The ex-England international discussed departing the BBC and stuck the boot into his former employers

Former Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker has taken aim at the BBC over their World Cup coverage this summer. The ex-England striker revealed he’ll be fronting this year’s tournament live from the USA, whilst the broadcaster will have to settle for its base in Salford.

Lineker had intended to remain with the broadcaster to front the competition for them, despite departing his role as host of the beloved highlights programme in May 2025.

However, he left the BBC sooner than anticipated. This came after a controversy where he posted on social media about Zionism that featured a rat emoji, which was deemed an anti-Semitic slur.

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The former England player issued an apology for the post and departed with immediate effect. In an ironic turn of events, Lineker will be stationed in North America for the tournament this summer as his podcast, The Rest Is Football, has landed a daily show deal with Netflix to be filmed in New York City.

Speaking to James O’Brien on the LBC podcast Full Disclosure in late February, the ex-Leicester striker made certain to have a dig at his former employers whilst discussing his departure.

READ MORE: Man Utd are paying for Ruben Amorim’s mistake as Gary Lineker sticks the boot inREAD MORE: Gary Lineker reveals White House talks over World Cup visa application amid US ban fears

He said: “I was already doing the [podcast] anyway and then other offers started to come in reasonably quickly and, again, because people recognised it was a genuine error [his social media post].

“The truth is now, in hindsight, and I never would’ve wished this, but things have transpired. I’ve had Saturdays off, I’m going to do the World Cup for Netflix, in New York, whilst the BBC are doing the World Cup in Salford but things have turned out alright.”

Following his exit from Match of the Day, Lineker has remained occupied with his podcast, which he presents alongside Micah Richards and Alan Shearer. He has also taken part in the Ballers League.

Goalhanger, the podcast firm Lineker co-established and which produces other major brands such as The Rest Is Politics, recently secured an agreement with Netflix to transform its football edition into a daily television programme on the platform during this summer’s World Cup, held across North and Central America.

The former Barcelona player is also fronting a new game show, The Box, which arrives on ITV later this year. Discussing his new position as presenter, he told O’Brien: “I’ve got a new series… a reality show, actually, which I’m hosting. I’ve always been asked to go on reality shows and I’ve always said not until Ant & Dec retire or Claudia gives up.

“It’s called The Box and it’s a lot of fun. It’s genuinely something completely different to what I’ve done before. I liked the look of this idea. I think it’s really clever. It’s light-hearted and a lot of fun.”

Apologising for the post that led to his departure from the BBC in May last year, Lineker asserted he did not see the image and “would never consciously repost anything anti-Semitic”.

He added: “However, I recognise the error and upset that I caused, and reiterate how sorry I am. Stepping back now feels like the responsible course of action.”

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Dolly Parton has said she’s been building herself back up “spiritually, physically and emotionally” after facing a series of health issues while grieving her late husband, Carl Thomas Dean.

The 80-year-old country star, who postponed a string of concerts last year to undergo unspecified medical treatment, appeared in good spirits during a keynote speech at her Tennessee theme park, Dollywood, on Friday (March 13), saying she had been “worn down and worn out” in past months.

“I’ve not been touring, as you know,” Parton told the audience, as seen in footage shared by WVLT 8. “I’ve had a few little health issues, and we’re taking good care of them.”

The “9 to 5” singer said she had needed to rebuild her strength after her husband of 58 years died in March 2025 at age 82.

“I just kind of got worn down and worn out, grieving over Carl and a lot of other little things going on,” she said. “But, all is good. It didn’t slow me down.”

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Parton then made a joke that fans shouldn’t confuse Dollywood Company President Eugene Naughton, who was on stage with her, as her “new husband.” She clarified that she is “not dating anybody” since Dean’s death.

“I think Carl Dean’s waiting for me,” she said. “If I should show up at the pearly gates with somebody else, he would not like that. He’d be saying, ‘Who’s that little pisser? You leave him outside the gates.’”

Fans were concerned about Parton when she cancelled a series of public appearances to undergo medical treatment at the end of last year, including postponing her Las Vegas residency by a year until September 2026.

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In October, Parton’s sister, Freida Parton, sparked further concern among fans when she shared a Facebook post asking fans to pray for Parton. She later clarified that she didn’t mean to scare anyone or imply anything serious with her message.

The “Jolene” singer then issued a statement, telling fans she appreciated their prayers and that she was doing “okay.”

“Back when my husband, Carl, was very sick, that was for a long time. When he passed, I didn’t take care of myself. So I let a lot of things go that I should’ve been taking care of,” she said in an Instagram video shared in October.

“Nothing major but I did have to cancel some things so I could be closer to home and closer to Vanderbilt [University Medical Center], you know, where I’m kind of having a few treatments here and there.

“There’s just a lot of rumors flying around, but I figured if you heard it from me, you’d know that I was okay,” Parton concluded. “I’m not ready to die yet. I don’t think God is through with me and I ain’t done working. So I love you for caring, and keep praying for me.”

In November, when Parton was absent from her theme park’s induction to the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions Hall of Fame, she told fans she had been “dealing with a few health challenges this fall.”

“My doctors told me to take it easy for just a little while, and I’m truly sorry I can’t be there,” she said in a video clip. “I sure wanted to take the chance to say thank you for this incredible honor.”

The UFO-like building was a favourite for people to visit in the 1990s

There are thousands of McDonald’s restaurants across the world, but Cambridgeshire was once home to a very unusual one. McDonald’s has been on the scene for around 86 years, with at least one restaurant guaranteed in every UK town and city.

There are many across Cambridgeshire, and there was one in Alconbury that people actually mistook for something else. A former McDonald’s in Alconbury used to be mistaken for a UFO due to its space-inspired architecture.

Officially built in 1990, this was initially going to be known as the Megatron restaurant. It was going to be the first of a chain of restaurants.

However, the restaurants didn’t work out and in 1993, this UFO-themed building was turned into a McDonald’s. Sadly, the building’s purpose as a McDonald’s was short-lived as well as it closed in 2000.

The building remained empty for several years and then it was demolished in 2008. Although the building no longer exists in bricks and mortar, people can still see a glimpse inside the building.

The video shows its futuristic exterior, and then it heads inside. People shared their memories of the unusual building on the video.

One person said they “loved” to go there as a child, while another said the “UFO was a constant in my life”. The person added: “Started my 21st birthday night in there, broke down in the car park several times (in my car, not mentally on the same night…), ended up having lunch there quite a lot because I worked just down the road.”

In 2021, former worker David Meridith revealed things he remembered from his time at the UFO-inspired restaurant. He said there were “futuristic ordering systems”, which would probably seem quite old-fashioned to us today.

He said: “You ordered on a computer at your table and waited for your food to come.” David also said the restaurant had a “dark and gloomy” atmosphere, but it was popular with people in the military.

David also revealed the reason the restaurant closed. He said it was due to rising maintenance costs. He added: “There was a downturn in sales and maintaining it was costing more than sales in the last year. The outside was just a plastic shell and it started getting leaks. It was impossible to keep it in working order.”

The fatal attack on Ian Huntley may have emboldened other prisoners to launch their own attacks on inmates.

After Soham killer Ian Huntley was brutally beaten to death in a prison attack, other inmates – including infamous and notorious murderers – fear “they could be next”.

A source has warned that the fatal attack on child killer Huntley, 52, may have emboldened other inmates who have seen that staff cannot protect high-profile prisoners. Huntley spent several days in hospital after the attack before his life support was turned off last week.

Dubbed “Monster Mansion”, the notorious prison’s other infamous inmates include former Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens – a man who could be the prime target.

He and the likes of Levi Bellfield, will be “looking over their shoulders” according to the source, reports the Mirror.

Bellfield, who raped and murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler, is reported to have converted to Islam in the hope Muslim gangs will protect him. Couzens, who abducted, raped and killed Sarah Everard in 2021, has been told it’s “only a matter of time” before he is seriously hurt.

Both have been warned that they could be slashed, beaten or ‘kettled’ – where someone has boiling water mixed with sugar thrown in their face.

The prison source said: “Couzens is already getting abuse and threats every day. You look at someone like him, murderer, rapist, and worst of all a copper, and you know it’s only a matter of time.”

HMP Frankland, in County Durham, has experienced a series of violent incidents recently.

Hashem Abedi, jailed for life for helping his brother carry out the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing, allegedly attacked three prison officers with boiling liquid and an improvised weapon in April last year. He has been charged in connection with the incident and pleaded not guilty to attempted murder.

Former school caretaker Huntley was jailed for life after he murdered 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in August 2002.

Anthony Russell, 43, has been charged with Huntley’s murder and, earlier this week, appeared via video link from the prison at Teesside Crown Court this week

According to the prison source, some inmates regard themselves as “above Huntley both morally and in the prison food chain” which could encourage attacks on other notorious prisoners.

“Others will be thinking ‘how can I put myself on the map too?’ That’s why in the days and weeks after an attack like this, things get extra dangerous,” the source said. “High-profile inmates will want to stay in the cells or be looking over their shoulders thinking they could be next.”

Urfan Sharif, 43, who beat his 10-year-old daughter Sara to death, and David Fuller, 71, who was jailed for life in 2021 after sexually assaulting more than 100 female corpses in NHS hospital morgues, are other inmates said to be at risk.

The source said: “These people are hated both inside and outside of prison, but the difference inside is that you can earn kudos from other inmates by getting one over on them. You have to remember that prison life is incredibly boring. It’s also hierarchical and a lot of these people have nothing to lose.”

Paedophile and Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins, 48, was also killed in prison in October last year when he was stabbed in the neck at HMP Wakefield, another high-security prison. Two men have been charged with his murder.

Weeks later at the same prison Kyle Bevan, 33, jailed for murdering his partner’s two-year-old daughter, Lola James, was also killed. Three fellow inmates have been charged with his murder.

The head of the Prison Governors’ Association has said prisoners like Huntley are facing increasingly violent attacks from inmates with “nothing to lose”.

Tom Wheatley, the president of the PGA, which represents governors in England and Wales, said those serving lengthy sentences or whole-life tariffs in high-security institutions had “no fear” of being given additional time in prison. They could even earn status by singling out famous child murderers and paedophiles.

Mr Wheatley, who was the governor at HMP Wakefield for nearly five years until March 2024, said that prisoners are serving longer sentences, so there was little incentive to resist committing a vicious attack

He said: “As prison sentences have become longer, and as more prisoners are given whole-life tariffs or given minimum sentences of 20, 30 or 40 years, it is harder to persuade them to hold back on their violent instincts. They have nothing to lose.

“If you are serving a long sentence, you can feel as if you don’t have a life ahead of you – your family may well have disowned you, your relationships may have broken down. And in those circumstances, you have to make your alliances among the people you live with – your fellow inmates – to survive

“In those circumstances, making yourself notorious, being well-known by committing a violent act, might help. If you murder a high-profile child murderer or paedophile, you can establish yourself as a dangerous man. That has some value.”

Ministry of Justice figures show there were seven homicides in prisons in England and Wales in 2025, up from six in 2024. From 2019 to 2023, there were between one and three each year.

Andrea Coomber, the chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said vulnerable prisoners, such as sex offenders and high-profile murderers, are often seen as easy targets.

She said: “There are hierarchies in every prison, and sex offenders are right at the bottom. We are hearing from many sex offenders that they are spending more time self-isolating in their cells because they do not feel safe.”

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice said: “This government inherited a prisons system in crisis, overcrowded and with significant staffing shortages. We are recruiting more officers and deploying them where they’re most needed, as well as investing £40m in new security measures to clamp down on the contraband that fuels violence behind bars.”

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That is not as straightforward as it might sound, as one former No 10 official described it. “There’s no good, clear correlation between wealth and energy bills.” An elderly person might live alone with a tiny income, in a draughty, big old family home that costs a fortune to heat, while a big family with a middle-sized income might live in a modern, well-insulated flat.

Police and paramedics were called to Whessoe Road, near the North Road Industrial Estate, on around 10.55pm on Friday (March 13).

The incident – which involved a Honda CRF motorcycle carrying two people – left one of the riders with serious injuries.

They were taken to hospital for treatment, whether they remain today.

No other vehicles were involved.

Durham Police said the other rider is believed to have made off from the scene and officers are keen to trace them as they may have also suffered serious injuries and require medical treatment.

If you are this person, or know who they are, you are asked to call police on 101, quoting incident number 547 of March 13, go to a police station, or email to sciu@durham.police.uk

Donald Trump has said his forces carried out a bombing raid on Iran’s “crown jewel” Kharg, a small island in the north of the Persian Gulf, on Friday.

The five-mile-long coral island – twice the size of London’s Heathrow Airport – is in the north of the Persian Gulf, 16 miles (26km) from Iran’s coast and roughly 300 miles (483km) north of the Strait of Hormuz, the vital waterway through which 20% of global oil flows, that Tehran has shut down.

President Trump said US forces “obliterated” military targets on Kharg Island, but significantly said he chose not to “wipe out” the island’s oil infrastructure. He threatened that this could change if Iran interfered with the safe passage of ships through the strait.

Iran latest – follow live updates

Tehran warned of a new level of retaliation if the oil infrastructure on Kharg was damaged, vowing on Saturday that Iranian forces would destroy the oil and gas infrastructure of companies cooperating with the US in the region if its sites were targeted, according to Iranian state media.

But why is the island so important?

Why was no oil infrastructure hit?

Kharg is the export terminal for 90% of Iran’s oil shipments and has the capacity to load around seven million barrels a day.

The island can handle as many as 10 supertankers at the same time, as its waters are deep enough to enable the docking of tankers that are too large to approach mainland Iran’s shallow coastal waters.

Before the war, the island handled most of Iran’s roughly 1.7 million barrels of crude exports per day, with the majority of it going to China.

Iranian oil accounts for 11.6% ​of China’s seaborne imports so far in 2026, according to tanker tracker Kpler. “Therefore, if [Mr Trump] was to take that out, he might risk the ire of China,” Sky News’ military analyst Sean Bell said.

Hitting Kharg’s oil infrastructure would also likely lead to oil prices surging even further, after they hit a four-year high on Friday.

Oil exports continuing despite war

In the week before the war broke out, Kharg shipped a record of 3.79 million barrels per day, and operations on the island have continued despite the conflict.

About 13.7 million barrels of oil have been exported from the island since the US-Israeli strikes were launched on 28 February, at a rate of 1.1 million to 1.5 million barrels per day, according to maritime intelligence company TankerTrackers.com and Kpler data.

Multiple tankers were still loading there on Wednesday, according to satellite pictures from Tanker Trackers.

Kharg has storage tanks in the south, along with housing for thousands of workers. It has a storage capacity of roughly 30 million barrels, and held about 18 million barrels of crude as of early March, ⁠according to ​a JP Morgan report citing Kpler data.

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Trump posts footage of strikes after Kharg Island attack

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Critical to funding of Iranian government

The island has long been seen as a key vulnerability that would provoke a severe response by Tehran if attacked.

Kharg is critical to funding Iran’s government and military, and if Iran were to lose control of the island, it would be difficult for the country to function, according to Petras Katinas, an energy researcher at the Royal United Services Institute.

Mr Katinas said a takeover would give the US leverage over negotiations with Iran because the island is “the main node” of its economy.

While there has been speculation that the US could be tempted to seize Kharg Island, experts say that would almost certainly require troops on the ground, making it extremely risky.

One Iranian politician has reportedly already threatened US troops with capture if they attempt to seize its crucial oil hub.

JP Morgan’s global commodity research team stressed the wider economic implications of a direct strike on the island, warning before the US struck military targets on Kharg that strikes would “immediately halt the bulk of Iran’s crude exports, likely triggering severe retaliation in the Strait of Hormuz or against regional energy infrastructure”.

“You take out ​Kharg infrastructure, then you take two million [barrels per day] out of the market for good – not until the Straits get fixed,” added Dan Pickering, chief investment officer for Pickering Energy Partners.

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Is the attack on Kharg Island significant?

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Damage to the island

Iranian state media reported that no oil infrastructure was damaged in the US strikes, adding that air defences, a naval base, airport control tower, and a helicopter hangar were targeted.

The US “successfully struck” more than 90 military targets, including naval mine storage facilities and missile storage bunkers, the US Central Command said.

The 55 crude oil storage tanks, which can hold more than 34 million barrels, are “most likely unscathed”, Tanker Trackers said.

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Former Royal Navy chief on Kharg Island’s importance

“Although the island has some offshore oil production, the bulk of the oil actually derives from the mainland via multiple pipelines,” the tracking service said.

“The island first began exporting oil during the summer of 1960 and was built to [accommodate] 7 million barrels per day in exports, to reflect the potential in oil production. Iran hit 6.6 [million barrels per day] in production back in 1976.”

Read more:
Trump’s post reveals much about island strike
US Navy to escort oil tankers through Strait of Hormuz

The maritime intelligence company added that satellite imagery from Saturday showed two new tankers began loading 2.7 million barrels of crude oil there.

Activities on the island, including exports and imports, are “proceeding normally” after the strikes, the deputy governor of Bushehr, a port city close to Kharg, said, adding that no military personnel, oil company employees or island residents were killed.

Was the island targeted before?

Despite being viewed as a critical vulnerability, the island has rarely been directly targeted.

The last time was during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, but it did not stop crude oil exports from Kharg.

“When Saddam Hussein raided the island numerous times 40 years ago and destroyed a number of storage tanks, Kharg Island was still able to export over 1.5 million barrels per day,” Tanker Trackers said in a post on X.

The scene on Manchester Road in Over Hulton has seen a small area of woodland which backs onto an open field closed off, with police tape stopping the public access and a police community support officer (PCSO) also guarding the scene.

At around 1.30pm, Greater Manchester Police confirmed that a man had died following a ‘concern for welfare incident’.

Read more: Man found dead in Bolton as police close woodland – live updates

At it height, the police scene included at least four cars, a crime scene investigation van, a police helicopter, and an air ambulance, according to witnesses.

Forensics officers wearing full body suits could be seen entering the woodland with equipment.

The scene remains in place as of 1.45pm.

The pattern is this: Ferrari’s strong starts and superior cornering speed puts them in the mix in the early laps, and the new hybrid engine with their “boost” and “overtake” modes leads to switching of positions for a while.

But the longer the race goes on, the more Mercedes’ inherent advantage pays off.

Hamilton said: “Definitely feeling thirsty on power when we’re behind them. It’s really, really hard to keep up and you could tell they just have more grunt, they’re just pulling for longer.

“That’s why I died this morning [in the sprint]. I was just trying to make it up through the corners, but it just wasn’t making any difference, so just killing my tyres.”

Hamilton praised Antonelli’s new record as “an amazing achievement” and predicted that it was “going to take a while for someone to ever get close to that one”.

Seven-time champion Hamilton appears rejuvenated by the new 2026 cars, and seems back to something close to his previous form before the ground-effect cars of the past four years, with which he was never comfortable.

And Russell is still wary of the Ferraris’ potential to disrupt.

“It has been great opening few laps for the last two races. We know Ferrari are quick off the line and we’ve got them in P3 and P4, which is the first time of the season, and Lewis was obviously great at the beginning of the race this morning, so I am sure it’s not going to be straightforward.”

He says he has been enjoying the scraps with Ferrari.

“With the overtake mode, the driver behind can use the boost button up to I think 330km/h, where the guy in the front can only use it to 290km/h,” Russell said.

“It seems to work quite well. It isn’t DRS, but it works in a similar pattern for the speed delta.

“It’s been quite interesting, quite fun, and I think even some diehards maybe aren’t disliking it as much as they did maybe a week ago. We just still need to give it a chance.”

The McLarens qualified fifth and sixth, Oscar Piastri ahead of world champion Lando Norris. Can they mix it with the Ferraris?

Norris said: “We have a better power unit than the Ferrari. Our advantage is that we just have more straight-line speed.

“But they’re still a car that drives around the corners quicker than even a Mercedes. So, to keep up with them in the corners and then try to get them in the straight is difficult.

“So, between Mercedes and them they have different places they’re strong.

“But we’ll see. I mean they have better tyre management, they have more grip. And therefore it’s much easier for the car if the tyre is that way.

“We have to push like hell in the corners to keep up and then we can obviously catch up in the straight. That’s kind of the wrong end of the stick you want to be on in a race situation at times.

“But never say never. If we can improve on some things from this morning, then we’re certainly not out of the picture of racing them.”