The England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) investigation into the actions of Stokes and Atkinson is still ongoing.

An ECB statement said: “Given the ongoing investigation, Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson have not been made available for selection for the second Test against New Zealand.”

The Cricket Regulator is conducting a separate investigation, one that might not be concluded for a number of weeks.

Stokes, 35, has been given time by the ECB in order to consider his options. The governing body has denied any suggestion he has been asked to resign.

The episode is an unwanted controversy for the ECB following a dismal 4-1 Ashes tour of Australia that was dogged by off-field controversy.

The defeat of New Zealand in the first Test at Lord’s looked to be a small step in the right direction, but now England will have to attempt to win the series without their captain and all-rounder, and a key pace bowler.

Though Stokes’ poor batting form has come under scrutiny, his all-round abilities are vital to balance the XI.

Atkinson, 28, endured a poor winter, yet looked back to somewhere near his best with seven wickets in the first Test.

The Surrey man has now surrendered his place in the England team on his home ground and his absence could mean a return for Archer, who missed the first Test following his stint at the Indian Premier League.

Depending on conditions, the best replacement for Stokes would be spin-bowling all-rounder Rehan Ahmed, who is retained in the squad after missing out on the final XI at Lord’s.

It would be tough on Shoaib Bashir – the off-spinner was in the XI at Lord’s and was not required to bowl a ball. If Ahmed replaces Stokes, Bashir would then make way for England to field four specialist seamers.

If England decide to replace Stokes with a specialist batter, uncapped James Rew was in the squad for the first Test.

Essex’s Cox, 25, has been in a number of England Test squads but is yet to make an appearance. He was due to make his debut as wicketkeeper on the tour of New Zealand in 2024, only to suffer a broken thumb in the nets.

Root’s return to the captaincy is an indictment of the situation the ECB found themselves in.

It would have been difficult to have one captain, Stokes, unavailable for a nightclub incident, only to replace him with Brook, eight months on from his own nightclub misdemeanour.

Therefore Root will lead England at least once more, and perhaps even for the third Test at Trent Bridge a week later.

Root’s elevation could be a hint towards an expectation that Stokes will eventually return to the job.

If Brook had been made captain, there would have been the opportunity to demonstrate the Test team in his image, especially with Stokes’ playing powers appearing to be on the wane.

Instead, with Root named as interim captain, there looks to be a path for Stokes to return if he desires.

If the all-rounder misses the remaining Tests against New Zealand, his comeback could be for the three-Test series against Pakistan in August.

Earlier on Wednesday, ex-England skipper Michael Vaughan said Stokes should not lose his job as captain.

“Yes, Ben Stokes broke a curfew. Yes, he made a mistake. But is that a sacking offence as England’s Test captain? I don’t think so,” Vaughan wrote in the Telegraph.

“The ECB has to be brave enough and strong enough to do what it thinks is right. If that is to sack him then fine, but I do not agree with that decision on this issue.”

​Legislation should be introduced to tackle the “scandal” of property developers charging residents exorbitant fees for roads that have not been adopted by local authorities, according to Cllr Tom Seston.

​The Reform councillor, who represents Eastfield on North Yorkshire Council, said residents in his division “were originally told it would take two or three years before the roads would be adopted, which has now turned into five or six years and they still haven’t; meanwhile, the maintenance fees for some residents have gone from £200 a year to £440 a year”.

​Speaking at a recent meeting of the Scarborough and Whitby Area Committee, Labour’s Cllr Liz Colling said similar issues had been reported in her Falsgrave and Stepney ward and said it was “disgraceful” that developers were charging residents.

​Last year, the Home Builders Federation revealed that on new housing developments of 10 or more units built over the last three years, just 10 per cent of sites had had the roads adopted.

​The HBF said that the non-adoption of public amenities on new housing estates was an “increasingly significant and complex problem in the UK housing market”.

​When local authorities are invited to adopt roads, the costs for maintaining the roads and streetlights are usually incorporated into council tax bills, while residents on unadopted estates often have to pay annual fees to management companies.

​The federation added: “A growing number of housing estates are being left with unadopted amenities, creating complications for developers, local authorities, and, most critically, the residents themselves who face increased costs and added frustration.”

Scarborough And Whitby Area Committee 05.06.26

​Speaking at the council meeting last week, Cllr Seston highlighted that he had “raised this at full council and the short answer was that the council won’t adopt the roads until it’s invited to do so”.

​Calling for national-level attention of the issue, he added: “If you’re charging £440 a year and you’ve got twenty or so houses, you’re getting about £10,000 a year to realistically do some light gardening.

​“There are some firms making quite a lot of money off this, and equally, some of them haven’t raised their fees, while some of them had more than doubled their fees. It is a scandal in a way.”

​Alison Hume, the MP for Scarborough and Whitby, said she was eager to work on the issue with Cllr Seston.

​She told the meeting: “It won’t surprise you to know that the issue of unadopted roads has been brought to the Government’s attention by many, many MPs, including myself.

​“I would be interested in working with you on this issue, because we have a group of MPs working on the unadopted roads and pressuring the government to move on this, as we are aware.”

Perth and Kinross Council paid out for just nine of the 291 vehicle damage claims it received over the past two years

A councillor has questioned why the majority of claims made to Perth and Kinross Council (PKC) for damage done to vehicles by potholes on its roads were dismissed.

Last month the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) reported a Freedom of Information request response revealed PKC had, at that stage, paid out just nine of the 291 claims submitted over the past two years.

At a meeting of the Scrutiny and Performance Committee on Wednesday, June 3, Cllr Willie Robertson said he was “totally shocked” so few drivers had been reimbursed for the damage done to their vehicles.

According to the FOI, shared with the LDRS, PKC received 84 claims in 2024/25, rising to 207 in 2025/26. It paid out a total of £2172.21 for seven claims in 2024/25 and £735.89 for two claims in 2025/26. The local authority denied liability for 75 claims in 2024/25 and 24 in 2025/26. Two claims in 2024/25 were still being reviewed, as were 181 from last year.

At Wednesday’s meeting, it emerged a briefing note had been shared with PKC’s Scrutiny and Performance Committee which said the council had paid out on just five per cent of claims made to it last year. However, PKC has since confirmed those figures – shared privately with the committee – included all liability claims, not just those relating to potholes.

Cllr Willie Robertson represents Kinross-shire ward, where the most pothole-related claims were made last year with a quarter of all potholes claims amde to PKC in 2025/26 relating to Kinross-shire roads.

The Liberal Democrat councillor was “totally shocked” so few drivers had been reimbursed for the damage done to their vehicles.

He added: “I find it really surprising. Normally, when people contact me they’re really upset because they’ve hit a huge pothole and seriously damaged their car.”

Strathallan ward councillor Keith Allan said he himself had missed out.

The Conservative councillor said: “I have personal experience of our insurers not playing the game. I just think we need to have a good look at it.”

The convener, Independent councillor Colin Stewart, agreed “it does seem like a low percentage” and asked Cllr Robertson what next steps the committee should take.

Cllr Robertson suggested councillors be given a breakdown on the claims and why they are refused, to help inform future claimants.

He added: “There must be a consistent reason why so many claims are not being met or honoured. I think it would be helpful to know why claims are being rejected in such a huge way.

“When people go to the bother of making a claim they take photographs, they get statements from people who have witnessed the thing happening, they fill out the big form. It’s quite a laborious thing to do and people don’t just do it on a whim so I think it would be really useful to find that out and maybe have a report.”

SNP Strathmore ward councillor Jack Welch revealed he had suffered “extensive damage to two practically brand new tyres” prior to becoming a councillor and submitted two claims to PKC, “which were both refused”.

Cllr Welch told the committee he received “comprehensive” explanations for why his claims were refused, with one reason given being that the pothole had not been present when PKC last inspected that road.

He said: “In one of them it was because the giant pothole was off the road surface, at the side of the road, and therefore was not an area that was essentially the responsibility of Perth and Kinross Council.

“And the second instance was that in terms of the process and procedure around statutory inspections, a statutory inspection had been carried out on that section of carriageway, which was evidenced, and there was no pothole at that time. Unfortunately, the pothole had occurred between then and me driving into it and, unfortunately, all I was thanked for was for notifying them there was a giant pothole, which was subsequently repaired very quickly it must be said.”

Conservative councillor Angus Forbes queried if refusal decisions lay with PKC or its insurance company.

He said: “I wonder if this is not a cost to Perth and Kinross Council. I assume this is covered by our insurance policy and therefore it’s entirely the insurance company’s decision whether to pay out or not pay out and, if they paid out more would it put our premium up?”

Following the discussion, the committee’s convener Colin Stewart called for officers to provide members with:

• a breakdown of the reasons for refusal
• a comparison with other local authorities
• where the responsibility for pay-outs lie and the information decisions are based upon.

He proposed the committee then have a sit-down discussion with the relevant council staff to raise any further questions that arise. This was unanimously agreed.

“People have called us heroes but to be honest I’d like to think most people would’ve got stuck in and helped if they could.”

The ‘North Belfast knife attack hero’ has recalled the moment he tackled the suspect with his son’s hurling stick, fearing for the victim’s safety.

Maitiu Mág Tighearnán intervened during the knife attack in the Kinnaird Avenue area of North Belfast on Monday night, June 8, to rescue the victim, Stephen Ogilvie.

Sudanese man Hadi Alodid, 30, appeared at Belfast Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, charged with the attempted stabbing murder of Mr Ogilvie, threats to kill an NHS radiographer on the same day and possession of a knife.

He has been remanded in custody for four weeks. The court heard that the 44-year-old victim had lost his left eye and received deep cuts to his head, face and back.

32-year-old Mág Tighearnán and a friend said they jumped out of their car to rescue Mr Ogilvie as he lay on the ground. The pair had stumbled across the horrifying incident by chance as they took a short-cut to a petrol station.

Mr Mág Tighearnán, from West Belfast, who had been driving, told the Daily Mail: “I turned into Kinnaird Avenue and I could see another car stopped in the middle of the road a little further up. The woman driving then began reversing at speed as though she was trying to get away from something.

“She stopped as I approached and I drove round her, and as I did so we could see what looked to be two men fighting in the street, with one on top of the other. This was late at night and so we thought we better go and break it up. Andre was in the front passenger seat and he jumped out first.

“He’s trained in Brazilian jujitsu and so he approached them to separate them, but as he got closer he saw the knife. It looked to be a serrated steak-knife but with a broken handle. He shouted to me that the man attacking the other had a knife and to get something to help.”

At this point, Mr Mág Tighearnán said he thought someone was going to lose their life: “I’d taken my son to hurling practice earlier that evening and so I’d got out of the car, gone to the boot and grabbed his hurling stick. Instinct took over and I ran over and I smashed this guy over the head with the hurling stick. Right on the flat side, about three times. As hard as I could.

“Andre was a few seconds behind and he came running in and tried to subdue the attacker with an ankle-hold so he could free the victim. I hit this guy again, hard, but it didn’t seem to phase him. He did stumble back, though and dropped the knife. I think another man who’d been watching came in and kicked the knife away.

“We were trying to roll the attacker onto his stomach to subdue him but he was struggling. The police then arrived and four officers took over before armed tactical support turned up.”

Mr Mág Tighearnán, who runs his own removal company, added that the victim, Mr Ogilvie, was “still conscious but weak with all the blood loss”.

“When he was taken away, he looked to have a horrible injury to his eye. The knifeman was led away by six officers but they were still struggling with him. I’m glad we intervened when we did. It was pure chance that we’d gone that route to the petrol station.

“People have called us heroes but to be honest I’d like to think most people would’ve got stuck in and helped if they could. I just hope the victim pulls through and manages to recover as best he can,” he added.

Maitiu’s proud partner, Aoife O’Reilly, described him as “very, very humble”, adding, “I couldn’t be prouder of Matt. This is my partner and the father of my child who stood in and hopefully saved a man’s life last night.”

A GoFundMe fundraiser has been launched to ‘buy a pint’ for Maitiu, reaching over £20,000 in less than 24 hours, with the organiser, Niall Donnan, saying he has been told that Maitu wants to share some of the funds with the victim.

Maitiu wrote online that he had stumbled on the attack ‘by chance’ and that he ‘got out to protect a young lad’ when he saw what was happening and that the police had yet to arrive.

If you would like to donate and buy a pint for the ‘knife attack hero’ please follow this link.

For the latest on this developing story follow our live blog here.

Vasily Belokurov is one of three winners of the 2026 Kavli Prize in Astrophysics. The award is for “uncovering the fossil evidence of past mergers proving that the Milky Way galaxy” was built through the continuous collision and merging of smaller objects.

No matter the time or vantage point, from a pre-Neolithic cave to a post-lockdown London high-rise, the predictability of the night sky has always been humanity’s symbol of permanence and reassuring stability.

Yet this apparent calm is deceptive. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, emerged from chaos and turbulence, and its constellations are full of migrants, exiles and survivors. Right now, it has begun to stretch and distort again, pulled by a massive companion and heading for an inevitable collision.

How can I be so sure? As a galactic archaeologist, my job is to reconstruct the past of our galaxy and read the signs of its future.

Instead of digging through soil, I use the laws of dynamics and stellar evolution to sift through hundreds of millions of stars – searching for the most ancient and chemically peculiar among them, interpreting their orbits and piecing together the events that shaped the Milky Way. One ancient encounter left scars so deep that, billions of years later, they still define the galaxy around us.

I want to understand what governs the lives of these massive cosmic systems: which changes are nature – the slow internal evolution of a galaxy disc – and which are nurture, imposed by collisions and mergers.

Questions about the source of dark matter underpin it all. This is the invisible substance whose gravity holds galaxies together, but whose true identity remains one of the greatest unsolved puzzles in astrophysics.

The Milky Way is the one galaxy where stellar motions can be measured in extraordinary detail. This allows cosmologists including myself to construct our most precise map yet of dark matter: how far it reaches, how dense it is around the Sun, what shape it has and how smooth or lumpy it may be. If we can build this map in enough detail, we may begin to understand not just where dark matter is, but what it is.

A cataclysmic collision

Our work has been transformed by a revolution in open sky surveys. From 2000, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey showed what becomes possible when vast astronomical datasets are made public, enabling discoveries far beyond the goals for which the survey was first built.

And since 2014, Gaia, the European space telescope, has taken this transformation to another level by mapping the positions and motions of nearly 2 billion stars, turning the galaxy into a vast archaeological record. No ruins, no shards and no bones – only stars that hold the clues.

The clearest giveaway that something cataclysmic took place long ago in our galaxy is the migrants we observe: stars that were not born in the Milky Way.

While native stars mostly travel together, circling the galactic centre in the great rotating flow of the disc, migrants cut across that order. They slide past the locals, plunge into the inner galaxy, then fly back out to its outskirts, again and again.

These unusual orbits go hand-in-hand with unusual chemistry. Most of the migrant stars are less enriched in heavier elements than the locally born population. Their chemical composition is a sign of a slower rate of evolution that is typical of a dwarf galaxy.

This makes the migrants doubly valuable. They are both fossils of the Milky Way’s violent past, and probes of its outer regions, travelling where the local stars rarely go.

How the Milky Way was rewired

One of the central ideas in the theory of cosmic structure formation is that galaxies grow hierarchically. Smaller galaxies fall into larger ones and are torn apart, leaving their stars behind as migrants.

In the Milky Way, the largest ancient structure of this kind is known as Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus. It is the remains of a vanished galaxy that collided with our own between 8 and 11 billion years ago (the “sausage” refers to a pattern in its stars’ motions).

The Milky Way also did not go through that crash unscathed. The collision rewired and reshaped it.

Some of these changes are easily visible in the data. Stars from the old disc were splashed into our galaxy’s halo, becoming exiles in the place where they were born. A new posse of star clusters were also acquired.

At the same time, we think something even more momentous was taking place. The encounter changed the orientation of the Milky Way’s disc, and its alignment with the dark matter halo.

While dark matter is too diffuse to dominate our Solar System, in the outer galaxy it is the main gravitating mass – moving, streaming and, in the standard picture, clumping into a hierarchy of lumps.

Around the Milky Way, this dark matter forms a vast halo, much larger than the luminous part of our galaxy. We often imagine this halo as a sparse, round cloud, but Gaia has helped show this picture is too simple.

The dark halo can be stretched out of shape by a major encounter. Like a ship beginning to list, the Milky Way started to lean – not suddenly, not visibly, but over billions of years.

A new galactic dance

Unusually compared with many galaxies of similar mass, the Milky Way was allowed ample time to recover from the shock of the “sausage merger”. No other cosmic cataclysm appears to have shaken our Galaxy since, letting it settle into a quiet, uneventful life. That is, until now.

The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), currently our galaxy’s most massive companion, is already pulling at the Milky Way, disturbing its halo again. In an echo of what happened some 10 billion years ago, the Milky Way is being drawn into an accelerating dance with this neighbouring dwarf galaxy, recoiling in response to the LMC’s approach.

This is a dance that only one galaxy is likely to survive intact. A new chapter of migration, survival and adaptation has begun.

None of this spoils the beauty of the night sky – it deepens it. The calm band of light above us is not a symbol of permanence, but the visible reminder of a long survival.

The Milky Way has been broken, rebuilt and is now being disturbed again. Its stars remember the past; their motions reveal the future. What looks eternal is, in truth, a moment in a much longer story.

It has been closed since 2023

A section of the Wales Coastal Path located in Neath Port Talbot looks set to remain closed after “significant ground instability issues” which the local council say risks public safety.

The news came after a group of councillors from the area launched an online petition in May calling for urgent action to re-open sections of the path around Baglan, Briton Ferry, and Sandfields West.

It was started by Labour opposition members who called for the Welsh Government and local council to repair and re-open these sections as soon as possible. Stay in the know by making sure you’re receiving our daily newsletter.

This followed an open letter from 20 members of the local Labour group in Neath Port Talbot to the Welsh Government cabinet minister for rural resilience and sustainability, MS Llŷr Gruffydd.

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In it they said the “prolonged closure” of the path had gone on for several years and was becoming a matter of growing frustration and disappointment for residents who previously used it for walking, cycling, and enjoying the natural environment.

They added the closure had affected active travel connections in the borough as well as tourism, health, and local wellbeing.

The latest petition called on Neath Port Talbot Council to formally write to the new Welsh Government for urgent intervention and a clear restoration plan.

It also requested that Welsh Government secure funding in order to repair the path as well as publishing a clear timetable for its reopening.

The petition, led by councillors Josh Tuck, Carol Clement-Williams, and Suzanne Paddison, said: “The Wales Coastal Path is one of our nation’s greatest assets – a world-renowned route that should be a source of pride for communities across Wales.

“Yet for several years major sections around Baglan, Briton Ferry, and Sandfields West have remained closed, fenced-off, and left to deteriorate.

“This unacceptable situation has denied local people access to an important walking and cycling route, damaged tourism and local businesses, and undermined community wellbeing.

“Residents across Neath Port Talbot are increasingly frustrated by the lack of visible progress, the absence of a clear timetable for restoration, and the continued neglect of a nationally-important coastal route.”

However a spokesman for Neath Port Talbot Council said while they were supportive of re-opening the route in principle it was not currently feasible to do so safely or sustainably.

They said: “While acknowledging that the local authority receives funding via Natural Resources Wales to maintain the Wales Coast Path (WCP) the current position as relates to the closure of a section of the WCP in the Baglan/Briton Ferry area is not due to how funding is allocated.

“The route was closed in 2023 following significant ground instability issues, including the formation of sinkholes, which presented an unacceptable risk to public safety.

“While grant funding can support initial works the local authority must also consider long-term maintenance, ongoing safety risks, and legal responsibilities, particularly where the route crosses privately owned land and is not recorded as a registered public right of way as shown on the definitive map.

“While the WCP is recognised as an important route within the county borough the safety of the public is paramount and it is unfortunate therefore that the local authority is unable to re-open this section of the route at this time.

“The local authority remains supportive in principle to the re-opening of the route, however based on the constraints identified through discussions with the landowner, Natural Resources Wales, and Welsh Government it is not currently considered feasible to do so safely or sustainably. The agreed diversion will therefore remain in place at this time.”

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The father of Stephen Ogilvie has issued a plea to those spreading disinformation as his son remains in ICU

The father of a knife attack victim in North Belfast has made an urgent plea to those peddling misinformation online, urging them to ‘Please stop’. Stephen Ogilvie lost an eye and sustained further severe injuries following the assault on Kinnaird Avenue on June 8.

Hadi Alodid, 30, of Duncairn Avenue in Belfast, appeared before the city’s magistrates’ court on Wednesday, facing charges of attempted murder of Stephen Ogilvie, threatening to kill an NHS radiographer, and possession of a knife.

UUP leader Jon Burrows revealed on the morning of June 10 that he had spoken with Stephen Ogilvie’s father, who confirmed his son remains in ICU but is in a stable condition following the attack.

Widespread violence and disorder broke out across Belfast and several other towns in Northern Ireland on Tuesday night in the wake of the North Belfast incident, reports Belfast Live.

Mr Burrows confirmed that the victim’s father had a personal message he wished to convey. He said: “I want to thank Mr Ogilvie for taking the time to speak with me at such a distressing time for his family.

“His son remains in the ICU following the devastating injuries he sustained, but is stable. The injuries inflicted upon him are truly shocking, and our thoughts and prayers are with him and his entire family.

“The victim’s father has also asked me to pass on a direct appeal to those spreading disinformation online: please stop. This has shockingly included false posts on social media at various times that his son has died.

“This is causing immense additional distress to a family already going through an unimaginable ordeal. I echo that appeal wholeheartedly and urge everyone to act with decency and respect for this family.

“I offered my full solidarity and support to the whole family today.”

Mr Burrows continued: “I will be meeting with the Secretary of State tomorrow, where I will be raising issues directly related to this case.

“It is important that those in political leadership engage with issues like immigration, the security of our borders and the protection of all our citizens, whilst also standing unequivocally on the side of law and order. I also appeal again for parents to ensure their children are not out on the streets and involved in disorder.

“Tomorrow I will be asking the Secretary of State to meet the family of Stephen Oglivie in the coming days.”

In a previous statement released via Independent Councilor Stafford Ward, Stephen’s relatives emphasized that they “want to make it clear that overnight unrest is not welcome”.

The family also commended locals who intervened to help the victim and requested privacy from both the public and media.

“We are aware of the tensions and talk of protests following this incident. We want to make it absolutely clear that overnight unrest is not welcome, and peaceful protest is the only way forward.

“We have many migrants who make a deeply valuable contribution to our country, including in our healthcare system and hospitality sector and we depend on them to make our country work. We do not want this terrible tragedy to be used to divide people or fuel hostility,” the family said.

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For millions of 90s TV viewers, Dean Cain embodied the ideal man. 

With his movie-star looks, Princeton education, and starring role opposite Teri Hatcher in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Cain became one of the decade’s biggest heartthrobs, helping turn the Man of Steel into appointment television for an entire generation. 

At its peak, the show attracted more than 15 million viewers per episode and made Cain a household name.

Three decades later, however, the actor’s public image looks very different.

What did Dean Cain say about Milly Alcock?

This week Cain found himself at the centre of fresh controversy after appearing to endorse a social media post mocking new Supergirl star Milly Alcock. 

The backlash began when an X user questioned how Supergirl could have pierced ears if her skin was bulletproof. Another user then replied with an image comparing Alcock to Cha-Ka, a character from the 1970s TV series Land of the Lost.

Cain responded: ‘Dang it… I laughed.’ 

Backlash quickly followed, with many fans pointing out how disappointing it was to see a former Superman actor appearing to join in with a joke at the expense of a 26-year-old actress about to inherit one of DC’s most iconic roles. 

Many ritics accused Cain of participating in misogynistic appearance-based mockery and undermining a younger performer, with one writing on Reddit: ‘She is like the most conventionally attractive woman ever. We can’t win,’ while another replied: ‘THIS. RIGHT. HERE. They just hate women. Period.’

And the backlash did not prove to be a learning experience for Cain.

Since Sunday, the MAGA-supporting actor has replied to or reposted at least 30 posts related to the Supergirl controversy, interspersing them with messages attacking Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner and praising President Donald Trump’s appearance at Monday’s NBA Finals game at Madison Square Garden.

The incident is only the latest chapter in a long and increasingly divisive transformation.

How did Dean Cain become famous?

Before Hollywood came calling, Cain looked destined for an entirely different career.

Born Dean George Tanaka in 1966, he excelled academically and athletically, playing football at Princeton University before briefly signing with the Buffalo Bills. A knee injury ended his football ambitions and pushed him towards entertainment instead. 

After a series of commercials and guest appearances, he landed the role that would define his career in 1993.

As Clark Kent in Lois & Clark, Cain embodied a softer, more romantic Superman, becoming a fixture on bedroom walls and magazine covers throughout the decade.

The role remains his most famous achievement, despite subsequent appearances in projects including Ripley’s Believe It or Not! and later a return to the Superman universe in Supergirl. 

He also became a major heart throb and source of tabloid intrigue, including a six-month relationship with fellow ’90s sex symbol Pamela Anderson at the beginning of her Baywatch run.

He also, famously, dated Brooke Shields during his time at Princeton.

In recent years, however, Cain has become almost as well known for his political views as for his acting.

What are Dean Cain’s political views?

The actor, who has publicly supported Donald Trump, has increasingly used television appearances and social media to weigh in on culture-war issues. 

He said in an interview with Variety: ‘I love President Trump. I’ve been friends with him forever. Trump is actually one of the most empathetic, wonderful, generous people you’ll ever meet.’

He also joined the board of the National Rifle Association, a pro-gun lobby widely accused of preventing gun-sense legislation aimed at halting school shootings, and became a regular voice in conservative media circles. 

Did Dean Cain really join ICE?

Perhaps the most controversial moment came in 2025 when Cain announced he was joining ICE, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

In a video posted to social media, he encouraged others to sign up too, saying the agency was helping to ‘save America’ and support immigration enforcement efforts. 

He said: ‘I am a sworn law enforcement officer, as well as being a filmmaker, and I felt it was important to join with our first responders to help secure the safety of all Americans, not just talk about it. So, I joined up,’ he said.

‘Since President Trump took office, ICE has arrested hundreds of thousands of criminals, including terrorists, rapists, murderers, paedophiles, MS-13 gang members, drug traffickers…you name it. Very dangerous people who are no longer on the streets.’

He then went on to encourage others to sign up too, pushing how people could ‘earn lots of great benefits and pay’.

As the theme music of Superman played, he told followers: ‘You can defend your homeland for great benefits’. He then cited a $50,000 (£37,000) signing bonus, student loan repayment, enhanced retirement benefits, and special pay.

Dean then added that ICE was ‘helping save America and remove the worst of the worst from America’s streets’.

‘I like that, and I voted for that. They need your help to protect our homeland and our families. Join today if that’s something that’s tickled your fancy…because we need you.’

The move generated widespread criticism online, with many pointing to what they saw as a contradiction between Superman’s long-standing status as an outsider seeking acceptance and Cain’s support for an agency frequently criticised by immigration advocates.

Some critics also highlighted Cain’s own experiences with racism after he was cast as the Man of Steel in the 1990s.

In a previous interview with Variety, the actor recalled being targeted with racist abuse shortly after landing the role.

‘It was 1993 and I remember a fan going, “We wanted Superman, not Sushi Man”,’ Cain said, referencing a comment about his Japanese heritage.

Cain’s biological father was a Japanese-American serviceman, and the actor has previously spoken about navigating prejudice throughout his career. Despite the remark, he insisted he wasn’t offended.

‘For the love of God, he’s a Kryptonian. He could be green. Does it matter,’ he said.

For some former fans, those comments only deepened the irony. As one social media user put it: ‘To make it worse, he’s literally talked about receiving backlash and being given racist nicknames for being a half-Asian Superman actor. And yet here he is endorsing and actively participating in those same systems of bigotry and shaming.’

What did Dean Cain say about new Superman films?

Ironically, some of Cain’s most controversial comments in recent years have centred on the very character that made him famous.

Ahead of the release of James Gunn’s Superman reboot last year, the actor criticised the director’s description of the character as an immigrant story, accusing Hollywood of making the iconic hero ‘woke’.

Speaking to TMZ, Cain asked: ‘How woke is Hollywood going to make this character?’

He continued: ‘How much is Disney going to change their Snow White? Why are they going to change these characters [to] exist for the times?’

The comments came after Gunn described Superman as ‘the story of America’ and ‘an immigrant that came from other places and populated the country’.

While Cain acknowledged the character’s origins, he argued there needed to be limits to the comparison.

‘We know Superman is an immigrant – he’s a freaking alien,’ he said.

‘The “American way” is immigrant friendly, tremendously immigrant friendly. But there are rules.’

He added: ‘There have to be limits, because we can’t have everybody in the United States. We can’t have everybody, society will fail.’

The remarks sparked backlash online, with critics pointing out that Superman has long been interpreted as a metaphor for the immigrant experience, dating back to the character’s creation by the sons of Jewish immigrants in the 1930s.

The remarks prompted debate among comic-book fans, many of whom pointed out that Superman has always been, quite literally, an immigrant from another planet.

Now Cain finds himself embroiled in another DC-related controversy just weeks before Alcock’s debut as Kara Zor-El in the upcoming Supergirl. 

Whether it’s supporting ICE, embracing polarising political causes, or laughing along with jokes aimed at younger actors, Cain has spent much of the last decade alienating sections of the audience that once adored him.

And for some former fans, the sight of yesterday’s Superman taking shots at tomorrow’s Supergirl feels like the saddest twist of all.

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A United States Hercules military plane has been tracked heading westwards across the Atlantic before it suddenly turned around after apparently declaring an emergency and returned to Cardiff

A US military plane has turned around after appearing to declare an emergency and returned to Cardiff Airport.

The USAF C-130H Hercules was tracked heading westwards across the Atlantic before it suddenly turned around for unknown reasons and landed at 1.15pm.

It is understood that the plane transmitted a 7700 code, indicating there is a general emergency, but at this stage it is unclear the reason.

The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is a four-engine turboprop military transport plane made in the United States by Lockheed Martin.

Designed to carry troops, cargo and casualties for medical evacuation, the aircraft is able to take off and land on rough unprepared runways.

When a pilot enters the four-digit emergency code 7700 into their transponder, it immediately alerts air traffic control that the aircraft is in distress and requires priority handling.

The exact nature of the incident is unclear as it acts as a “catch-all” for any emergency situation that isn’t a hijacking (7500) or radio failure (7600).

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