Michael Carrick insisted he didn’t care if he was under pressure after overseeing a Man Utd defeat at Old Trafford having led 2-0 – the first time that has happened in 50 years.

Michael Carrick challenged his Manchester United players to show they were tough enough to cope with the scrutiny of playing for the club after they were booed off at Old Trafford following a defeat to Brighton.

United threw away a 2-0 lead at Old Trafford, having seen early goals from Shea Lacey and Mason Mount wiped out by an excellent Brighton side.

The Stretford End booed the players as they walked off at full-time and chanted ‘what the f****** hell was that?’, with this defeat a major blow to Carrick and United’s third in just six games in all competitions this season.

Carrick gave short shrift to a question as to whether he was under pressure after a dreadful start to the season but told the players they had to show they can deal with the criticism and the negativity that is now coming their way.

“We all know it’s there,” he said. “We know it’s there whether it’s good or whether it’s not good. How you deal with that is the important thing.

“Being here toughens you up over a period of time, and it depends how you deal with it. You’ve got to deal with it in a way where you can cope with it and you can bring out the best in yourself, and whatever, however you do that, with your motivation and the confidence deep within yourself to, as a whole group I’m talking about here, that we know we can win football matches and that’s what we are here for is to win.

“It feels pretty quick, as I just said about the couple of little things that go one way and we’ve gone out of the cup tonight, and the feeling around the place feels bigger than that.”

Carrick could do no wrong last season as a run of 12 wins and three draws from 17 games in charge steered United back into the Champions League, but the pressure has mounted rapidly this season.

It might be too early to say the 45-year-old faces a must-win game at Fulham this weekend, but the pressure is certainly mounting, although Carrick claimed he wasn’t feeling it.

“I don’t feel under pressure,” he said. “Either way, that doesn’t bother me one bit. It generally doesn’t bother me one bit. I understand what goes on outside and how the world works, but it doesn’t bother me.”

The head coach backed his players to show the resolve and the stomach for the fight to turn around a hugely disappointing start to the season.

“Of course we can turn it around,” he said. “We’ve got some really good players and it feels bad at the moment because we haven’t had a great week, or two or three weeks.

“But it doesn’t mean you can’t win another game of football quickly. So there’s that side of it, the players have shown before what they’re capable of doing and we have as a group.”

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Parking would be permitted for up to three hours with no return for one hour from 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, in a bay in Church Lane, Dunnington.

A City of York Council report stated the proposals struck the right balance between allowing customers visiting a beauty salon and hairdressers there to park and providing space overnight for residents.

It added the latest proposals followed objections after 24-hour restrictions were floated.

The proposals are set to go before a council transport meeting for a decision on Tuesday, September 22.

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It follows a consultation carried out on earlier plans for two-hour parking with no return within one hour restrictions in Church Street all day, every day.

The proposals were drawn up in an attempt to free up spaces which were being used by commercial vehicles that were blocking residents and visitors to the Church Street businesses.

Dunnington Parish Council called for lesser restrictions to be implemented to better manage the demand for the spaces.

A Church Street resident also objected, saying they had no off-street parking and feared the restrictions could see them lose a space especially during busy times.

The council’s report stated: “This should strike a balance between available parking for visitors to the local businesses were appointments for treatments can take longer than the two hours originally advertised, while also providing overnight parking for local residents.”

Little Noah Woods vanished from a playground on Tuesday afternoon

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A body has tragically been recovered from a pond amid a desperate search to find a three-year-old boy.

Noah Woods vanished just before 3pm on Tuesday (September 15) after playing at a playground in Brantham, Suffolk.

In a sad update today, police said a body was located in Decoy Pond, where the authorities have been searching.

Superintendent Tom Pearse said: “Formal identification has yet to take place, but the family of Noah Woods have been informed of this development.

“The discovery of the body is currently being treated as not suspicious but unexplained.”

The update comes as hundreds of people joined the search to find the young boy after he became separated from a relative. Volunteers in hi-vis jackets were seen combing through the streets and local areas, including the pond.

The search involved police, fire, coastguard and search and rescue teams as well as a helicopter and sniffer dogs.

Noah’s father previously appealed for help on social media for more volunteers, writing: “I cannot go another night knowing he’s out there alone, please don’t give up on him guys. He is out there somewhere and I appreciate every single one of you.”

Big Brother viewers have rallied behind the reality star after she was labelled ‘disrespectful’

Big Brother fans have rushed to defend a controversial contestant amid online backlash.

American housemate Johanne, 44, was labelled ‘disrespectful’ after she walked into the storage room while Omar was praying towards the end of Wednesday night’s episode of the ITV series. She began searching for a drink, apparently unaware of what he was doing.

Once Johanne realised, she apologised and left the room. She later apologised to Omar again, explaining that she had no idea he was praying. While some viewers criticised the interruption, others argued it was a genuine mistake and questioned whether Omar had been given enough privacy in the shared house.

“Omar should have let them know he was going in to pray you could tell she genuinely didn’t know #bbuk,” one viewer wrote on X, formerly Twitter. Another suggested: “I do think Omar should probably have a more private place to pray though how are all housemates going to know #bbuk.”

The encounter nevertheless left some fans cringing. As OK! reports, one posted: “I’ve never gotten worse second hand embarrassment in my life #bbuk.” A second wrote: “Stop that was so awkward poor Omar #BBUK.”

Others took a harsher view of Johanne’s behaviour. One wrote: “Wow Joanne is so disrespectful my lord. #bbuk.” Another added: “Joanne interrupting Omar praying? ! Holy s*** that’s incredibly disrespectful #BBUK.”

The debate came just four days after the new contestants moved into the house, with tensions already emerging. Tonight’s episode also saw Charlotte, who is an amputee, and Rochelle at the centre of the drama after Rochelle revealed she had long had a phobia of people with limb differences.

Meanwhile, Millie, Pauline and Rochelle were confirmed as the housemates facing the series’ first eviction.

The trio had been offered a lifeline if they could identify Big Brother’s moles, Tays and Philip. All three failed to expose the undercover housemates, leaving them facing the public vote.

Voting is now open for Friday’s (September 18) eviction, with viewers asked to choose the housemate they want to leave.

The evicted contestant will then join presenters AJ Odudu and Will Best for a live interview.

Big Brother is available to stream on ITVX

Speaking during a cabinet meeting on Wednesday (September 16), Councillor Darren Grimes said residents expected the council to spend money wisely while protecting frontline services.

He told councillors at the Salvus House meeting: “We’ll keep a laser-like focus on reviewing contracts where we can, stripping out any waste and avoidable costs and ensuring we don’t waste money on expensive gimmicks.”

Cllr Grimes said many of the rising costs facing the council were beyond its control.

“The biggest cost drivers that we face as a council aren’t optional extras, they’re not add-ons, they’re unavoidable cost pressures linked to national decisions that we must locally fund,” he said.

(Image: Stuart Boulton)

The council is warning that it will need to find tens of millions of pounds over the next few years to balance its books as demand for services continues to rise.

Much of the pressure is coming from areas such as children’s social care, home-to-school transport and staff pay.

If no action is taken, council forecasts show a funding gap of £23.3 million next year, rising to £83.7m over four years.

To help deal with the shortfall, officers have drawn up a list of possible savings.

These include changing the way some services are delivered, making greater use of technology and artificial intelligence, cutting back office costs, securing better-value contracts and finding efficiencies across council departments.

Some of the biggest savings are expected to come from long-term transformation projects designed to make services cheaper to run.

However, Cllr Grimes said those plans would take time to deliver.

“Transformation is no silver bullet and requires a total rewiring of our services, doing things very differently and leaning into a digital solution and artificial intelligence,” he said.

The report also highlights the impact of staff pay awards, with the council estimating that a 3.5 per cent pay rise next year would add around £10.8m to its costs.

Cllr Grimes called for more funding from central government, arguing councils were being left to cope with rising demand for services without receiving enough financial support.

He said the authority would not “shirk away” from the difficult decisions needed to set a balanced budget, which will be laid out in February next year.

Ashraful Islam will have to complete unpaid work and pay a fine, but will not go to prison for his crimes

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A student caught with hundreds of images of child abuse, including hundreds of images categorised as the most serious, has avoided jail.

Ashraful Islam, 21, of Chippenham, Gloucestershire, admitted taking indecent images of children and voyeurism when he appeared in court on Friday, September 10.

He was given a 26-month custodial sentence suspended for three years, and a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) was imposed for a period of 10 years, reports GloucestershireLive.

Islam was arrested in connection with an unrelated matter in March 2026.

His phone was seized, and as part of this, a significant number of child abuse images were located, including nearly 350 images classed as category A – depicting the most serious form of child abuse.

As well as this, images showing ‘upskirting’ of schoolgirls were also found on Islam’s phone.

In police footage of Islam’s arrest, when asked by a police officer if he needed to take anything to the police station, Islam replied, “I really need to put my uni work in, otherwise I fail.”

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Det Con Will Saunders of Wiltshire Police said: “Islam was found in possession of hundreds of images of child abuse. Each of these images represents a real victim who has suffered serious, life changing abuse and those who view, possess, or share such material are contributing to that harm.

“I’d like to thank the officers who worked on this case particularly the digital forensics unit whose hard work allowed us to uncover a true picture of his offending.”

As well as the custodial sentence and SHPO that has been granted, Islam must also pay a £228 surcharge and complete 200 hours of unpaid work.

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Michael Carrick has replaced the man responsible for the Grimsby loss, but while he has reversed the mood around the club, he has not been able to deliver Carabao Cup success. After a summer of significant investment, he may soon face some awkward questions regarding his suitability for this job.

The dormant conflict in Yemen has erupted once more, with the Houthi rebel group seizing control of the Red Sea port city of Mocha and a number of islands from Yemeni government forces in recent weeks. This has given the Houthis a foothold close to the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a key trade gateway linking Asia and Europe.

The advance of the Houthis has alarmed Yemen’s northern neighbour, Saudi Arabia, for three main reasons. First, the Houthis’ drive down the coast constitutes a military setback for the Saudis and the pro-government forces they have long supported militarily and financially in Yemen.

Second, the Saudis have become more reliant than ever on access to Bab al-Mandab to export their oil since the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz following the outbreak of war between the US, Israel and Iran in February 2026. Control of Yemen’s western coast would allow the Houthis to further restrict Saudi Arabia’s energy exports.

And third, the Houthis are closely allied with Iran. This means Tehran now has the possible means to control two of the most important maritime chokepoints for the transit of global oil supplies. The Bab al-Mandab Strait was carrying roughly 7% of global oil supplies by June.

How did we get here?

The renewed hostilities bring to an end a ceasefire in the Yemeni conflict that had been in place since 2022. The Houthis, in origin a movement that emerged in the 1990s to protect the interests of Yemen’s substantial Zaydi Shia Muslim population, had previously engaged in armed conflict with the longtime Yemeni president, Ali Abdullah Saleh.

In the aftermath of Saleh’s forced resignation in 2012, which followed popular mobilisation against his autocratic rule, the country entered a period of instability. During this period, the Houthis moved from their stronghold in the north of the country to take control of the capital, Sana’a, in 2014.

Unwilling to see its southern neighbour come under the control of forces allied to Iran, Saudi Arabia launched an all-out war in March 2015. The objective was to restore the internationally recognised government of Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, Saleh’s one-time deputy who had succeeded him in office, to power.

The fighting persisted for several years, but an effective stalemate was reached early on. While attempts to negotiate a lasting agreement to end the war failed, all sides agreed on a ceasefire in April 2022. The ceasefire lapsed in October of that year but both sides largely refrained from major escalatory actions and the level of conflict remained low.

Hopes for a more substantial deal between the warring parties were briefly raised in March 2023. That month saw China broker a rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia, restoring diplomatic relations between the two countries after their 2016 suspension.

But in a clear assertion of its independence from Iran, Houthi leadership expressly rejected the notion that normalisation of relations between the two regional powers should lead to a deal between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia.

The prospects of a long-term deal to end the conflict were dealt a further blow by the Houthi response to Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip, which followed the deadly Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on in October 2023.

Shortly after that war began, Houthi fighters fired several missiles and drones at an Israeli ship in the Red Sea. The US Navy also shot down Houthi-launched missiles and drones heading towards Israeli territory, in what was the first US action in defence of Israel since the start of the conflict in Gaza.

There was further escalation in January 2024, when the Houthis staged a large-scale attack on several US Navy vessels in the Red Sea. This was followed by US and UK airstrikes against Houthi targets. In May 2025, the US and the Houthis agreed a ceasefire which was mediated by Oman.

The relative peace that followed came undone in July 2026. On July 13, the Saudis attacked Sana’a International Airport in order to prevent a plane carrying the Houthi delegation to the funeral of Iran’s slain supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, from landing. The Yemeni government and Saudi Arabia claimed the flight represented a violation of Yemen’s sovereignty.

The Houthis launched missile attacks on airports in the south of Saudi Arabia in response, while also declaring the imposition of a strict maritime embargo against Saudi vessels. On Telegram, Houthi official Yahya Saree announced an end to what he called the “de-escalation phase” of the conflict.

The recent rapid advance of the Houthis along Yemen’s western coast has focused attention on the group’s potential to disrupt global oil supplies even further. However, the offensive also has major implications for Yemen itself.

It constitutes a major setback for the Saudi-backed forces in Yemen, which are far more diverse than is commonly assumed. These forces include those under the control of Tareq Saleh, nephew of the fallen autocrat, as well as southern groups with aspirations for autonomy and other tribal and local forces.

The advance also represents a challenge for the Houthis themselves. They now control a swathe of new territory, and with it a larger population. There are questions regarding the capacity of the Houthis to withstand the inevitable attempts to dislodge it from its new position.

Earlier in the conflict, in 2015, the Houthis won control of areas in the south such as Aden, Abyan and Lahj. But they were soon pushed back by government forces and resistance fighters, and forced to relinquish their control of these areas.

Recent reports suggest that the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has requested that the US launch airstrikes against the Houthis. The invitation was apparently declined, but is unlikely to be the final word in the seemingly endless conflict between Riyadh and its antagonists in its southern neighbour.

By OLIVIA CHRISTIE, NEWS REPORTER

Published: 21:51 BST, 16 September 2026 | Updated: 22:42 BST, 16 September 2026