Here are the latest rugby headlines on Monday, June 15.

Welsh star leaves Top 14 side

Welsh No 8 Carwyn Tuipulotu is searching for a new club after leaving Top 14 outfit Pau.

The 24-year-old is a former Wales age-grade international who at one stage was touted in Welsh rugby circles as the long-term successor to Taulupe Faletau.

Tuipulotu spent eight years at the Scarlets, making 48 appearances while also spending a short time on loan at Saracens before signing for Pau in February 2025.

He has played well for Pau but has been unable to nail down a regular starting spot this season due to the strength in depth in the squad.

Tuipulotu’s contract has not been extended and he has previously been linked with a move to PRO D2 outfit Biarritz Olympique.

Announcing his exit, he said: “Thank you to my teammates, staff, supporters and everyone involved with this special club. I leave with memories for life and brothers for life. The next chapter is still unknown, but I’m hopeful for what’s ahead.”

He is the son of former Ebbw Vale and Tonga No 8 Kati Tuipulotu and the cousin of Bath hooker Kepu and Wales Women prop Sisilia.

Itoje left out of England squad

By Duncan Bech, Press Association Rugby Union Correspondent

Maro Itoje is missing once again as England named an enlarged squad to resume preparations for a summer schedule that begins with a non-cap international against France on Friday.

Itoje could be rested for all or part of the July tour and the prospect of the England captain being stood down for the Tests against South Africa, Fiji and Argentina moved a step closer following his omission from the 33-man group named by Steve Borthwick.

Players from losing Gallagher Prem semi-finalists Bath and Leicester have become available following the weekend’s action, resulting in the addition to the squad of Itoje’s fellow second rows Ollie Chessum, George Martin and Charlie Ewels.

It gives Borthwick options in the position, providing the scope to rest Itoje if it is felt he would benefit from having the summer off. Only Northampton’s Alex Coles of England’s front line locks remains in Prem action.

Bath flanker Sam Underhill has been omitted amid the possibility he might need an operation for an undisclosed injury.

Underhill’s club colleagues Ben Spencer and Ollie Lawrence are also absent, but Max Ojomoh is recalled in the hope of playing a role against France in Vannes.

Named among a trio of players who were rehabilitating injuries at England’s training base last week, star wing Immanuel Feyi-Waboso is now back at Exeter.

Feyi-Waboso underwent surgery for a facial injury sustained against Leicester on May 31 and was expected to be unavailable until the Nations Championship opener against South Africa on July 4 at the earliest, but his return to Sandy Park raises the prospect of an early comeback in Saturday’s Prem final.

One player hoping to compete with Feyi-Waboso as a wing option is Noah Caluori, who could make his England debut at the Stade de la Rabine.

Teenage try machine Caluori was last week named the Prem’s breakthrough player of the season and ends the 2025-26 regular campaign as the competition’s leading try scorer with 18.

Assisting in his pursuit of becoming an international is Itoje, his Saracens team-mate and captain who has been providing advice.

Caluori said: “In my first England camp last year, in the first high intensity training session, Maro said ‘a lot of players come into this camp and don’t make the most of it’. They just let it go by, just cruise through so they don’t make any mistakes.

“He said ‘don’t be one of those players. I know you are not one of them’. I just went out and did me, really.

“He’s amazing. A man full of knowledge, a man full of experience, and it is incredible to be captained by him.

“I’m hoping to get the opportunity to get my first cap. When I am on, I just want to be able to perform and make the most of that opportunity.”

England squad (33) – Forwards: J Blamire (Leicester Tigers), O Chessum (Leicester Tigers), T Curry (Sale Sharks), T Dan (Saracens), A Dombrandt (Harlequins), B Earl (Saracens), C Ewels (Bath Rugby), J George (Saracens), J Heyes (Leicester Tigers), T Hill (Bath Rugby), N Isiekwe (Saracens), J Kenningham (Harlequins), G Kloska (Bristol Bears), G Martin (Leicester Tigers), B Obano (Bath Rugby), A Opoku-Fordjour (Sale Sharks), V Sela (Bath Rugby), H Tizard (Saracens), A van der Flier (Leicester Tigers).

Backs: C Atkinson (Gloucester Rugby), S Atkinson (Gloucester Rugby), N Caluori (Saracens), G Ford (Sale Sharks), B Janse van Rensburg (Bristol Bears), C Murley (Harlequins), M Ojomoh (Bath Rugby), R Quirke (Sale Sharks), A Radwan (Leicester Tigers), H Randall (Bristol Bears), T Roebuck (Sale Sharks), M Smith (Harlequins), F Steward (Leicester Tigers), J van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers).

Wales Women name raft of new faces

Sean Lynn has named a 33-player squad for Wales Women’s clash in a double-header with the Barbarians Women at Allianz Stadium, on Saturday, June 27th (KO: 5pm).

Wales men’s senior side face the BaaBaas ahead of the women’s game in a unique double-header which sees both Wales senior side’s play in London.

A new-look Wales squad sees a host of new faces for the uncapped international against a Barbarians squad packed with experienced internationals from across the globe.

The Wales squad includes 14 players who look set to wear the senior Wales jersey for the first time and 24 players who have played Celtic Challenge rugby for Brython Thunder or Gwalia Lightning.

The likes of teenage scrum half Lily Hawkins, who scored on her Lightning debut in the Celtic Challenge, centre Hanna Tudor, who was in the GB Sevens squad, and prop Crystal James will train with the Wales senior squad for the first time.

A host of Wales senior internationals played for Gloucester-Hartpury, Saracens and Ealing Trailfinders in the PWR semi-finals on Sunday.

The Welsh internationals in the Gloucester-Hartpury squad who played in the PWR semi-finals on Sunday will meet up with the squad and be assessed on Thursday.

Wales head coach Lynn said: “This is a great opportunity for the players, coaches and staff, and no other nation has the chance to play again straight after the recent Six Nations campaign.

“It’s a real opportunity to continue to build our playing philosophy and to have a look at the exciting young talent now coming through our pathway and through the Celtic Challenge teams, Wales U21s and Wales U18s.

“All the players have been told there is a real opportunity to play against an experienced Barbarians side and not to assume that they will or will not play.

“The door is open for selection, and this is a good opportunity for our younger players to taste what is expected at international level.

“We will be without a number of players due to the PWR semis and final, but this is real opportunity to see what players we have and to build our strength-in-depth.”Wales Squad v Barbarians.Backs: Keira Bevan, Seren Lockwood, Lily Hawkins, Kayleigh Powell, Hanna Marshall, Courtney Keight, Freya Bell, Kelsie Webster, Jenna De Vera, Hanna Tudor, Nikita Prothero, Jasmine Joyce, Amy Williams

Forwards: Gwenllian Pyrs, Maisie Davies, Kath Baverstock, Crystal James, Shanelle Williams, Molly Reardon, Molly Wakely, Kendall Waudby, Elan Jones, Stella Orrin, Jenni Scoble, Tilly Vucaj, Natalia John, Branwen Metcalfe, Chiara Pearce, Alex Callender, Bryonie King, Lucy Isaac, Alisha Joyce, Anwen Owen

Plans to construct shops, pharmacies, and restaurants at Filey Road in Scarborough have been met with dozens of objections and concerns from a residents’ association that the development would impact their calm way of life.

The scheme would see the extension of Scarborough’s current park and ride facility, the creation of two new roundabouts, and the construction of an internal access road.

No date has been set yet for the council to decide on the plans, submitted by Cliff Court Developments Ltd, which include a supermarket, cafes, petrol station, and a tanning salon.

Wheatcroft residents have been “deeply worried” about the planned commercial and retail proposals for the site for almost a year, and many have suffered a great deal of stress and anxiety as a result, according to Chris Baxter, chair of the Wheatcroft Residents Association.

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “The development may introduce a significant and continuous source of commercial and industrial noise in an area that is currently relatively quiet, particularly at night and early morning.

“The unique topography of this land provides a natural ‘amphitheatre’ which amplifies noises from the Middle Deepdale development, which can be continuously heard during the day.”

More than 100 residents attended an emergency meeting earlier this spring, where 80 per cent of households said they were against the scheme, Mr Baxter added.

Concerns have been raised about the urbanising effect of the plan on a “semi-rural edge landscape”, the impact of 24/7 commercial activity in a “currently quiet semi-rural residential setting”, traffic levels, and noise and disturbance from construction.

Members of Scarborough Town Council, as well as residents, have warned of the consequences of a new retail park on town centre businesses.

At a meeting earlier this year, Scarborough town councillor William Stuart said out-of-town developments could create “damaging effects on the footfall and viability of our town centre”.

Cllr Stuart said: “This site, initially suggested for a hotel and drive-through food development, has now evolved into an alternative town centre. What worries me further is the developer’s vagueness about the project’s true scope.”

He added: “As it stands, the proposal could pave the way for a full out-of-town retail park, with little regard for the long-term impact on our town centre.”

New Scarborough Retail Park Location Plan. Lichfields

However, the developer’s plans state that the site’s location, next to the existing park and ride facility, presents “a unique opportunity to deliver a mixed-use commercial and retail development, intrinsically linked to sustainable travel patterns”.

So far, more than 70 comments have been submitted to the council, a majority of which are objections to the plan.

Mr Baxter said that many Wheatcroft residents were elderly and “not used to responding to public bodies using IT and have therefore felt overwhelmed and unable to respond and make comments/objections to the planning application within the limited timescales”.

Commenting on the well-attended meeting held in April, he said: “When I arrived to chair the meeting, I was staggered to see the number of residents in attendance at short notice.

“The church hall was filled beyond capacity with many residents having to stand. The WCA represents around 500 households within the area that are directly impacted by this major planned hybrid mixed-use commercial and retail development, and around 20 per cent attended our meeting.”

Commenting on concerns about pedestrian safety and connectivity, Mr Baxter said: “The proposed pedestrian network may not provide a safe, direct, or attractive alternative to car use, particularly given the scale of traffic within and around the development.”

Submitted plans note that there is currently limited pedestrian access to the park and ride site and, to facilitate pedestrian and cyclist movements to the site, a pedestrian route will be created from the existing public rights of way which run along the north eastern boundary of the site.

“It is proposed as part of the development to improve these links to provide a high
quality route as part of the development proposals to facilitate access to the
commercial and retail development,” the scheme adds.

The development would include a range of potential businesses, with “strong interest” already shown by potential occupiers, according to Lichfields, the agent for the application.

North Yorkshire Council has not set a date for deciding on the application which is open to representations.

Loose Women is being pulled from ITV for the rest of the week

Loose Women star Ruth Langsford is replacing Lorraine Kelly amid more major changes set to affect the ITV daytime schedule.

2026 has seen Loose Women undergoing a series of changes as a result of cost-saving measures by the broadcaster. The series’ live crowd and announcer have both been missing since January.

Additionally, Loose Women moved to The H Club Studio in London’s Covent Garden, where This Morning and Lorraine are also filmed to save costs. With all the daytime line-up all being produced under one roof, the studio boasts a 360 degree set with LED walls which ensures a quick turn around between shows.

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Both Loose Women and Loraine are now only running for 30 weeks a year, dramatically reduced from airing every week. Fans have already experienced the first block of weeks where neither was on air.

Speaking about the changes last year, ITV boss Kevin Lygo explained: “Daytime is a really important part of what we do, and these scheduling and production changes will enable us to continue to deliver a schedule providing viewers with the news, debate and discussion they love from the presenters they know and trust as well as generating savings which will allow us to reinvest across the programme budget in other genres.

“These changes also allow us to consolidate our news operations and expand our national, international and regional news output and to build upon our proud history of trusted journalism at a time when our viewers need accurate, unbiased news coverage more than ever.”

He added: “I recognise that our plans will have an impact on staff off screen in our Daytime production teams, and we will work with ITV Studios and ITN as they manage these changes to produce the shows differently from next year, and support them through this transition.

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“Daytime has been a core element of ITV’s schedule for over 40 years and these changes will set ITV up to continue to bring viewers award-winning news, views and discussion as we enter our eighth decade.”

On Monday (June 15), Ruth returned to Loose Women alongside Emmerdale actress Lisa Riley, Coronation Street legend Sue Cleaver and Brenda Edwards. At the end of the episode, Ruth confirmed it was their final episode of the week.

Loose Women will not air for the rest of this week due to ITV’s coverage of Royal Ascot. The annual event kicks off on Tuesday (June 16), and runs until Saturday (June 20).

Despite the racing action not beginning until 1.30pm on ITV1 and ITVX, after Loose Women airs, the ITV lunchtime news will air at the earlier time of 1pm. As a result of this, the panel show is taking four days off.

However, viewers will still get to see Ruth in action on Friday (June 19). The former wife of Eamonn Holmes confirmed that she will stepping in for Lorraine Kelly on her self-titled talk show.

“That’s it for today and this week actually, because Loose Women’s off because of Ascot. We’ll be back in a week’s time. I’m going to be back, actually, on Friday.

“I’m covering Lorraine on Friday. Loose Women [will be] back on Monday at the usual time of 12.30pm. Until then, have a great afternoon. Thanks for your company, goodbye,” she said.

Lorraine won’t be fronting her programme, which now only runs for 30 minutes, due to her traveling to America for Scotland’s World Cup match against Morocco. The Scottish native is one of her nation’s most famous fans.

Football fans were left shocked in the early hours of Sunday morning (June 14) when Lorraine made a cameo during the BBC’s coverage of Scotland’s clash with Haiti. Lorraine, Susan Boyle and Gordon Ramsey all sent in messages of support for the boys in blue prior to their historic 1-0 win.

Born in Bradford and shaped by northern art-school discipline, David Hockney brought a working-class, almost punk refusal to British art: do the work, trust the eye, do not ask for approval. Hockney made success look effortless: all colour, good humour, great glasses, cigarettes and smoky charm. But for a young gay artist from a northern mill town, nothing about that journey was effortless.

Hockney knew what it was to be judged before he was properly seen. In Britain, class prejudice travels through accent. His Bradford voice carried history, poetry and bite, but at the Royal College of Art in London it was mocked. Looking at the drawings of his fellow students who laughed, he simply outdrew them.

Bradford educated Hockney. The north was not a cultural desert waiting to be rescued by London, but a place of serious art schools, teachers, makers and visual traditions. What it lacked was not talent or discipline, but the automatic authority granted to those formed by privilege.

Hockney refused the lot assigned to him. He opened gates for those who followed, showing that art college, success and cultural authority were not reserved for those born inside old networks of taste and confidence. His answer to class prejudice, regional snobbery, homophobia and aesthetic gatekeeping was not to become deferential. He clocked into a lifelong art-making shift, working harder, looking harder and making more until the cultural gatekeepers had no choice but to rearrange around him.

He made works of pleasure, colour, friendship and innovation. He portrayed gay life, not through struggle – but through domesticity, tenderness and desire, a brave and piercingly clever approach before the partial decriminalisation of sex between men in England and Wales in 1967.

Like Boy George in pop, Hockney made difference visible through colour, humour and style, in a form large audiences could enjoy before they necessarily understood its politics. Against the grey weight of inherited prejudice, he offered something bright, accessible and quietly radical. By showing ordinary happiness, he helped make the prejudice against it look ridiculous, making acceptance feel overdue.

Hockney’s late career also challenged ageism and disablism. Using a wheelchair in later life, he refused the assumption that older or disabled bodies mean diminished cultural agency. Like the infirm Henri Matisse making cut-outs in his last decade, Hockney made old age active, inventive and publicly consequential.

The art of seeing

Beyond swimming pools and California light, Hockney insisted that art is an experiment in seeing. He never treated looking as passive. He embraced Polaroid, photo-collage, iPad, projection and immersive display. He lived in the now by continually adopting whatever helped him see.

His work with physicist Charles Falco on the historical use of lenses, mirrors and optical devices in painting was not a sideline, but part of a lifelong enquiry into the technologies of vision.

In Pearblossom Hwy (1986), Hockney used hundreds of photographic prints to fracture space and test perception, while refusing to accept the camera as the final authority. A mountain could be made from all the photographs that have failed to capture the majesty of a bush, an oak tree, a rolling hill or a mountain itself. For Hockney, seeing was not the same as recording: the camera could seize an instant, but landscape required time, attention, weather and the bodily experience of being there.

His later work made that fight to catch time explicit. Again and again, Hockney asked how a flat image could hold colour, light and the passing seasons. This reached monumental form in A Year in Normandie (2020), a printed iPad frieze more than 90 metres long.

Here, time is made spatial. We walk its length, moving through winter, spring, summer and autumn as if moving through life itself. The work captures time, but also lets it slip away, teaching human frailty and humility through the simplest things: a road, a tree, a field, a burst of hawthorn blossom.

Seen alongside another northern artist, LS Lowry, Hockney’s landscapes gain further force. Lowry’s industrial worlds, social, bodily, smoky and crowded, are now – in much of the UK – pictorial memory. Hockney’s roads, trees, fields and blossoms may one day carry a similar charge. They record not only place, but a fragile idea of land, season and belonging.

In an environmental age, looking carefully at blossom by the roadside, at trees, seasons and shifting light, is not an escape from politics. It is a radical act and a condition of care. In a country where 44% of adults now spend three hours or less outdoors each week, Hockney’s insistence on slow looking feels less like nostalgia than a warning.

Hockney did not try to escape the north or his background – instead he made the north impossible to ignore. Using the digital tools of now, he asked us to look slowly at local spaces in the round. His legacy is not only that he entered the art canon. It is that he made the canon warmer: more northern, more queer, more popular, more colourful, more technologically curious and more open to joy and pleasure.

Hockney made humour, friendship and pleasure into serious forms of exchange. At a time when some voices profit from division, and when environmental crisis and war press heavily on daily life, Hockney’s sign-off message, “love life”, feels more striking than ever.

Varley of was found guilty of murder, two counts of assault by penetration, five counts of cruelty to a child, grievous bodily harm, sexual assault of a child, 13 counts of taking indecent photos or videos of a child, one of distributing an indecent photo of a child, to his co-accused, and one of making an indecent photo.

The coach is the same. The system is the same. The core is the same.

That is nothing against Rod Brind’Amour, considered one of the best behind the bench in the NHL, or Jordan Staal, Jaccob Slavin, Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis, who have been the centerpiece of the Carolina Hurricanes making the playoffs year after year.

But the difference this year came from all the new talent general manager Eric Tulsky added over the past 17 months to get over the hump. It added up to the franchise winning the Stanley Cup for the second time and first since 2006.

Tulsky took a big swing by acquiring elite winger Mikko Rantanen from Colorado in January 2025 and also got veteran Taylor Hall from Chicago as part of the three-team blockbuster. When Rantanen didn’t want to be part of Carolina’s long-term future, Tulsky traded him to Dallas and received center Logan Stankoven and two first-round picks, one of which became part of getting defenseman K’Andre Miller on July 1.

Two days later, the Hurricanes won the bidding competition to sign top free agent Nikolaj Ehlers, the speedy winger who gave them just what they needed after seven consecutive postseason appearances without a trip to the final. Falling one goal short so many times in key situations, Ehlers, Stankoven, Hall and Miller put an end to the rite of spring of wondering where that would come from.

All of them fit in with Brind’Amour, who requires his players to commit to a demanding brand of hockey that isn’t for everyone.

“We’ve really focused on finding people who fit the way we want to play,” Tulsky said. “We ask players to play a very distinctive style, and our scouts have done a great job finding players who can come in and look their best playing the way Rod needs them to play.”

The Hurricanes’ run started with a miss

Trading for Rantanen was a huge risk. It involved sending talented forwards Martin Necas and Jack Drury to the Avalanche in a gamble that the big Finnish winger was the missing piece.

Rantanen had six points in 13 games with Carolina, and it became clear it was not a good fit. Discussions with Toronto involving Mitch Marner did not lead to him waiving his no-trade clause, and he instead wound up in Las Vegas and was key to the Golden Knights’ run to the final.

Rather than letting the situation play out with the likelihood he would depart in free agency, Tulsky flipped Rantanen to Dallas for Stankoven and a pair of first-round picks. One went to the New York Rangers for Miller, whose presence shored up depth on the blue line.

“We never want to get worried about the what ifs,” Tulsky said. “That being said, sometimes it doesn’t go the way you hoped, and you’ve got to be ready to figure out how you’re going to move forward from there.”

Stankoven led the team with 11 goals during this dominant run of 16 victories in 19 games.

Hurricanes make all the right moves after

It was the same old story every time. The Hurricanes weren’t just a great regular-season team that failed in the playoffs. They won at least one series in six of Brind’Amour’s first seven years as coach, including three trips to the East final.

Tulsky, a former scientist who got into the sport by blogging about it as a fan and was promoted to succeed Don Waddell two years ago, didn’t blow it up. But he didn’t stand pat, either.

The changes — including claiming goaltender Brandon Bussi off waivers from back-to-back champion Florida just before opening night in October — worked out swimmingly. Playing in the NHL for the first time at 27, Bussi won 31 of 39 starts during the season, then stepped in during the final in place of Frederik Andersen and backstopped them the rest of the way, including a shutout in the Game 6 clincher Sunday night.

“We have the confidence in Bus,” Brind’Amour said. “He makes a ton of big saves. Even when there’s breakdowns, we trust him back there, gives us tons of confidence to play our game and just be aggressive all night.”

Aggressive is the Golden Knights’ way, going after every big-name free agent or trade candidate, and it led to the Stanley Cup in 2023 and three runs to the final in their first nine years of existence. But Carolina has also become that team.

“Fundamentally, we want to be aggressive,” Tulsky said. “Rod has the team playing very aggressive on the ice. We want to be aggressive off the ice, too. And when you have a chance to add a really high-end player, we never want to miss out on it.”

Carolina did not miss on Ehlers, who turned out to be key and scored the empty-netter that sealed the title. Getting him, Stankoven, Hall, Miller and others also made longtime holdovers like Staal and grinding forward Jordan Martinook believe they could get the job done.

“When your team is trying to get better all the time, it’s something that you can get behind,” Martinook said. “Obviously, we took a run of Mikko, it didn’t work out, but look what we got from it. Stanks and Key, those are two of the pieces that we got from it. Hallsy was part of that, too. Those are three incredibly important pieces to our team. It just shows that they’re ready to take chances all the time.”

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AP Sports Writer Aaron Beard in Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed to this report.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Wolverhampton Wanderers have appointed Cesar Peixoto as their new head coach on a two-year deal.

The 46-year-old arrives from Portuguese top-flight club Gil Vicente and replaces Rob Edwards who was sacked last week.

Peixoto takes charge of a Wolves side who will play in the Championship for the first time since 2018 after they finished bottom of the Premier League last season.

It will be Peixoto’s first job outside of Portugal having led Gil Vicente to a sixth-placed finish in the Primeira Liga in 2025-26.

His last job was the first time in his seven years as a manager that he completed an entire season in charge at one club.

“Throughout our discussions with him, it became clear very quickly that he possesses many of the qualities we believe are important for the future of this football club,” Wolves executive chairman Nathan Shi said.

“We wanted clear identity, strong leadership qualities and a real hunger to succeed. Cesar demonstrated all of those characteristics, but what impressed me most was his mentality, his work ethic and his willingness to embrace the challenge in front of him.

“He is young, energetic and ambitious, but he is also thoughtful, accountable and willing to challenge himself and those around him in pursuit of improvement.

“We believe he will be an excellent fit for the culture and vision we are building at Wolves.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump emerged from the Oval Office first, then fighters from around the globe followed straight into the fight cage, in part for the president’s 80th birthday celebration and to bring a sport long on the fringe of mainstream acceptance into a main event on the White House South Lawn.

For a president who revels in winners, Trump had to enjoy crowning two champions on a big fight night staged closer to the Rose Garden than Madison Square Garden in the co-main event of UFC Freedom 250.

American lightweight Justin Gaethje capped his unification championship victory in the main event over Ilia Topuria with a backflip off the top of the cage. He crouched near Trump for a celebratory chat and the betting underdog draped the American flag over one shoulder — and the 155-pound title belt over another. Trump later stepped into the cage to congratulate Gaethje.

“Hey, I’m from America, 250 years ago we were way more than 6-1 underdogs,” Gaethje said. “I know that was absolutely legendary because I cannot even believe it.”

Topuria and Gaethje made their walkouts from the Oval Office as fireworks exploded overhead during Bruce Buffer’s introductions. Gaethje — who appeared to skim the copy of the Declaration of Independence on his way out — mustered some scattered “USA!” chants against the Spanish-Georgian Topuria, though not even the main event could stop the trend of mostly quiet fights.

It took the gory sight of a bloodied Topuria — his back to Trump in a white “USA” hat as he peered through the wire-mesh cage — nearly having the fight waved off to get a “let them fight!” chant going. The fight continued, and the 37-year-old Gaethje won eventually via corner stoppage in the fourth round.

The White House was a most improbable all-American setting for a fight promotion that long ago shed the “human cockfighting” tag and decades later became entwined with the emboldened right-wing “ manosphere ” that soaks up UFC fights and threw its support behind Trump in two elections.

Trump and UFC boss Dana White, the tempestuous tag-team that rallied the fight company to the nation’s capital, walked from the Oval Office to the Blue Room Balcony to chants of “USA! USA!” to kick off the fight card jacked up by a dose of high-octane patriotism on a blustery night for cage fighting.

This was no Easter egg roll.

UFC ramped up the patriotism for White House debut

The Marine Band jazzed up the festivities and played fighter entrance music in front of the White House and Zac Brown sang the national anthem — never performed before normal UFC fight cards because of the mix of nationalities fighting inside the Octagon. The Navy’s Blue Angels and Air Force Thunderbirds zipped overhead as part of a flyover to celebrate Trump’s birthday and the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence’s signing.

The 4,000-plus fans — Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison among them — on the South Lawn who sat under the claw, the flying saucer-like, open-air structure that housed the cage, mostly sat on their hands until the fighters used theirs to deliver punishing blows and a true fighting spirit that got everyone on their feet.

Bo Nickal delivered the red, white and boom when the three-time NCAA Division I wrestling champion at Penn State earned the TKO win over middleweight Kyle Daukaus and immediately bolted the Octagon for a cage-side chat with Trump. Nickal met Trump in 2019 during a ceremony at the White House for collegiate national champions.

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Fight night came hours after the United States and Iran reached an agreement to end the war and open the Strait of Hormuz, offering relief to the global economy more than three months after the war began.

The rare UFC outdoors event marked the pinnacle of the relationship between White and Trump that has yielded personal, political and financial dividends for both parties. White’s first card as UFC president came in 2001 at an event held at Trump Taj Mahal.

Trump attended fights throughout the decades from New York to New Jersey to Florida while White introduced Trump at two Republican National Conventions.

Trump got a home game for this one, making the short walk from the Oval Office to the Octagon, much like the fighters who made the walk down West Wing halls covered with presidential portraits and were flanked by first responders and medal of honor recipients, among other individuals who served.

Strickland causes trouble at the fan zone at the Ellipse

Thousands more outside the White House lawn watched the fights on big screens from the nearby Ellipse, though not everyone was able to get tickets.

Even one of UFC’s champions.

UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland was escorted out of the Ellipse event by a group of police officers.

U.S. Park Police said in a statement that Strickland’s presence drew enough attention from attendees that it resulted in disorder. He wasn’t cited or arrested, they said. Instead, he was taken to his hotel and told not to come back to the venue.

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AP MMA: https://apnews.com/hub/mixed-martial-arts

KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — Congolese authorities have reported one of the highest daily increases in Ebola cases in a month-old outbreak as the virus spreads quickly in a remote region whose shifting population challenges efforts to find those exposed.

Congo’s Ministry of Health on Sunday said 72 new cases were reported in a 24-hour period, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 782. Those include 181 confirmed deaths, with 29 new ones.

“One month on, the Ebola disease outbreak is outpacing the response effort,” Kate White, emergency medical coordinator for Doctors Without Borders in Congo, said Monday. “No one knows the true scale or exactly where the disease is spreading in Congo.”

The medical charity said treatment centers in the epicenter of the outbreak are overwhelmed, many patients arrive in advanced stages of illness and most were not identified as contacts of infected people before seeking care.

Congo’s health ministry said that while the numbers show the outbreak is spreading rapidly, it also reflects more active surveillance. “Community members are reporting suspected cases, and response teams are investigating them,” it said on X.

The number of cases in what could become history’s worst Ebola outbreak is believed to be higher because the outbreak was confirmed on May 15, weeks after it is suspected to have begun.

The outbreak is caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus, which was not tested for in the early days. The more common Zaire virus, which now has a vaccine, was responsible for most of Congo’s past 16 outbreaks of the disease.

The outbreak is concentrated in Congo’s eastern province of Ituri, which accounts for more than 90% of the cases. Cases have also been recorded in the North Kivu and South Kivu provinces and have spread across the border to Uganda.

Congo said the contact tracing coverage rate is 56%, a sharp decrease from last week, as authorities hurry to find people who may have been exposed.

There was no immediate explanation for the drop. Congolese health authorities previously said contact tracing has been hampered by community resistance in some areas and by the rapid expansion of the outbreak into new health zones, increasing the workload for surveillance teams.

Life goes on, including nightlife, as the population adjusts.

The World Health Organization said Sunday it is intensifying testing and contact tracing and treatment. Tons of supplies from the WHO have arrived in Congo.

And Africa’s top health body said it is deploying technical expertise and supporting laboratory systems, case finding and community engagement efforts to accelerate the response.

“We remain committed to supporting affected countries until transmission is stopped. We call on partners and donors to urgently mobilize resources to strengthen the response and save lives,” said the head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Jean Kaseya.

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Banchereau reported from Dakar, Senegal.