ATLANTA (AP) — So much for a supersized World Cup diluting the quality of soccer’s biggest tournament.

Tiny Cape Verde, making its debut at the World Cup, pulled off a stunning upset to shut out heavily favored Spain in a 0-0 draw on Monday.

“This means everything for our country,” said Cape Verde coach Pedro Leitão Brito. “We have always said that we wanted everybody to see our country, our team and we have shown organization and braveness and this is proof of what our country is about — resilience and to try to overcome hardships.”

European champion Spain is one of the favorites to win the tournament and was -1200 to beat Cape Verde in its opening game. But it could not find a way past a 40-year-old goalkeeper and a stubborn defense that had an answer to everything Spain’s superstars threw at them.

Not even sensational teenager Lamine Yamal, who came in off the bench in the second half, could turn a game that ended with wild and emotional celebrations inside the stadium.

“A dream” was how Cape Verde defender Steven Moreira described it.

Veteran goalkeeper Vozinha broke down in tears after the final whistle following his impressive performance to keep Spain at bay.

He was the player of the match, pulling off a string of saves at the end of the first half to deny Ferran Torres, Pedri and Aymeric Laporte.

The closest Spain came to finding a breakthrough was when Torres struck the bar shortly before halftime.

“We should have won today’s match with everything that happened, with all the favorable situations we created, but we lacked freshness and a clinical edge,” said Spain coach Luis de la Fuente, who had warned before the match that Cape Verde could be one of the surprise teams of the World Cup.

Spain could have been the victim of an even bigger upset when Diney Borges had a late chance to win the game, but saw his header saved by Spain keeper Unai Simon.

Add Cape Verde to Cameroon, Senegal and Saudi Arabia on the list of teams that have pulled off shocking results against soccer’s giants in the World Cup.

Cameroon beat defending champion Argentina in 1990 and Senegal beat defending champion France in 2002. Four years ago Saudi Arabia triumphed against Lionel Messi’s Argentina, which eventually went on to win the tournament in Qatar.

Cape Verde didn’t win, but its performance rebuked some of the criticisms that the expansion of the World Cup from 32 teams to 48 would weaken the tournament.

The group of islands have about 4,000 square meters (about 2.5 miles) of landmass and approximately half a million inhabitants, making Cape Verde the third-smallest nation by population to qualify for the World Cup. And even against a Spain team that is filled with superstar players, Cape Verde proved its worth on soccer’s biggest stage.

Despite the majority of the 67,640 crowd inside Atlanta Stadium appearing to be Spain fans, it was the Cape Verde supporters that cheered loudest. They continued their celebrations after the final whistle, singing and dancing in the concourse.

“All of us, we are happy because we work a lot to be here. We deserve to be here,” said Vozinha.

The 2010 champion Spain is aiming to win the World Cup for a second time and is coming into the tournament after winning the Euros in 2024. But a disappointing start echoes its performances in recent World Cups when it has failed to advance beyond the round of 16 in each of the last three editions.

“What doubts do you think my team is going to have? Zero doubts,” said De la Fuente. “We know how difficult this competition is. The idea we need to follow is what took us here and what made us European champions.”

Spain plays Saudi Arabia on Sunday and Cape Verde faces Uruguay.

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James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson

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

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A B-52 bomber crashed shortly after takeoff Monday morning at a U.S. Air Force base in Southern California’s Mojave Desert, officials said.

Emergency crews were responding after the aircraft went down around 11:20 a.m. at Edwards Air Force Base, the military said on the social platform X. There was no immediate information on whether anyone was hurt.

Video from the scene showed a plume of black smoke rising from the desert.

Shortly before 1 p.m., the airfield was closed and all inbound aircraft were being diverted. Meanwhile all non-commercial visitor passes for the base were suspended “to allow the installation to focus entirely on emergency response operations,” officials said in a statement.

The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, typically crewed by five people, is a long-range bomber that entered service in 1955. Designed to carry both conventional and nuclear weapons, it has been used in conflicts ranging from the Vietnam War to recent operations in the Middle East.

Edwards Air Force Base is home to a large portion of the U.S. Air Force’s aircraft test and development efforts and is about 100 miles (161 km) north of Los Angeles. The 412th Test Wing, which runs the base, also conducts developmental testing of all U.S. Air Force aircraft, weapons systems, software and components before purchase by the service as well as throughout their lifespan.

The vast desert base is also where Chuck Yeager broke the speed of sound in 1947.

The crash comes almost a year after the pilot of a regional airliner flying over North Dakota made an unexpected sharp turn to avoid a possible midair collision with a military B-52 bomber that was in its flight path last July.

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Toropin reported from Washington D.C.

The new markers have been installed along the River Tees, which has formed the border between County Durham and Yorkshire’s North Riding for more than a thousand years, but been unrecognised for five decades.

Representatives of Durham County Council, the Historic Counties Trust, and the Yorkshire Ridings Society attended a ceremonial unveiling at County Bridge in Barnard Castle on Monday, June 15.

Nigel Wilkin of the Yorkshire Ridings Society said: “The River Tees has marked the border between County Durham and the North Riding of Yorkshire for over a thousand years.

“Despite the indelible place of our two great counties in our history and our hearts, this border has not been properly marked for over 50 years.

“We are overjoyed to see this omission rectified.”

Councillor Robbie Rodiss, chairman of Durham County Council, formally unveiled the signs during the ceremony.

Durham County Council has erected six pairs of signs at bridges crossing the River Tees, including Winston Bridge, Worlton Suspension Bridge, Egglestone Abbey Bridge, County Bridge, Eggleston Bridge, and Middleton Bridge.

Additional signs marking the boundary with historic Westmorland have also been installed at Ley Seat Edge.

Peter Boyce of the Historic Counties Trust said: “We are very grateful to Durham County Council for marking the ancient border between them and to Councillor Rodiss for unveiling the new signs at County Bridge.”

All signs were funded by the Historic Counties Trust, with support from funds raised by Councillor Ross Patterson during his term as Stockton Council’s ceremonial mayor.

Inside Kim Leadbeater’s office in Parliament, ‘five’ and ‘zero’ helium balloons are gently deflating. They are a reminder of the weekend the Labour MP for Spen Valley has just had in Harrogate celebrating her birthday, but also carry a more poignant memory.

Ten years ago, Kim’s sister Jo Cox was the star guest, arriving last minute from Parliament, throwing off her MP’s suit and embracing the party spirit in a neon tutu. “We had so much fun that weekend,” Kim says. “Jo wasn’t an MP, she was just Jo. We’d rented a big house in North Yorkshire, and we were in 80s fancy dress. Jo wore a tutu, and we sang ‘I Know Him So Well’, our karaoke song, together.”

Kim’s 40th birthday was on May 1, 2016. Six weeks later, arriving for a regular constituency surgery in a library in the community she and Kim had grown up in, Jo was was murdered by a Far Right extremist.

Her family went from sitting down together to watch the England-Wales Euros game, to being plunged into a nightmare from which they have never emerged. “I haven’t been able to grieve,” Kim tells me now, 10 years later. “We just had to keep going forward, through the pain of it, through the trial. I needed to be there for my parents and for Jo’s kids. Even now I think, if I stop to grieve I might just fall apart.”

Ten years on, it is glaringly obvious that Jo’s murder has not been the watershed we all wished it could be. In June 2026, two acts of gross violence have been ruthlessly exploited by Far Right agitators. Belfast has seen families hunted down by race, there have been racist attacks in Glasgow, and families in Southampton remain frightened, after orchestrated violence.

“When Jo was killed, it should have been the end – and the start of something different,” Kim says, now. “And for a moment it felt like that might be the case. But at this moment things are worse than ever. Believe me, I really do understand anger. But we all have a choice as to what you do with that anger. It would be really easy for me to want to hate every individual who looked like the individual who took my sister’s life. I chose not to do that because that act was his and his alone.”

I remember seeing Jo tearing through this same building in Parliament, after she had been elected in May 2015. Now, it’s Kim – who five years after her murder, stepped into her sister’s shoes – who has an office at Portcullis House. For a decade, Kim and the rest of her extraordinary family have done everything they can to live by Jo’s ‘More In Common’ optimism, spreading love through national campaigns like The Great Get Together. But this tenth year feels different.

“Every day is awful without Jo,” the former fitness instructor says, speaking frankly. “The tenth anniversary will be no different. But this year, I think we need to talk more about what is happening in the country. We’ve done such a powerful job as a family and as Jo’s friends to remember the good things, and to do good things – but what we haven’t done is talked about the fact she was killed by a right-wing fascist neo-Nazi.

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“So I want to talk about that this year. I don’t mean talking about him – we have never talked about him or even named him. But we need to start talking about the context.” During her own time in Parliament, Kim has not lived in her big sister’s shadow. Today, she is widely known as the MP who fought for an Assisted Dying Bill. In the process, Kim has had to live every one of the values she and Jo tried to bring to politics – in trying to disagree well.

“I do try to find common ground with people,” Kim says. “Jo and I were brought up like that. And sometimes to agree to disagree.” The Bill means she is regularly stopped, she says, by people who want to talk to about dying. It must be hard to talk to people constantly about death when she had been unable to grieve? “It is hard,” she agrees, “but it is such a human issue – and we don’t talk about death enough. We are all going to die.”

Her passion on the issue is palpable, and I wondered if it had something to do with her sister’s death – that Jo had not died with dignity. “Well, it’s about choice,” she says, after a pause. “All the bill is asking is for a choice. Jo didn’t have a choice.”

The June sunshine and the approaching World Cup are echoes of that moment in June 2016 when the world seemed to turn on its head. “I can’t really remember that time,” Kim says. “It’s a blur. I was just on autopilot. I had to be there for my mum and dad, and for Jo’s kids.

“So, we threw ourselves into the good stuff. Her government strategy on loneliness, supporting the White Helmets, More in Common, the Jo Cox Foundation, the Jo Cox run, the Jo Cox bike ride… It’s been the worst of humanity followed by the best of humanity.”

This week, has been full of privileges Kim says she wished she had never had. She gave a lecture at Jo’s old Cambridge college, Pembroke and spoke at Downing Street alongside the Prime Minister. In her speech she said that “perhaps the greatest tribute we can pay to Jo is not merely to repeat her words, but to live by them”.

Kim knows that people often find her and Jo very similar. “We were very similar, growing up,” she says. “We had the same values, and the same friendship group. We both loved school, we loved sport, and having a good time. We loved going out for drinks when were old enough.

“But Jo was also very shy. I think people don’t always know that. She had to work very hard on public speaking. I was always much more confident when we were children.” Like her sister, Kim can never stay serious for long, and she sees me looking at the copy of Vogue on her desk, which carries an interview with her. We both know what Jo would have made of seeing her little sister in Vogue.

“Jo would have found it absolutely hilarious!” she says, with a big laugh. “As I do! It is bloody hilarious. I’ve never had the least interest in fashion and clothes. I’m not built for being a fashionista, all the clothes are for tall people. I’m literally wearing a charity shop shoes, dress and jacket!”

Perhaps it is Kim’s voice, so similar in warmth to her sister’s, but for a moment it is easy to imagine Jo is still here in the building – still sharing an office with her old friend Stephen Kinnock, who laughingly put up with her cycling gear, and babysat her young children while she voted.

Kim, it turns out, often has the the same thought. “Jo was killed on Thursday 16th June 2016,” Kim says. “That weekend I was due to go to an open day at Leeds Beckett University for a Master’s degree. And I suppose that in that future I never would have been an MP.”

She smiles. “Or maybe… well, just maybe there would have been the boundary changes, and Jo might have persuaded me to stand for the other local seat – because she was always trying to get me to do something in politics, and she was very persuasive – to become the neighbouring MP.

“She’d have been the MP for Dewsbury and Batley and I would have represented Spen Valley. We’d have both been representing our home and the area we love.” The lost possibility of this parallel world seems unbearably sad, but Kim shakes her head. “It makes me happy to think about that,” she says. “Thinking of us both here.”

She looks out of the window, where tourists’ cameras flash from boats viewing Parliament from the River Thames. “But I have gone on my own journey, instead.”

The motorway is closed in both directions between J24 Denton Interchange (Manchester, A57; Sheffield, M67) and J23 Snipe Interchange (Ashton-under-Lyne, A635) due to a Greater Manchester Police-led incident.

North West Ambulance Service are also in attendance.

National Highways Traffic Officers are also on scene providing assistance with traffic management.

Map (Image: National Highways)

Diversion Route

Anti-clockwise traffic is advised to follow the hollow diamond diversion symbol:

• Exit the M60 anti-clockwise at J24 and at the roundabout take the third exit onto the M67 eastbound.
• Leave the M67 at J1 and turn left onto the A6017 Ashton Road northbound.
• Continue straight on to the A6017 Denton Road northbound.
• Continue straight on to the A6017 Guide Lane northbound.
• At the junction with the A6140, turn left onto the A6140 Audenshaw Road westbound.
• At the junction with the A635, turn right onto the A635 Manchester Road eastbound.
• Continue until the junction with the M60 at J23.
• Turn left onto the slip road and re-join the M60 anti-clockwise.

If this closure impacts on your planned route, please allow extra journey time. Plan ahead, you may wish to re-route or even delay your journey.

Further information is available from National Highways by visiting our www.trafficengland.com website and travel apps, or via our regional X feed.

Our 24/7 contact centre team is also available to provide up to the minute information on 0300 123 5000.

The M60 has been closed in both directions this evening amid an ongoing police incident. Emergency crews are in attendance between J24 for Denton Interchange (Manchester, A57; Sheffield, M67) and J23 for the Snipe Interchange (Ashton-under-Lyne, A635).

All lanes are closed currently with a large police presence at the scene. The North West Ambulance Service are also in attendance.

National Highways Traffic Officers are also on scene providing assistance with traffic management, with diversion routes now being put in place.

Motorists are being urged to find alternative routes and avoid the motorway amid the ongoing incident. No further details have been confirmed.

This is a live blog. Updates to follow below.

The future of Marcus Rashford at Manchester United is reportedly shifting direction, with a permanent switch to Barcelona now looking increasingly likely. Negotiations between the two clubs have been ongoing for months, but with Rashford’s £26million release clause now no longer active, a simple transfer agreement has effectively been removed from the table.

Rashford, who spent the 2025/26 season on loan at Camp Nou, had been keen to extend his stay in Spain. However, Barcelona’s recent £70m signing of Anthony Gordon has reduced their need for another major attacking arrival.

Although another loan deal has not been ruled out, the expiry of the clause means United can no longer rely on Barcelona to take Rashford – and his £325,000-per-week wages – off their hands.

Because of this, United are expected to take a more proactive approach in the market. Interest in Rashford remains strong, with Bayern Munich and several Premier League clubs reportedly tracking the situation closely following his productive loan spell, which produced 14 goals and 14 assists in Catalonia.

For Vozinha, this moment had been a lifetime in the making.

Born Josimar Dias, the Cape Verde goalkeeper has spent his entire career chasing the dream of playing at a World Cup.

When it finally arrived, it came with history attached. At 40 years and 12 days, he became the oldest player to appear in a nation’s debut World Cup match, surpassing the record set on Sunday by Curacao’s Eloy Room.

In fact, only Egypt’s Essam El Hadary was older when making their World Cup debut.

It is a remarkable milestone in a career defined by perseverance.

“I started playing professional football when I was 25 years old, in 2012. It was too late for a person like me,” said Vozinha.

“I thought about leaving the national team, but then I continued because of this dream.

“The performance is a performance for everyone. I am the man of the game, but this award is for all my colleagues, because without them, nothing is possible. And I will continue to work for the team and for the people.”

Cape Verde lies nearly 600km off the west coast of Africa, a beautiful but isolated archipelago where opportunities for young footballers are limited. Growing up in Mindelo, Vozinha faced challenges from the outset.

“I was one of the best keepers on my island, but I was small,” he recalled. “Even when I performed well, I wasn’t selected because of my height.”

Like many players before him, he eventually left for Portugal, the country’s former colonial power, in search of opportunity. That decision marked the beginning of a career that would take him across Slovakia, Angola, Moldova and Cyprus. Now Vozinha plays with Portuguese second-tier side Chaves.

Even Vozinha’s name carries a piece of footballing history. His father had hoped to call him ‘Valdano’, after the Argentina and Real Madrid great Jorge Valdano, but the Cape Verde authorities refused. Instead, he was named Josimar after the Brazil defender who rose to prominence at the 1986 World Cup.

Decades later, on another World Cup stage, Vozinha has created history of his own.

The Delta Hotel by Marriott has applied to replace its existing tennis court with new padel facilities.

Its application stated the changes would help them to provide modern, inclusive leisure facilities which would be open to the local community as well as hotel guests.

Plans lodged with City of York Council would see three sheltered padel courts built in the grounds of the hotel, off Tadcaster Road.

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The hotel stated the existing tennis court they would replace were currently under-used.

Landscaping features including paths and lawns surround the site and mature trees which would screen the building from view from some directions.

The courts would be around 140m from the nearest homes, according to the application.

The court building would feature a retractable roof and LED floodlights which would be time-controlled to prevent night time disturbances.

A limited number of seats for spectators would also be included for the three courts which would sit side-by-side.

An impression showing how padel courts at the Delta Hotel by Marriott, in Tadcaster Road, York, could look (Image: Delta Hotel by Marriott)

Plans stated padel created no more disturbance than tennis and would be well-managed.

They said: “The project is part of the existing leisure facilities at the hotel and provides a modern, inclusive leisure facility that will be open to the local community as well as hotel guests, thereby contributing to health and wellbeing, sustainable communities, and York’s reputation as a leisure and tourism destination.

“The proposal replaces an under-used tennis court with three modern
padel courts, responding to strong growth in demand for this sport.

“Padel is inclusive, accessible, and appeals to a wide demographic.”

Padel is played on an enclosed court about a third of the size those used for tennis with balls played off glass walls similar to squash.

The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), the sports governing body, stated it is easy to learn and sociable, contributing to its growing popularity.

Is the time teenagers spend on social media really damaging their wellbeing and mental health? Around the globe, youth mental health problems are on the rise. This has coincided with an ever increasing amount of time teenagers spend on platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, X and Snapchat.

In the public discourse at least, this correlation has been interpreted to mean one thing: social media damages the mental health of our young people. But what does the evidence actually say?

Unfortunately, the scientific community has been unable to provide a definitive answer. Many studies report on the negative effects social media use has for teenagers. Many others provide evidence of the positive effects, or even highlight no effects at all. The evidence base is mixed and inconsistent.

For instance, one recent study followed more than 100,000 Australian adolescents for three years. It found that moderate social media use was associated with positive wellbeing outcomes. Another large-scale study highlights the positive relationship between adolescent self-esteem and using social media for social support.

By contrast, other research has found a consistent link between social media use and poorer mental health outcomes for adolescents, particularly for girls.

Further adding to the complicated picture, other studies conclude that the link between social media and adolescent wellbeing is weak and cannot be considered clinically relevant.

Looking at the variables

In my own recent research, I used a method called specification curve analysis (SCA) to analyse a publicly available lifestyle dataset of nearly 3,000 15- and 16-year olds living in the west of Ireland. SCA is a computational method which reveals the associations between all theoretically relevant variables in a dataset.

For example, my study assessed the links between the time teenagers spend on social media each day and a range of outcomes such as self-esteem, perceived stress, anxiety, depression and diet, as well as their physical activity and sleep quality.

When all the combinations of relevant variables are considered, more than 50,000 different pathways linking social media to teenage health outcomes were assessed in my study. Below is the specification curve relating the amount of time those teenagers spend on social media to their health behaviour.

The blue dots represent a combination of variables which suggest the association between social media time and health behaviours is beneficial, and that association is statistically significant. The red dots represent variable combinations where the association is negatively correlated with more social media time. The grey dots are combinations where the relationship between social media time and health behaviours are not statistically significant.

For example, when we look exclusively at the amount of time teenage boys in this dataset spend on social media, and the amount of time they spend engaging in physical exercise, the correlation is positive, hence a blue dot. More time on social media equals more time doing physical exercise.

However, when ethnicity and family wealth are removed as control variables from the analysis – meaning the data is no longer adjusted for these differences – then that statistical connection disappears, hence a grey dot. When all control variables are removed, such as age, ethnicity, school grade and family wealth, the relationship between social media and physical activity for boys becomes negative and statistically significant: a red dot. Essentially, looking at the same data in different ways produces different results.

When all possible associations are considered, the overall finding from my study is that yes, time on social media is linked with poorer health outcomes for teenagers. In this graph, when all the possible ways of looking at the data are assessed, 64% suggest more time on social media is associated with poorer health.

However, the strength of those associations are small. When I compared these effects to other influences, such as feeling safe at school or having supportive parents, the effects of social media are quite modest. In fact, time spent on social media is one of the least powerful predictors of adolescent health in this dataset.

This challenges the popular narrative that social media platforms are the main culprits behind rising mental health problems. Indeed, a recent report from the US National Academies reached a similar conclusion: there’s no strong evidence that social media causes widespread harm.

While the results of my study align with this view, these results should be interpreted with caution and may not reflect the experience of all teenagers. There are risks associated with social media platforms for young people, and those do deserve attention. And importantly, if we conclude that the amount of time that teens spend online does not cause significant damage to their wellbeing, we also have to acknowledge that it does not enhance their wellbeing either.

If the goal is healthier, happier teens, interventions should target what really matters: safe school environments, strong family support and tackling bullying. The teenagers in my study reported spending an average of 2.5 hours per day on social media platforms. Reducing that time in favour of activities proven to enhance youth wellbeing – physical exercise, creative activities, volunteering – would be an effective way forward.