The text has appeared overnight

A huge billboard appearing to criticise Manchester United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has gone up outside Old Trafford. The poster, seemingly put up overnight, can be seen outside the stadium close to the Alex Ferguson stand.

It reads ‘Immigrants have done more for this city than billionaire tax dodgers ever will.’

As of yet, it is unclear who is behind the billboard, which follows several controversial comments made by the billionaire businessman, who owns a stake in Manchester United.

Ratcliffe made headlines following an interview with Sky News on Wednesday (February 11), in which he claimed the UK was being ‘colonised’ by immigrants. He later apologised for his ‘choice of language‘, which was widely criticised, and said it was important to ‘raise the issue of controlled and well-managed immigration that supports economic growth’.

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The club also said in a statement that they ‘pride themselves’ on being ‘an inclusive and welcoming club’.

“Our diverse group of players, staff and global community of supporters, reflect the history and heritage of Manchester; a city that anyone can call home,” it read.

Manchester United would have been left with just three players on its starting line-up, and two on its bench without its immigrant players, the Mirror found.

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The Sunday Times Rich List previously estimated that Ratcliffe, who is founder of petrochemicals firm INEOS, is worth £17 billion and was one of the UK’s richest men, the Mirror reported. In 2020, two years after he was knighted for “services to business and investment”, he officially changed his tax residence, switching from Hampshire to Monaco.

He was previously one of the UK’s biggest taxpayers, having contributed an estimated £110 million to the public purse between 2017 and 2018, placing him atop the Sunday Times Rich lists and fifth on the publication’s Tax List.

Monaco is a sovereign city state tax haven outside France, where authorities do not levy taxes on income, wealth or property, and the decision, at the time, was believed to have allowed Ratcliffe up to save up to £4 billion if he stayed there more than 183 days a year.

Manchester United was approached for comment. INEOS declined to comment.

The new series is set to be a ‘horrific’ romance thriller and fans say has the same vibes as Smile

Fans of the popular series Stranger Things have been given a sneak peek at the next big project from its creators.

The upcoming Netflix show, already being hailed by fans as a ‘horrific’ romance thriller, has just unveiled a spine-chilling first look. The new series, titled Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen, is set to premiere on the streaming platform next month.

The brainchild of creator and showrunner Haley Z. Boston, who previously contributed to Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities and scripted episodes for the Al Pacino-led series Hunters, this latest venture promises to be an intriguing addition to her portfolio.

The Duffer brothers, renowned for their work on the 80s-inspired Stranger Things, are on board as executive producers for this atmospheric horror series. The plot revolves around a couple in the week leading up to their doomed wedding ceremony.

Netflix assures viewers that the title isn’t a spoiler but rather a hint of what’s to come. The synopsis provides further insight into the storyline, drawing comparisons with iconic horror films, reports the Mirror.

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It reads: “If Carrie is horror’s version of a girl becoming a woman, and Rosemary’s Baby is the horrific version of a woman becoming a mother, Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen is horror’s take on a woman becoming a wife. Rachel is getting married in five days. Together with her fiancé, Nicky , she embarks on a road trip to his family’s vacation home, secluded in a snowy forest, for the intimate wedding ceremony of their dreams.

“Which really would be so lovely, except, prone to superstition and paranoia, Rachel can’t shake the relentless feeling that something bad is going to happen. Her foreboding doubts, coupled with a series of eerie coincidences and dreadful surprises, force her to ask the question: What makes two people soulmates? And worse, what could be scarier than lifelong commitment to the wrong person?”.

Ahead of the release of the first footage, fans were treated to a tantalising teaser on social media. The sneak peek offers a chilling glimpse of ‘The Night Manager’ star Camila Morrone as Rachel, donned in her wedding dress, proceeding down the aisle at an ominously sinister wedding.

A perplexing sequence of enigmatic images follows, with various characters seemingly whispering apologies to our lead character: “I’m sorry”. A cake mirrors this sentiment, bearing the same message, whilst a handwritten note ominously warns ‘Don’t marry him’.

Viewers won’t have to wait long for the eight-part series, which is slated to stream on Netflix from 26 March. Boston has already hinted at what audiences can anticipate and the mood they aim to evoke with the series.

In conversation with Tudum, she revealed: “(It’s) unsettling, getting-under-your-skin dread. I love to explore characters. I think sometimes that’s lacking in the horror genre. My natural approach is from a place of character and dialogue and humour and then infusing that with unsettling horror … I’m like, ‘I want to be unsettled. I want to be freaked out.’”.

Plenty of viewers have already decided this will be their next horror obsession after watching the preview material. One fan commented beneath the trailer on YouTube: “Trailer gives the same suspense vibes as the movie Smile.”

Another enthusiast declared: “I’m very excited for this. Not a clue what’s going on, but I’m excited. This teaser was enough to get my attention, I won’t be watching the official trailer. Don’t want to know anymore!”

Something Very Bad Is About To Happen is streaming on Netflix from March 26.

**For the latest showbiz, TV, movie and streaming news, go to the new ** Everything Gossip ** website**

Day seven of the Winter Olympics fell on Friday 13th but far from being unlucky, it was the day Team GB’s medal curse finally lifted.

Morale has dropped after a series of near misses, including three fourth-places – one by a fraction of a point – and the day started off badly as Charlotte Bankes fell victim to her own curse, that of the Olympic quarter-final, once again.

But after Blue Monday, Terrible Tuesday, and Worrying Wednesday, and with anxiety swirling over how feasible UK Sport’s target of four to eight medals actually is, Matt Weston arrived to save the day.

Much has been made of how Great Britain, not a traditional winter sports nation, has been a disruptive force at elite level over the last few seasons. GB arrived at this Games with several medal favourites, and some have struggled to cope with the pressure, or simply seen things not go their way on the day. Winter sports can be capricious, tricksy beasts.

But they reckoned without Weston, who has not risen to the occasion so much as bent it to his own will, remaking skeleton in his image.

The 28-year-old has been the dominant force on the World Cup circuit for the last couple of years. He tore his quad eight weeks before the start of the 2025/26 season but he came back from that in utterly imperious form, winning five of the seven World Cup races and becoming the first British man to win three overall titles. He is the reigning world champion, a three-time European champion, and an utterly ruthless operator.

He broke the track record in Cortina d’Ampezzo – where he won the first World Cup of the year, on the brand-new Olympic track – in each of his four runs, even after a minor error early in his first heat on Thursday.

There were no such errors in the remaining three; he was the first to go under 56 seconds, in his second heat, and took an advantage of three-tenths of a second into Friday.

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1,440m of ice, with 16 curves and chicanes, and a 170m drop in elevation: all tamed by Britain’s first-ever men’s skeleton Olympic champion.

His demeanour after every race has been telling, roaring with delight, full of adrenaline. After setting the ludicrous time of 55.63 seconds after the third heat he celebrated before waving sweetly to the camera, already resetting, laser-focused on the task at hand. The BBC commentary team said the rest of the field “may as well pack up and go home”.

In other disciplines it may have been possible to go for a safe final run, confident of holding onto the lead; in skeleton the margins are razor-thin so that is unwise, but nonetheless Weston is not that kind of character.

As the temperature dropped to -3 degrees in Cortina, making the technical, slightly slow track faster, he took to the track as the last of 24 sliders.

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And the world No 1 delivered: another track record, an astonishing 55.61, and a glittering gold, with his winning time 3:43.33 – 0.88 quickest than his nearest rival and over a second clear of third place.

He leapt into his coach’s arms to celebrate, dropping to his knees on the ice before roaring at the flag-waving British crowd, letting out four years of pain, suffering, frustration and elation in turn.

Beijing silver medallist Axel Jungk of Germany took silver in 3:44.21, while his compatriot, and defending champion, Christopher Grotheer finished in 3:44.30 for bronze, his second Olympic medal.

Weston’s teammate Marcus Wyatt finished in ninth, 2.44 seconds off Weston’s time.

NEW YORK (AP) — Goldman Sachs general counsel Kathy Ruemmler has had a storied legal career. As a federal prosecutor, she helped successfully prosecute Enron executives including Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling. She was part of President Barack Obama’s administration, working in various roles for much of his two terms in office, including as White House Counsel.

She was even briefly considered by President Obama as a candidate for Attorney General.

On Thursday, Ruemmler, 54, announced that she plans to resign from the top legal post at Goldman after a trove of emails and correspondence between her and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein showed the two individuals were especially close, years after Epstein’s 2008 conviction on sex crimes charges, when he became a registered sex offender.

Ruemmler previously downplayed her relationship with Epstein. She called him a “monster” and said she regretted ever knowing him. Ruemmler has repeatedly described their relationship as professional, citing her job as a private defense attorney before she ever joined Goldman Sachs.

But documents released in recent weeks and reviewed by The Associated Press depict a deeper relationship than had previously been characterized by Ruemmler and Goldman Sachs. These included intimate email exchanges, social plans and gifts that went beyond formal legal work.

Roughly 8,400 documents involved Ruemmler or referenced her. Some correspondence shows that Ruemmler was aware of the extent of the allegations that Epstein had faced involving underage girls in Florida. In some instances, she advised Epstein on how he might go about trying to repair his image and defend himself publicly against new claims of misconduct.

The gifts Epstein gave to Ruemmler have been documented in news reports: the spa treatments, the handbags from Hermes, an Apple Watch, a Fendi coat, among many others. But some of the interactions between Epstein and Ruemmler described throughout their correspondence indicates that Epstein and Ruemmler did not simply have a lawyer-client transactional relationship, as Ruemmler previously attested to.

“It makes him happy to see you happy,” Epstein’s assistant wrote to Ruemmler in 2016, after Epstein prepaid for a spa treatment for her.

In October 2018, Epstein directed one of his assistants to send flowers and chicken soup to Ruemmler because she has “not been feeling well.” It would not be the first time that Epstein would send her a small token of appreciation when she was sick. They talked about dating issues, made jokes about both the wealthy and everyday people, and shared laments about their careers and dating lives.

They would message each other about mundane things like their mutual distaste for seeing babies in business class on flights and would repeatedly plan to have dinner or drinks in various places. Epstein even had Ruemmler as a backup executor of his will at one point.

Setting aside the immense wealth and privilege and Epstein’s legal troubles, many of the emails between the two would look no different from the banter that many Americans would share to in their own text messages, emails or group chats.

“Well, I adore him. It’s like having another older brother!” she wrote in an email in 2015.

During her time in private practice after she left the White House in 2014, Ruemmler received several expensive gifts from Epstein, including luxury handbags and a fur coat. The gifts were given after Epstein had already been convicted of sex crimes in 2008 and was registered as a sex offender. Ruemmler was also involved in Epstein’s legal defense efforts after he was arrested a second time for sex crimes in 2019 and later killed himself in a Manhattan jail.

“So lovely and thoughtful! Thank you to Uncle Jeffrey!!!” Ruemmler wrote to Epstein in 2018.

She later joined Goldman Sachs in 2020 and became the investment bank’s top lawyer in 2021.

The firm’s leadership backed her publicly amid the revelations. But the embarrassing emails raised questions about Ruemmler’s judgment. Historically, Wall Street frowns on gift-giving between clients and bankers or Wall Street lawyers, particularly high-end gifts that could pose a conflict of interest. Goldman Sachs requires its employees to get pre-approval before receiving gifts from or giving them to clients, according to the company’s code of conduct, partly in order to not run afoul of anti-bribery laws.

Bloomberg News, The Wall Street Journal and other media outlets reported that Goldman’s partners, who are the firm’s most senior and well-regarded members going back to when the investment bank was privately held, had begun to question why the firm was holding Ruemmler in such high regard when other lawyers were just as qualified to hold the top legal job.

In her statement Thursday, Ruemmler said: “Since I joined Goldman Sachs six years ago, it has been my privilege to help oversee the firm’s legal, reputational, and regulatory matters; to enhance our strong risk management processes; and to ensure that we live by our core value of integrity in everything we do. My responsibility is to put Goldman Sachs’ interests first.”

Goldman CEO David Solomon he respected Ruemmler’s decision to resign. The firm isn’t rushing Ruemmler out the door, saying in a statement that she would wind down her work at the bank “to ensure a smooth transition,” before her last day on June 30.

___

The AP is reviewing the documents released by the Justice Department in collaboration with journalists from CBS, NBC, MS NOW and CNBC. Journalists from each newsroom are working together to examine the files and share information about what is in them. Each outlet is responsible for its own independent news coverage of the documents.

High Coniscliffe, four miles outside of Darlington along the A67, may appear at first glance to be like any other village.

But behind its limestone cottages and village green lies a history stretching back to Anglo-Saxon power struggles and Roman-era remains.

Online travel forums and local walking groups frequently reference the village as a “hidden stretch of the Tees” and “a peaceful base with a lot of history”.

The River Tees near to High Coniscliffe (Image: NORTHERN ECHO)

The Teesdale Way passes along the riverbank below the village, and it is this stretch that appears most often in reviews from visitors and on walking forums like AllTrails.

One walker posting in a North East hiking group described the approach as “one of the prettiest sections of the Tees before Piercebridge”, while another said the village makes “a perfect halfway pause between Darlington and the Roman fort”.

Cyclists travelling the A67 also mention the village green and church as a striking roadside scene, with one rider noting that “the view across the green towards the church tower is worth slowing down for”.

St Edwin’s Church, positioned on the south side of the road above the river, remains the architectural focal point.

The Spotted Dog in High Coniscliffe (Image: NORTHERN ECHO)

Parts of the limestone building date back to around 1170, with a Norman arched doorway, Gothic arch and later medieval tower and spire.

Heritage visitors frequently reference the church’s layered design and elevated setting.

“It feels older than it looks,” one visitor wrote on TripAdvisor.

“The Norman doorway alone is worth the stop.”

High Coniscliffe’s history includes episodes that would not look out of place in a historical drama.

The River Tees (Image: NORTHERN ECHO)

Records suggest that in 761 AD, Oswin, a Bernician nobleman, was killed here amid Northumbrian power struggles.

Later, in 778 AD, a high sheriff named Elduf is said to have died in the village.

In the late 16th century, two Catholic priests from the parish, Richard Thirkeld and Christopher Bayles, were executed for treason due to their faith.

The Spotted Dog in High Coniscliffe (Image: NORTHERN ECHO)

High Coniscliffe has long centred around its green and the junction at Ulnaby Lane.

The Duke of Wellington pub, which closed in 2010 and was later converted into housing, was once known for displaying a portrait of Napoleon on its sign between 1975 and 1988.

The Spotted Dog pub remains a landmark in the village’s story, its name linked to an 18th-century racing foxhound.

Finds in and around High Coniscliffe suggest settlement activity stretching back even further.

Bronze Age tools, Roman pottery fragments thought to be linked to nearby Piercebridge Roman Fort, and Anglo-Saxon carvings incorporated into the church all add to the historic links of High Coniscliffe.

Recent online comments describe it as “peaceful and unspoilt”, “a lovely stop on the Teesdale Way”, and “full of atmosphere if you know the history”.

For Darlington residents, it offers a short escape into the countryside within minutes of town.

The hosts, meanwhile, are too in decent form having tasted defeat just once in their last seven games across all competitions, though an even bigger test awaits this evening. Follow Hull vs Chelsea LIVE below with Standard Sport’s dedicated match blog, featuring expert insight and analysis from Dom Smith at the MKM Stadium!

A Colorado cemetery is forcing a family to remove an “inappropriate” headstone bearing images of upraised middle fingers.

The headstone has been in Evergreen Cemetery in Colorado Springs for five years, marking the final resting place of brothers Timothy and Ryan Geschke. The sisters of the interred, Heidi and Holly Geschke, were recently informed that the headstone designer was told to cover up images of raised middle fingers on the gravestone with black tape.

“This is a symbol of love and Geschke blood through and through,” Holly Geschke told KOAA.

Now, the cemetery’s manager is telling the family that the headstone must be removed.

According to the cemetery’s rules, headstones cannot be profane or offensive to the general public. “No words or images may be engraved on a memorial that would be considered profane or offensive to the general public,” the cemetery’s current rules state.

Holly Geschke told The Independent that she was not asked to sign a contract when the tombstone was erected and was not told by anyone at that time that the design violated any of the cemetery’s rules.

She said the only instructions her family was given at the time were that the middle finger engravings could not be facing a nearby street.

When KOAA reporters asked the cemetery’s manager, Cheryl Godbout, how many complaints she’d received, she said the number of complaints was “irrelevant, because once I was made aware of it, then I had to do something.”

“It would not have been right of me to know about it, knowing it violates our rules and to ignore our rules,” she said.

The Geschke sisters do not agree that the images are offensive enough to warrant removal.

“This was created with so much love and respect and loyalty to our brothers,” Holly Geschke told KOAA. “This is speaking to the character of not who they were, but who we are as a family.”

The manager said the family does not need to remove the headstone themselves and that the cemetery will store the marker for the family.

The sisters told KOAA that they don’t plan on removing or remaking the headstone to bring it into compliance with the cemetery’s rules.

“They’re in a resting place and now here we are being asked to disturb their resting place,” Holly Greschke said. “It’s mind-boggling,”

She said her family plans to fight the removal order, and if necessary, move her brothers out of the cemetery entirely.

“These are my brothers, I’m not going to let this go,” she told The Independent. “Whether this ends in our favor or not we’re not backing down on this. We’re making noise for the boys.”

Tudor has been out of work since being sacked by Juventus in October 2025 and is set for his first spell in England, after previously taking charge of clubs in Italy, France, Turkey, Croatia and Greece.

He is tasked, first and foremost, with easing Tottenham‘s relegation fears, after a 2-1 loss to Newcastle in Thomas Frank’s final match on Tuesday left them five points above the bottom three.

Having earned a reputation as a no-nonsense defender during a playing career in which he won 55 caps for Croatia and made more than 150 appearances for Italian giants Juventus, there is one certain non-negotiable for Tudor as a manager.

“He asks his players to run a lot. In a previous interview he said ‘If you don’t run, you don’t play’,” says L’Equipe journalist Pierre-Etienne Minonzio.

“In his one season in Marseille it was always the same way of playing – 3-5-2 – and it was great to watch.

“It was not easy because Marseille’s best player was Dimitri Payet, a very gifted player but not well-known for running, and he didn’t play.

“It was a joke in L’Equipe – if Igor Tudor had Lionel Messi in his squad, Messi would not play!”

Tudor’s sole season in France saw Marseille finish third behind Paris St-Germain and Lens, despite surpassing the club’s points total from the previous campaign when they finished second.

“He did pretty well in Ligue 1. What I liked is that he doesn’t try to be liked. He is very direct, says what he thinks and doesn’t try to be attractive. There is no seduction,” says Minonzio.

“It is the same with the players. He keeps his distance and his obsession is to make training intense with a lot of running so they can be physically fit for the game.”

Belfast City Council voted through measures which will involve searching for locations for a new open-air concert venue

A plan for two new GAA pitches and a soccer pitch at Boucher Road Playing Fields will go ahead, after Belfast Council voted through measures which will involve searching for locations for a new large-scale open venue.

At a special meeting of the full Belfast City Council at City Hall on Friday, February 13, a Green Party proposal was passed, supported by Sinn Féin, the SDLP and People Before Profit, with the DUP, Alliance, the UUP and TUV in opposition. The recorded vote showed 32 elected members in favour, to 24 in opposition.

The successful Green Party amendment states: “This council is committed to bring forward a new Pitches Strategy in March 2026 to address the current significant gaps in pitch provision across Belfast, improve existing facilities and increase use of other pitches through better partnership working with other organisations in the city.

READ MORE: Sinn Féin and SDLP clash with council officials over controversial GAA pitch

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“In light of particular challenges around the provision of GAA pitches, this council will agree to the provision of new GAA pitches within this Pitches Strategy as a priority. This will include the use of Boucher Road Playing Fields with Belfast City Council installing two GAA pitches, an intermediate soccer pitch and small sided games pitches at this facility.”

It adds: “The council acknowledges the potential conflict with the site’s existing use as the largest venue for major concerts and events in Belfast, and recognises the importance of ensuring to maintain a site that is capable of hosting on a similar or greater scale going forward, with appropriate supporting facilities and infrastructure.

“We commit to working with the large-scale events sector, statutory partners and local stakeholders to identify and assess suitable alternative sites around the city, or the potential for managing both within the Boucher Road Playing Fields site.”

A report is to be brought back exploring options within two months. The proposal adds: “The council will also prioritise proposed soccer pitches that may be eligible for external funding plans processes, as and when application periods open.”

This large-scale events element of the proposal will include consideration of locations such as Ormeau Park, the Titanic Slipways, and the former Sirocco Works site, without “limiting the scope” to these options.

The decision means Belfast is likely to lose its current largest outdoor concert venue at Boucher Playing Fields, which has a capacity of 40,000. Known for hosting massive concerts and festivals like Belfast Vital, the Fields have hosted A listers such as Bruce Springsteen, Ed Sheeran, Liam Gallagher, The Killers, Sam Fender, and Eminem.

This has not come without controversy, and locals have been airing their grievances for years about the disruption created by the big live events. The Fields have hosted large gigs since 2010, and while a huge source of income to the city economy, are an ongoing source of upset to neighbours.

Every summer South Belfast councillors have warned of disruption and logistical challenges for residents during the summer season of big concerts. In 2024 the council set up a “Social Value Fund” to be allocated to those local communities beside Boucher Road Playing Fields who felt adverse effects from large concerts.

In June 2022 Boucher Fields were confirmed to remain a venue for music gigs and other events, when its entertainment licence was renewed, despite complaints and objections from local residents. Two months later Belfast council announced extra residential security to protect residents around the Playing Fields gigs after people were left “traumatised” in their homes after an Ed Sheeran concert.

Sinn Féin Councillor Ciaran Beattie said at the meeting: “If you see the commentary from residents (close to Boucher Road Playing Fields), they feel like prisoners in their own homes. Anyone who speaks to residents that live around there, they don’t like it.”

He added: “There is a massive problem that this site causes, and the communities around it feel it. So it is not only about addressing the sporting issues, it is about addressing the community issues, the people who are feeling the negative effect of this.

“It is okay to live five or ten miles away from this and think it is a great idea, but go and speak to the residents. Go and knock on a couple of doors and you will see what their opinions are.”

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