus approaches similar scale. Another nearby T. rex, known as Stan, sold at auction in 2020 for $31.8 million, a record at the time for a dinosaur fossil.

Gus’s discovery site sits within the Hell Creek Formation, a geological region spanning parts of South Dakota, Montana, North Dakota and Wyoming that has produced some of the most significant T. rex finds in paleontological history, including one of the first T. rex skeletons ever unearthed in 1902, the fossil discovery that gave the species its name.

The impending sale has reignited longstanding tension within the scientific community over the private auctioning of scientifically significant fossils. Some paleontologists argue that skyrocketing auction prices for specimens like Gus effectively price public museums and academic research institutions out of acquiring fossils that could otherwise contribute meaningfully to scientific study. University of Edinburgh paleontologist Steve Brusatte has noted that with price tags reaching $30 million or more, no public museum or research institution can realistically compete in these auctions. Susannah Maidment, a senior researcher at London’s Natural History Museum, pointed to an even larger concern lurking beneath public auctions. “I’ve heard of private sales of T. rex specimens that have achieved more than $50 million,” Maidment said, adding that such a sum “would absolutely revolutionize the collections, facilities and galleries of any museum or university across the UK.”

Other researchers have pushed back on the notion that commercial excavation is the only path to recovering significant fossils, arguing that public institutions could pursue similar finds if landowners chose to work with museums rather than commercial paleontology firms from the outset. Some in the field have also questioned commercial excavators’ framing of their work as preserving fossils for the public good. Kristi Curry Rogers, a professor of biology and geology at Macalester College, has argued the broader debate is less about legal ownership and more fundamentally about scientific stewardship of specimens that offer unique insight into prehistoric life.

Sotheby’s has pushed back against the notion that private sales necessarily remove fossils from public view, pointing to arrangements such as Ken Griffin’s decision to loan Apex to a major New York museum following his 2024 purchase. Hatton has also described a broadening buyer base for major fossil sales in recent years. “The dinosaur market today is broader than most people realize — and widening,” Hatton said. “Interest now comes not only from U.S.-based museums and private collectors, but also major international museums, foundations, and individuals creating destinations of their own. What unites them isn’t a single profile but a shared respect and curiosity for objects.”

Whether Gus ultimately ends up displayed publicly, tucked away in a private collection, or somewhere in between will not be known until Tuesday’s auction concludes, when bidders at Sotheby’s New York office, and potentially online, determine just how far the market is willing to push the price for one of the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeletons ever pulled from the ground.