MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — It’s halftime at the World Cup. Take a break, everyone.

Wednesday marked the midpoint of the 104-match tournament — technically, just past the midpoint, with 54 matches now in the books and 50 remaining before a World Cup champion is crowned in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on July 19.

The U.S. has reached the Round of 32, which shouldn’t be surprising. Mexico and Canada, the other host nations for this biggest World Cup in history, are also through to the knockout stage. And the stars are positively shining: Argentina’s Lionel Messi has five goals to kick-start what he hopes is a run toward a second consecutive World Cup title. France’s Kylian Mbappé has four, as do Norway’s Erling Haaland and Brazil’s Vinicius Júnior.

Stadiums are mostly filled; FIFA is touting record attendance. And there have been some feel-good stories, most notably the tale of Cape Verde goalie Vozinha and how his mother was able to come to this World Cup.

“The best is yet to come,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino told SNTV earlier this week.

In other words, the second half of this tournament — just like the second half of matches — is when things might get really good.

Who’s in

Through Wednesday’s games, 13 teams have clinched spots in the Round of 32.

Mexico won Group A, Switzerland won Group B, Brazil won Group C, the U.S. won Group D, Germany won Group E and Argentina won Group J.

France, Norway, Canada, Morocco, Colombia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and South Africa also are assured of moving into the knockout stage.

“I know how it feels, but it’s very difficult to explain how it feels,” South Africa coach Hugo Broos said after his team clinched its first-ever appearance in the knockout stage. “I’m very happy for the guys.”

Who’s out

A handful of teams already know they’ll be among the 16 that don’t survive the group stage and reach the Round of 32.

The Czech Republic, Haiti, Turkey, Tunisia, Jordan, Qatar and Panama are certain to not advance.

Still hoping

With 13 teams into the knockout round and seven eliminated, that leaves 28 teams for 19 remaining spots in the Round of 32.

Some key matches left:

— Australia-Paraguay is a win-and-you’re-in game.

— A winner of Japan-Sweden would be assured a Round of 32 spot, as would a winner of Austria-Algeria.

— Tiny Cape Verde would be into the knockout round with a win over Saudi Arabia.

— Colombia-Portugal will decide the winner of Group K.

The U.S. path

This much is clear: The only match the U.S. might play in the Eastern time zone will be the World Cup final.

The Americans will begin the Round of 32 in Santa Clara, California, on July 1. If they win, they’ll go to Seattle for the Round of 16. Win that, and it’ll be off to Inglewood, California, for the quarterfinals. Win that, and Arlington, Texas, will be calling for the semifinals.

The most likely opponent for the U.S. in the Round of 32 is Bosnia and Herzegovina. After that, it would seem likely that Egypt could be waiting.

What happens now (or starting Sunday)

Once group play ends, the drama really begins.

It’s called the knockout stage for a reason — if you don’t win in this round, you’re knocked out of the tournament. (The only time that won’t apply is the semifinals, since the losers of those games will get sent to Miami Gardens, Florida, to decide third place.)

A team will have to win five elimination games to win the World Cup title.

Scoring is up

Everybody should have predicted that the record for total goals in a World Cup would get smashed in this tournament. After all, there are 104 matches in this event, compared with just 64 matches in the format that was used over the previous seven World Cups.

And the record for most goals will fall, almost certainly on Thursday or Friday. There were 172 scored at Qatar four years ago; there have been 161 goals through 54 matches so far this year.

But what is noteworthy in this tournament is that scoring per game is at its highest level in more than 50 years — 2.98 goals per match.

An average of 2.81 goals per match were scored at Spain in 1982, 2.97 goals per match at Mexico in 1970, and 3.60 goals per match at Sweden in 1958.

That said, this year’s games have been defensive battles compared to what happened in 1954 in Switzerland, when games featured a staggering 5.38 goals on average. That tournament included a game with a 7-5 final score, still the highest-scoring game in men’s World Cup history.

The pace

By the end of Day 17 of the World Cup on Saturday, 72 matches will be done, 32 will remain. That’s the day the group stage ends and the knockout stage — where every match until the semifinals is of the win-or-go-home variety — begins.

And then things slow down. A bit, anyway.

There is only one Round of 32 game on the schedule for Sunday — South Africa vs. Canada at Los Angeles. Things pick up again after that and matches are planned every day until July 8. That means the tournament will have 27 consecutive days of play before everyone gets a day off.

A rematch?

Argentina and France gave us an epic World Cup final in 2022. It’s not outside of the realm that we get a rematch this year; the way the bracket is looking at this point (and this could easily change), they should be on opposite sides, making a collision in the final possible.

Argentina has five goals through its first two matches, and Messi — who turned 39 on Wednesday — has all five of them. Messi now has 18 goals in World Cup play, an all-time record.

When Argentina plays in the Round of 32, Messi will basically get a home game in Miami. It won’t be at the stadium that he and Inter Miami call home, but it will be in Miami Gardens and in what has been his home market for the last three years since he came to MLS.

Mbappe has four goals for France so far in this tournament, giving him 16 in World Cups, tying for second-most all-time with Miroslav Klose of Germany — who held the record before this year’s tournament started.

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AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/fifa-world-cup

WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES Paul Atkins, 38, was targeted at random while walking home from work through a graveyard in Ramsgate, Kent in February 2024 – his attacker is still at large

The victim of a random acid attack is still suffering with the horror effects two years on – as his case remains unsolved.

Paul Atkins, 38, was targeted while walking home from work through a graveyard in Ramsgate, Kent in February 2024. He says he didn’t realise it was acid at first but, within minutes, felt blood – before his clothes “melted” from his body.

Two years on, dad-of-three Paul still regularly suffers from night terrors and panic attacks – and the suspect is still at large. A man was arrested but later ruled out as a suspect, according to reports.

Paul, a bus driver and engineer, said: “I was literally just walking home and cut through St Lawrence graveyard around 8pm at night. All of a sudden I got wet from behind, someone had thrown something over me. Initially I thought it was water, maybe kids messing around. It was only a couple of minutes later that my neck started to burn.

“I put my hand round to the back of my neck and when I pulled it away there was blood on my hand, I thought ‘oh I am in trouble now’. My clothes literally melted from my body.”

Paul suffered third degree burns across his neck, down his back and on the front of his chest where the acid had run down the top of his head. He called 999 and was then raced to hospital.

He said: “I had a skin graft and plastic surgery to remove the burnt skin and replace it with skin from my thigh.”

Paul is still feeling the effects to this day – and has not been back to the graveyard since. He said: “I wake up in the night profusely sweating because I am having a panic attack.

“Even now I am still living the consequences of the attack. I have horrific scars down my chest and every time I look in the mirror it is just a constant reminder. The skin feels different from the back of my neck when I rub it, it doesn’t feel like skin anymore.

“I have not been back to the graveyard since and I do not think I will ever walk that way again because of the psychological damage that it has done to me since.”

Despite launching a large investigation and arresting one suspect, the police never found the person who committed the attack.

Kent Police said: “On the evening of Sunday 11 February 2024, a man had an unidentified corrosive liquid thrown at him after he entered St Laurence Graveyard, off Manston Road, Ramsgate.

“Following our response to the incident on the evening, a detailed investigation was carried out, which involved speaking to possible witnesses, a review of CCTV and forensic work.

“This resulted in the arrest of a man later the same month, but that man was later ruled out of our investigation and released without charge.”

A Freedom of Information request by Legal Expert recently revealed that the force recorded 86 acid attacks over the last three years.

Paul said: “For me personally more needs to be done from a Government level. It is not just in my area where these attacks are happening. It needs to be brought up at a national level but I guess if someone wants to go out and hurt someone they will.

“These attacks destroy lives and they destroy families.”

He has been sent to prison a month after being released after he made multiple threats to kill his ex-partner

A man has been sent back to jail a month after being released, after he made multiple threats to kill his ex-partner. Robbie Grant, 27, attended the home of his former partner on May 13, despite a restraining order which prevented him from contacting or visiting her.

After an argument between the pair broke out, Grant left the victim’s home, but called her mobile soon after, telling her he was going to put her “six feet under”. During the phone call, Grant also described how he was going to arrange for his friend who owned a shotgun to visit the victim, leaving her fearing for her life.

The threats were reported to police and on May 15, when officers contacted Grant, he made further threats about harming and killing the victim to police. He was arrested at a hotel in Peterborough later the same day.

At Peterborough Crown Court on Tuesday (June 23), Grant, of Drayton Road, Norwich, Norfolk was jailed for three years and ten months after admitting to making threats to kill and intimidating a witness / juror.

DC Roberto Scialla Cooper, who investigated, said: “Grant’s barrage of threats to hurt and kill the victim left her fearful for her life. Grant’s behaviour was completely unacceptable, and I hope this sentence allows the victim to move on with her life.

“We would strongly urge anyone who is a victim of domestic abuse to contact police or call the national domestic violence helpline on 0808 2000 247.”

To report concerns or for more advice and support on domestic abuse, including coercive control, visit the force’s dedicated web page.

Stressing the importance of spending targets being delivered in the face of the threat posed by Russia, he said: “Because in the end Putin is not afraid of commitments, he is afraid of (us) implementing those commitments, and that’s exactly what we are doing, Vladimir, we will defend ourselves.”

“No one should say goodbye alone”

A funeral director has called on the local community to attend a funeral service for a West Belfast man who died with no next of kin.

Patrick McNally died peacefully at the Northern Ireland Hospice earlier this week and will be remembered as a “loving son” and “beloved brother”.

Mallon Brothers Funeral Directors took to social media to share the details of Patrick’s celebration of life, asking anyone who may have known him to come and support his final journey.

With no contact with his only surviving sibling, he has no known family to attend his funeral. Patrick’s funeral will take place at St Teresa of Ávila Church, Glen Road on Wednesday, July 1 at 9.50am for Requiem Mass at 10am, followed by burial in Blaris Cemetery.

Mallon Brothers Funeral Directors said: “McNally Patrick, died peacefully at the N.I hospice 22nd June 2026, (late of 306 Glen Road).

“A loving son of the late Mary and John. A beloved brother to Gerard, the late John-Joseph and Bridget, Uncle, Cousin and friend, RIP. Funeral arrangements to follow. St Pio, pray for him.

“Sadly, Patrick leaves behind no close family. His only surviving brother has not been in contact with him for more than 50 years, and there is no known next of kin.

“As funeral directors, we believe every person deserves to be remembered and every life deserves to be honored.”

They have shared a “heartfelt invitation” to the people of Patrick’s native West Belfast to give him a “farewell he deserves”.

They continued: “If you knew Patrick at any stage of his life, were a neighbor, friend, colleague, acquaintance, or even if you simply wish to stand alongside others in an act of kindness and respect, we welcome you to join us.

“Your presence, no matter how brief, would help ensure Patrick is remembered and that his final journey is marked with dignity, companionship, and care.

“Together, we can give Patrick a fitting send-off and show that every life matters, and every person leaves a place in the world.

“No one should say goodbye alone.”

For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here.

NEW YORK (AP) — David Clayton-Thomas, the lead singer of Blood, Sweat & Tears, whose husky, high-strung tenor on “Spinning Wheel,” “And When I Die” and other hits helped make the so-called brass rock band among the most popular acts of the late 1960s, has died at age 84.

Spokesperson Eric Alper said that Clayton-Thomas died “peacefully” Wednesday at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. Alper did not cite a specific cause.

Clayton-Thomas was a onetime street fighter and petty thief from Canada who briefly became a rock superstar, the front man of a nine-member group that sold millions of records and won two Grammys for “Blood, Sweat & Tears,” which beat out the Beatles’ “Abbey Road” for best album of 1969. Calling out amid a jazzy parade of horns, keyboards and percussion, Clayton-Thomas’ urgent shout was a signature voice of the era, preaching love on the Motown cover “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy,” a lasting legacy on Laura Nyro’s “And When I Die” and a cool head on his own “Spinning Wheel.” Meanwhile, Blood, Sweat & Tears helped inspire a wave of horn-led bands, among them Chicago, the Electric Flag and Ten Wheel Drive.

“A lot of the guys (in Blood, Sweat & Tears) would play a Broadway show matinee, then go up to Harlem and play Latin music or R&B and funk at night, or come down to the Village and play pure jazz the next night,” Clayton-Thomas told bestclassicbands.com in 2023. “I was just a blues player: give me three chords and I’ve got a song.”

At its peak, Blood, Sweat & Tears’ appeal was so broad it helped lead to the band’s downfall.

Hip enough to perform at the 1969 Woodstock festival, where they were among the highest paid acts, they also were known enough to the establishment to tour Eastern Europe the following year on behalf of the State Department. When Clayton-Thomas and other band members denounced the Communist regimes on the other side of the Cold War, Rolling Stone’s David Felton wrote that “the State Department got its money worth.” Yippies would turn up at a 1970 Blood, Sweat & Tears show at Madison Square Garden, carrying obscene banners outside and dumping manure by the front gate.

The band had practical reasons for going along with the government: Clayton-Thomas, who had allegedly wielded a gun at his girlfriend, had been denied a green card and faced deportation. But after topping the charts in 1970 with the album “Blood, Sweat & Tears 3,” their appeal soon faded. A burned out Clayton-Thomas left the group in 1972, and neither he nor the remaining musicians ever regained their old stature. Blood, Sweat & Tears would continue recording over the next few years, and even briefly reunited with Clayton-Thomas, who went on to release more than a dozen solo albums and tour on his own for decades.

Clayton-Thomas was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1996. “Spinning Wheel,” covered by everyone from James Brown to TV star Barbara Eden, was voted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame a decade later.

Clayton-Thomas is survived by his daughters, Ashleigh Clayton-Thomas and Christine Graham.

Up from the streets

Born David Henry Thomsett in Surrey, England, and raised near Toronto and Ottawa, he was the son of a Canadian World War II veteran and of a pianist-entertainer who helped inspire her son’s interest in music. Thomsett was lucky to have the chance. He fought violently with his father, was living in the streets by his mid-teens and by age 20 was serving time in a reformatory for vagrancy, assault and other crimes.

An old guitar, left behind by a fellow inmate, changed his life. He taught himself to play and began spending extensive time in the early 1960s around Toronto’s Yonge Street music “strip,” where peers included the American rockabilly star Ronnie Hawkins, a mentor to Robbie Robertson and other future members of the Band and a guide for Thomsett early in his career.

Anxious to reinvent himself, he changed his last name to Clayton-Thomas while leading his own groups. In the mid-60s, he released such albums as “Sings Like It Is” and had a hit single with the anti-war rocker “Brainwashed.” He would also befriend a rising star, Joni Mitchell, whose childlike “Circle Game” helped inspire “Spinning Wheel,” and the venerable John Lee Hooker, who would indirectly contribute to Clayton-Thomas’ breakthrough in the U.S.

America beckons

Hooker had encouraged Clayton-Thomas to move to New York, where the American bluesman had an engagement at the Cafe Au Go Go in Greenwich Village. When Hooker unexpectedly departed for a tour of Europe, club owner Howard Solomon needed a replacement and recruited Clayton-Thomas.

“So I played him a couple songs on the guitar,” Clayton-Thomas told bestclassicbands.com. “He said, ‘Do you have a band?’ I said, ‘Sure,’ and went out into Greenwich Village looking for anybody carrying a guitar case or even looking like a musician, and we put together a little band and we opened there that night. We ended up staying there for several months.”

Around the same time, session man-producer Al Kooper was looking to form a jazz-rock group and was joined by such musicians as guitarist Steve Katz, drummer Bobby Colomby and horn players Randy Brecker and Jerry Weiss. They called themselves Blood, Sweat & Tears, releasing the debut album “Child Is Father to the Man” early in 1968. Although praised by Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner as “a fine, exemplary group,” members were torn between those allied with Kooper and those who thought his vocals too weak to attract a substantial audience.

By the end of the year, Kooper and others had departed, and the band was seeking a new singer. After Judy Collins saw Clayton-Thomas perform, she recommended him to Colomby.

“I got home and just a couple of days later, Bobby Colomby called me up and said, ‘Hey, Kooper’s gone. We got four guys left out of the nine. And we still got a record contract with Columbia. Do you want to come down and try out for the band?”’ Clayton-Thomas told bestclassicbands.com. ”I said, ‘You’re damn right.’ I knew (bassist) Jim Fielder real well and I knew they were superb musicians. So I was on the next plane. We had a rehearsal that afternoon, an audition, and it was instant magic. We just knew right off the bat.”

Man City, who beat off competition from cross-town rivals Manchester United to sign Anderson, remain without a confirmed managerial appointment after Pep Guardiola’s departure, with pre-season due to get underway in the coming weeks. They are, however, expected to appoint ex-Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca.

Sheryl Price, 45, was charged with 14 counts of ill-treating or wilfully neglecting an individual while a care worker at the Edenfield Centre, Prestwich, between May and June 2022.

Support worker Price was charged alongside nurse Sara Coleman, 43, from Stretford, as part of a police investigation into the Bury New Road-based mental health hospital.

Both women appeared before Judge Maurice Greene at Minshull Street Crown Court this week for a brief further case management hearing.

The two women appeared before Minshull Street Crown Court (Image: Anthony Moss)

The hearing mainly discussed administrative matters which cannot be reported at this stage.

A spokesperson for the courts and tribunal service confirmed that Price, of Eldergreen Close, Daubhill, denied all charges against her and is set to face a trial.

Price was charged with committing the offences against four different people.

But Coleman, of Mitford Street, Stretford, confessed to four counts of ill-treatment or neglect, committed in May 2022.

Both women had been charged last November in connection with a police investigation into the Edenfield Centre.

They each made their first appearance at Manchester and Salford Magistrates Court in March of this year, during which no pleas were entered.

Judge Greene granted both women bail ahead of another further case management hearing on December 4 this year.

Coleman is expected to be sentenced after Price’s trial, which is expected to be set at a later date, concludes.

Speaking when the two women were charged, Detective Inspector Julie Adams from Greater Manchester Police’s Bury district said: “Since 2022, we have been actively investigating several allegations relating to the the Edenfield Centre, following a period of undercover filing at the mental health unit.

“We have now charged two suspects in relation to this, and they will appear at Court in the new year.

“Since this incident was brought to our attention, we have been working with partner agencies to ensure that patients were safeguarded and to investigate criminality.

“Anyone who has concerns about care they or a loved one has received should contact us or Crimestoppers.”

The federal Drug Enforcement Administration on Thursday asked the U.S. Justice Department’s internal watchdog to investigate a whistleblower’s claims that DEA agents permitted hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills to hit the streets of New Mexico.

The request came days after an Associated Press investigation found agents repeatedly monitored — but did not seize — major shipments of the synthetic opioid in a bid to build bigger criminal cases between 2023 and 2025.

In a letter sent Thursday to the U.S. Justice Department’s Inspector General, DEA administrator Terry Cole wrote that an internal probe was necessary because “the allegations have generated significant public attention and have raised questions regarding DEA’s operational decisions, supervisory oversight, and response to concerns.”

Cole wrote in a public statement that his request “should not be interpreted as reflecting any lack of confidence in the professionalism or integrity of DEA personnel or in the investigative decisions made during this matter.”

“If improvements are identified, DEA will implement them,” he added. “Strong institutions are sustained — not diminished — by objective oversight and a willingness to continuously assess and improve.”

Current and former DEA agents told the AP the investigative strategy — known as letting the counterfeit painkillers “walk” — amounted to a gamble with public safety in a state ravaged by the fentanyl epidemic and may have violated Justice Department rules intended to safeguard communities from a drug the White House last year designated as a “ weapon of mass destruction.”

The AP investigation cited three current and former agents and government records, including an internal report of a 2023 delivery of 74,000 pills the DEA watched happen at a mobile home park in Albuquerque. One of those agents, David Howell, first raised serious concerns about this strategy in a 2023 whistleblower complaint. He continued to raise his objections internally and spoke at length with the AP about what he described as a strategy that “poisoned our community to make cases.”

In an earlier statement to AP, a DEA spokesperson said “public descriptions suggesting that DEA knowingly permitted fentanyl to reach communities are false and fundamentally mischaracterize the facts.”

The DEA’s request for the watchdog investigation came just a day after New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham asked the state’s attorney general to examine whether the agency’s actions violated New Mexico law, an extraordinary challenge to a federal law enforcement agency at a time when fentanyl remains one of the country’s deadliest public health threats.

“There are no words to describe how reckless and dangerous these decisions were,” Lujan Grisham said in a statement. “Make no mistake: the DEA knew people would die if these pills made it into New Mexico communities, and the agency let it happen anyway.”

The Justice Department said in a statement that it welcomes a partnership with New Mexico leaders to keep the state safe.

“Protecting the public requires more than addressing individual transactions as they occur,” the statement said. “It requires identifying the sources of supply, the individuals directing criminal activity and the organizations responsible for moving dangerous drugs into our communities.”

Democratic lawmakers in New Mexico, meanwhile, sent Cole a letter asking for a briefing on the DEA’s tactics in the state.

“New Mexicans are paying the price for a fentanyl epidemic that is tearing families apart and deserve answers,” U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury said in a statement. “At a time when overdose deaths continue to devastate our state and communities, the DEA should be focused on stopping these drugs before they reach our streets — period.”

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Associated Press reporter Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington contributed to this report.

A significant police presence is in Syston, Leicestershire, today after a teenage boy is understood to have entered a lake

Emergency services have been dispatched to a lake in Syston, Leicestershire, following reports that a teenage boy entered the water. Three police cars were seen near Syston Sailing Club, with several officers stationed close to the club’s entrance.

Three search teams are understood to have been mobilised to the location, with police officers entering the water shortly after 6.15pm on Thursday (June 25).

Leicestershire Live has reported an ambulance was also present at the scene. The search is expected to continue “for some time” with police support teams now in attendance.

Images circulating online appear to show search and rescue personnel examining the perimeter of the lake. Officers can be observed using a pole from one of the boats to inspect the lake bed.

A Leicestershire Police spokesman said: “Emergency services are currently carrying out searches in Syston to locate a teenage boy who was reported to have entered a lake.”

“Police were called to Meynell Lake, in Fosse Way just after 1.30pm today (Thursday 25 June).

“Officers are currently in attendance with colleagues from Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service. Searches are being carried out to locate the boy and officers are in contact with his next of kin.”

This incident occurs as Syston faces an amber weather warning for extreme heat. The Met Office indicates temperatures are anticipated to surpass 30C across many locations, with the warmest areas potentially hitting 38C.

Met Éireann has issued a yellow weather warning for elevated temperatures across Ireland. Numerous counties are anticipated to hit peaks of 27C, while overnight temperatures are forecast to drop no lower than 15C.

The forecaster has even issued a rare red warning for parts of the Midlands and south of England. A spokesman said: “During the heatwave expected to affect a large part of England and Wales this week, the highlighted area now looks increasingly likely to see a two to three day period where maximum temperatures in the shade exceed 37 Celsius, perhaps rising to 38 to 40 Celsius in some places.

“The heat will be accompanied by high humidity, exacerbating the potential for discomfort and health impacts, with very warm and humid night times also reducing the ability for people to recover overnight.”

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