Arsenal are planning further talks to sign Bayern Munich midfielder Leon Goretzka in the summer transfer window, according to reports in Germany.

Goretzka will be a free agent this summer after Bayern Munich announced last month that the 31-year-old will leave the club when his contract expires at the end of the season.

The Germany international turned down an approach from Atletico Madrid in the January transfer window, while Arsenal also made a late enquiry.

However, Goretzka wanted to remain at Bayern for the remainder of the campaign as Vincent Kompany’s side are still in contention to win the Bundesliga, the Champions League and the DFB Pokal.

According to BILD’s Christian Falk, Arsenal have retained their interest in Goretzka and will hold further talks over a summer move.

‘It is true: Arsenal are considering bringing Leon Goretzka to London this coming summer,’ Falk said via Bayern Insider.

‘Remember, there was an offer from Atletico Madrid; there were negotiations in the January window. Goretzka said no.

‘I heard he wants to move to the Premier League next season. Arsenal knocked on the door late in the winter window but Goretzka had already made his decision to stay put for the remainder of the season. However, at this point, there were preliminary talks to say, ‘perhaps we’ll talk again in the summer’.

‘Leon Goretzka is definitely interested, and Arsenal are also still interested. We have to wait and see if things naturally develop again, because there will be other clubs at the table.

‘We mentioned Tottenham, and we talked about clubs from Serie A. I think London and Arsenal would be a really special city and club for Goretzka.’

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CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych lost an appeal of his disqualification from the Milan Cortina Olympics on Friday, yet already knew there was no pathway for him to compete in the race.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport denied the appeal, agreeing with the International Olympic Committee and the sliding sport’s federation that Heraskevych’s plan to wear a helmet showing the faces of more than 20 Ukrainian coaches and athletes killed since Russia invaded their country four years ago would be in violation of Olympic rules.

CAS, in a brief statement, said the sole arbitrator who heard the case had no choice but to side with IOC policy about what athletes at an Olympics can say on a field of play — and that the “memory helmet” Heraskevych brought to the Milan Cortina Games would not align with the rules athletes have to follow.

The arbitrator, CAS said, “found these limitations reasonable and proportionate, considering the other opportunities for athletes to raise awareness in mixed zones, in press conferences, on social networks, or in Mr. Heraskevych’s case, wearing the helmet during four training runs.”

CAS added that the arbitrator “wished to state that she is fully sympathetic to Mr. Heraskevych’s commemoration and to his attempt to raise awareness for the grief and devastation suffered by the Ukrainian people, and Ukrainian athletes because of the war.”

The appeal, which Heraskevych felt he would win, was largely moot anyway. He was disqualified from the competition 45 minutes before its start on Thursday, and whatever CAS said on Friday wouldn’t have rolled back the clock on that.

“Looks like this train has left,” Heraskevych said as he left the hearing in Milan on Friday morning.

He was blocked from racing by the IOC and the International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation on Thursday, after the slider and his father emerged from a last-minute, last-ditch meeting with IOC President Kirsty Coventry — who was unable to get Heraskevych to change his mind.

Heraskevych trained in the helmet but never got to the official starting line.

“From Day 1, I told you that I think I’m right,” Heraskevych said, draped in a Ukrainian flag. “I don’t have any regrets.”

Heraskevych’s attorney, Yevhen Pronin, reacted with disappointment to CAS’ decision.

“The court sided with the IOC and upheld the decision that an athlete could be disqualified from the Olympic Games without actual misconduct, without a technical or safety threat, and before the start,” Pronin wrote. “This case was much broader than an individual dispute. It concerned the freedom of expression of athletes, the limits of discretion of sports bodies, and the very understanding of Olympic values.

“More on that later,” he said.

Heraskevych left Cortina d’Ampezzo’s Olympic Village on Thursday night and said he has no plans to return to the mountains during these games.

Even if CAS had said Heraskevych should race, the logistical hurdles — the distance between Milan and Cortina and the fact the competition was half over when his appeal was heard — would have been too big to overcome.

His disqualification was justified because he insisted on bringing his messaging onto the field of play, Coventry reiterated Friday. The IOC made its decision, one that moved Coventry to tears, off the guidelines for athlete expression at the Olympics.

They say, in part, “the focus on the field of play during competitions and official ceremonies must be on celebrating athletes’ performances.” Heraskevych never made it to the field of play — not in competition, anyway — but was found to not be compliant with that guideline anyway.

“I think that he in some ways understood that but was very committed to his beliefs, which I can respect,” Coventry said. “But sadly, it doesn’t change the rules.”

The IOC contends that the rule is in place for multiple reasons, including protecting the athletes from pressure from their own countries or others about using Olympic platforms to make statements.

“I never expected it to be such a big scandal,” Heraskevych said, adding that he believes the IOC turned the story into a massive one by banning what he calls “the memory helmet.”

But the Ukrainian slider also said he found his accreditation for the games being taken away, then returned in short order on Thursday in what seemed like a goodwill gesture, was puzzling.

“A mockery,” he said.

CAS did agree that Heraskevych should keep his accreditation.

Heraskevych said he felt his disqualification was unfair and fed into Russian propaganda, noting that he and other Ukrainian athletes have seen Russian flags at events at these games — even though they are not allowed by Olympic rule. He has previously spoken out against the IOC’s decision to allow some Russians and Belarusians to compete at Milan Cortina as “neutral” athletes, and said the IOC empowered Russia by awarding it the 2014 Sochi Games.

He has also wondered why other tributes from these Olympics, such as U.S. figure skater Maxim Naumov displaying a photo of his late parents — killed in a plane crash last year — have been permitted without penalty.

Italian snowboard competitor Roland Fischnaller had a small Russian flag image on the back of his helmet during these games and Israeli skeleton athlete Jared Firestone wore a kippah with the names of the 11 athletes and coaches who were killed representing that country during the 1972 Munich Olympics.

The IOC said each of those cases were not in violation of any rules or the Olympic Charter. Naumov showed his photo in the kiss-and-cry area and not while he was actually on the ice, Fischnaller’s helmet was a tribute to all the past Olympic sites he competed at with Sochi included, and Firestone’s kippah “was covered by a beanie,” Adams said.

The IOC offered Heraskevych the chance to compete with a different helmet and bring the tribute on through the interview area, called a mixed zone, after he got off the ice for his runs or make other tributes such as wearing a black armband. It just didn’t want him making a statement by competing in the helmet or wearing it on the field of play.

“I think it’s the wrong side of history for the IOC,” Heraskevych said.

___

Associated Press journalists Annie Risemberg and Stefanie Dazio in Milan and Vasilisa Stepanenko in Warsaw, Poland, contributed to this report.

___

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Despite Mr Salmond’s death, work has been ongoing in the background, led by Professor Peter Watson, who said: “Litigation is a remedy of last resort, but it is hoped that this litigation will result in answers to many troubling questions that were first asked by Alex Salmond and will now be pursued by Paul McManus and the team we have assembled.”

Jesy Nelson has opened up about a previously unknown attempt to take her own life before she quit Little Mix.

The 34-year-old exited the hit girl group – also comprised of Perrie Edwards, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jade Thirlwall – in 2020, citing her mental health as the reason for her shock departure nine years after the band first formed on X Factor.

Now, in a new docuseries on Amazon Prime Video – Jesy Nelson: Life After Little Mix – Boyz singer had shed further light on the depths her mental health had plunged to, which ultimately led to her leaving.

Feeling that no one in the band ‘cared’ about her, the music artist revealed for the first time that she attempted suicide through an overdose and was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance.

Explaining how the rest of the band made her feel, she said: ‘I basically just sat everyone down and I just explained how I was feeling.

‘I just felt like no-one cared… And I remember one of their responses being like “are you done now, is that it?”‘

Recounting the interaction through tears, she continued: ‘I was like “okay” and she was like “can I go now?” I remember feeling like “whoa” and that just made me feel alone and like there’s no point to this, no-one cares.’

Suspecting her daughter was in a very dark place, her mum Janice desperately tried to contact Jesy.

Recalling the entire incident for the first time, she said: ‘A few days before she had just been down, really down, and not talking much, and I think she was seeing horrible things written about her again.

‘She just wanted to be on her own quite a lot, I just got a gut feeling that something wasn’t right and so I kept ringing and ringing and then I wasn’t getting no answer.

‘Eventually she answered the phone, but she was talking really slurry and then I could just hear the phone drop, and then I didn’t hear anything else. I knew she’d done something. An ambulance was called, we went to hospital with her.’

This is not the first time Jesy has almost died by suicide. She also overdosed in 2013 when she reached a low point after a performance on the X Factor.

Opening up about what drove her to that point, she told the Fearne Cotton Happy Place podcast in 2021 that she ‘physically couldn’t tolerate the pain anymore’.

Recounting the circumstances around her overdose, she added: ‘I just remember obviously the first time, so obviously I’d taken an overdose. I went into hospital and then I had a music video like a week after…’

Mum Janice was ‘distraught’ and tried to intervene at the time.

As Jesy shared: ‘She was like: “This is it, you’re not doing this anymore”. Because my mum’s the kind of mum that’s like, “I couldn’t give a s**t what you do as long as you’re happy…

“That’s all I care about”, So she was like, “No. This isn’t happening anymore….” And obviously I didn’t know what to do at the time because it was very early stages of Little Mix as well.’

The past year has been another tough one for Jesy, after she revealed her twins had been diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). Their prognosis means they could ‘never walk’ or potentially not even survive to their third birthday.

Jesy welcomed the twins – Ocean Jade and Story Monroe – prematurely in May last year alongside her partner, Zion Foster.

Since the news broke of the twins’ condition earlier this year, however, Jesy and Zion have reportedly ended their relationship and continue to co-parent.

Metro had reached out to Perrie Edwards, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jade Thrilwall for comment.

Jesy Nelson: Life After Little Mix is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video now.

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If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.

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Across three 60-minute episodes, the eighth series follows the celebrity pilgrims as they make their way through the heart of Northumberland on a unique 390 km collection of trails exploring the lives of early Celtic Christian saints.

Along the way they visit Whitby Abbey, Durham Cathedral and the Holy Island of Lindisfarne.

Taking part in this year’s series are Diversity leader Ashley Banjo, actors Hermione Norris and Patsy Kensit, TV personality Tasha Ghouri, radio presenter Jayne Middlemiss, comedians Ashley Blaker and Hasan Al-Habib.

Travelling north on the Way of St Hild, the group headed towards Durham, climbing the 224 steep and uneven steps known locally as the “Steps of Doom” before catching their first glimpse of the cathedral.

Canon Charlie Allen, of Durham Cathedral, met the group as they arrived via Prebends Bridge.

The celebrity pilgrims meeting with Canon Charlie Allen at Durham Cathedral. (Image: Durham Cathedral)

The celebrity pilgrims meeting with Canon Charlie Allen at Durham Cathedral. (Image: Durham Cathedral)

She said: “Durham is such a significant place of pilgrimage. To see their faces of astonishment as they encountered it for the first time was wonderful. It is such a place of awe and wonder.”

At the UNESCO World Heritage Site, the pilgrims were invited to take part in the medieval tradition of foot washing before visiting the shrine of St Cuthbert.

Ms Allen said: “Their arrival in 995 started that culture of pilgrimage here in Durham – people came because Cuthbert was here. He was a northern saint so dear to people.

“Pilgrims were coming from across the globe to the North East because St Cuthbert was someone so inspiring.

“People still come in the hundreds and thousands each year. Durham is a place where lots of pilgrimages either begin, end, or pass through.”

The celebrity pilgrims at Durham Cathedral. (Image: Durham Cathedral)

The celebrities, who all come from different faiths and beliefs, shared their reasons for joining the journey.

Ashley Banjo said: “As a Christian I wanted to do this pilgrimage, to continue my journey of discovery through discussion, by asking questions, and to be asked questions in the context of faith. But I’m also taking part to have a really good hike!

Patsy Kensit said: “I’m joining Pilgrimage at a time when I feel the need to slow down and really listen, to myself, to others and to something beyond the noise of everyday life.

“I’ve spent much of my life moving forward, but this feels like a rare chance to pause and reflect. I’m not sure what I’ll find along the way but I hope the journey will help me reconnect with what matters most and give me a deeper sense of perspective, gratitude and understanding – both of myself and the world around me.”

The celebrity pilgrims at Durham Cathedral. (Image: Durham Cathedral)

Hasan Al-Habib said: “For a practising Muslim like me, this show is an incredible opportunity. If, on the Day of Judgement, Allah asks me why I didn’t perform the mandatory Islamic Pilgrimage of Hajj, I can now say: “Sorry, I didn’t realise BBC Two’s Pilgrimage Series 8 was set in Northumberland.”

Canon Allen said welcoming the group was a “privilege and a joy”.

She said: “It was great fun and a privilege to welcome them; in the same way it is with every pilgrim that arrives.

“At the end of the day, we’re all just people. To see their openness in wanting to find out more was a highlight.”

Jean, 83, was reported missing this morning (February 13), from the Silksworth area.

Extensive enquiries and appeals have been carried out by officers throughout the day to locate her, where it was understood Jean could have travelled to the Durham area.

Tragically, a body was discovered not far from her home address in the Silksworth area today.

While formal identification is yet to take place, it is believed to be Jean and her next of kin have been informed.

A spokesperson from Northumbria Police said: “We do not believe there to be any third-party involvement in Jean’s death, and a report will now be prepared for the coroner.

“This is an extremely sad conclusion in our search to find Jean and our thoughts firmly remain with her loved ones.

“We would also like to recognise all of those who came forward with information and shared our appeal.”

“This is the most proportionate approach we can take, acknowledging the decision reached by the court while recognising that proceedings are not yet fully concluded,” the force said. It added that the temporary pause applied solely to “the expression of support for Palestine Action”, and that officers would continue to intervene where protest crossed into intimidation, property damage, violence, racial hatred or other criminal offences.

A woman gave birth to her daughter in her friend’s husband’s car at 38 weeks pregnant, but she wasn’t prepared for what happened after she welcomed her newborn into the world

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Whilst birth plans can be carefully prepared, they don’t always go according to plan, as nature follows its own course. That’s precisely what one 27-year-old woman discovered when she delivered her daughter in her friend’s husband’s car.

She described how, at 38 weeks pregnant, she stayed at home whilst her wife spent the day helping her brother. Fortunately, her friend, Alice, visited her house to keep her company throughout the day – just in case anything happened. She said on Reddit: “We just watched some movies and hung out, and even though I was so uncomfortable throughout the day, I didn’t consider that I might actually be going into labour. (I had been feeling discomfort for ages.)

“At some point, we did realise this was the real deal and I called my wife. We considered waiting until she got back, but things started to get real very fast and I asked Alice to drive me to the hospital. (She was fine with this, I think.)”.

However, they failed to reach the hospital in time, and she ended up delivering her daughter in the car.

Whilst she’s grateful everyone is well, she says Alice has been “weird” with her ever since her daughter arrived into the world.

She added: “We’re both fine, luckily. I had a few complications, which are now okay again. Our baby is beyond perfect and, though my wife is having a hard time having missed her birth, we have a wonderful tiny human to focus on.

“Things have been really messed up with Alice and her husband, though, and I don’t know how to solve it.

“Two days after all that happened, I sent her a message thanking her again for everything she had done and told her (lighthearted but sincere) to please send me a bill for having the car cleaned. She didn’t reply for a while and, in the end, just ‘liked’ the message.

“I’ve messaged her a few times since and she hasn’t replied, and her husband sent me a message saying not to message her and congratulating us on the baby, but thanking me sarcastically for ‘f***ing up’ his car.”

In response to the confusion, she sent another message apologising for the situation – both the trauma it might have caused Alice and the mess it created in the car – and offered to pay for therapy and a car cleaning service.

However, Alice ended up blocking and deleting her contact information, leaving her at a loss as to what to do.

She said: “I feel so lost and please don’t get me wrong, of course my priority is with my little family right now, but this does keep crossing my mind.

“This is so unlike her. Her husband and I were never the closest (I don’t love how he speaks to her sometimes) but we were still friendly.

“I’ll continue trying to make this right and reach out to some places to get some estimates, contact insurance and so on. We’re taking this very seriously, I promise.”

One user commented on her post: “You didn’t really have a choice. When the baby is ready, it’s coming; it doesn’t matter where you are.”

Another user added: “Is her husband controlling? With his message, my bet would be that he is the one that is p***ed off about the situation and she might be distancing herself to avoid consequences from him if she stays friends with you after you ‘f***ed up his car’. “

They suggested: “If you want to try to clear the air with her, maybe doing it in person when her husband is not there (e.g. a girls’ night or a group gathering he is not attending) would get you a clearer picture, as he might be monitoring her texts and emails.”

A third user shared their experience: “I also had precipitous labour at 38 weeks and gave birth at home, thankfully in the bathroom, but still a lot to clean. It’s a lot of liquid; it soaks into everything and is a biohazard as well.

“For a car, I think you should offer to pay for a forensic cleaning service and expect it to cost a few thousand pounds. They may need to do ozone treatment to get rid of the smell or to replace the carpet and the seat.”

Storm Nils has killed two people in France, with around 450,000 people still without power as of Friday morning. 

Government spokesperson Maud Bregeon said that France had recorded two deaths linked to Storm Nils: one on Thursday in the Landes department and a second “in the last hours” in Tarn-et-Garonne.

She said the second victim was a man who was found in his garden.

The storm was described as having “uncommon strength” by French weather service Meteo-France, with key southwestern parts of the country remaining on high flood alert.

Electricity network operator Enedis said the storm left up to 900,000 customers without power at its peak.

Power crews have been racing to restore electricity, with Enedis deploying 2,100 technicians.

By Friday morning, around half of those affected had had their power restored.

Red flood alerts for Gironde and Lot-et-Garonne will remain in place until Saturday.

Read more from Sky News:
Met Office warns of snow and ice
Palestine Action wins challenge over group’s ban as terrorist organisation

A red alert was also issued in the northern Spanish regions of Galicia, Cantabria and the Basque Country on Wednesday due to Storm Nils, the eighth storm to hit Spain this ‌year.

Meteo-France said the storm had now moved eastwards into Europe.