“We have had people play here from every contingent except Antarctica, we’ve even had people from cruise ships pop in and watch”

A weekly chess group at 2 Royal Avenue is seeing people of all ages enjoying the ancient game in a friendly atmosphere. The social meet-up hosts chess players of all levels and is held for free from 2pm to 5pm on Sunday afternoons. Children under 16 years old must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Chess has been around for over a thousand years and is a strategic, two-player board game played on an 8×8 grid with 64 alternating light and dark squares. Each player controls 16 pieces — one king, a queen, two rooks, knights, bishops, and eight pawns — with the ultimate goal of checkmating the opponent’s king by placing it under inescapable attack. It is a turn-based, no-chance game, which can trace its origins in seventh-century India.

Paul O’Connor, 62, from Bangor, who is a chess enthusiast said: “If you can learn to ride a bike, you can learn to play chess.

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“Chess is a great game because it is language independent, you don’t need to speak English to play it. There is an international language and it is chess. We have had people come and play from every contingent except Antarctica, from many countries around the world.

“Cruise ships come into Belfast and people come from there to watch us play. I wish I had a penny for everyone that told me there was nothing like this in their city. They are amazed to see it happening here, on a Sunday afternoon, for free.”

Paul added that the game sees people from all backgrounds, genders and ages play together for fun. He said it was a social experience that brings people together.

He said: “We’ve had six-year-olds come into play, we’ve had 96-year-olds come into play. Chess is far more simpler than people give it credit for, they think it is very complicated and you have to be intelligent. But, you really don’t, there are a few simple rules you have to learn and you just deal with what is in front of you on the board.

“It is almost a form of mindfulness because you can’t really think of anything else while you are playing a game. This experience gives people who play a lot on the phone a social element. Playing over the board, you play a real person, you can talk to them or not, it is up to you.

“For people who have social challenges, come in anyway, you don’t have to talk to people or it can also help you interact if you want, every chess player is a chess player. And this is regardless of your skill level, you learn how to deal with defeat and you learn how to deal with success. It is exceptionally good for mental health and helping young people develop their social capacity.”

Anyone wanting more information about the event can contact roamingknightsni@gmail.com

For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here.

Benjamin Netanyahu has condemned an “extreme minority” after two female IDF soldiers were rescued from riots in an ultra-Orthodox Israeli city.

Video footage from Bnei Brak, just east of Tel Aviv, shows the two soldiers being hurried away by police as thousands of ultra-Orthodox men run after them.

In a post on X, the Israeli prime minister said: “I strongly condemn the violent riots in Bnei Brak against female IDF soldiers and Israel police officers.

“This is an extreme minority that does not represent the entire haredi community.

“This is a grave and unacceptable matter.”

“We will not allow anarchy,” the post continued, “and we will not tolerate any harm to IDF servicemen and security forces who carry out their duties with dedication and determination.”

Many in the ultra-Orthodox community in Bnei Brak have staged frequent protests amid anger over proposed laws that may force them to serve in the Israeli military.

At least 22 people were arrested on Sunday as protesters set police motorcycles on fire, overturned a police vehicle and attacked officers, authorities said.

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Roughly 1.3 million ultra-Orthodox Jews make up about 13% of Israel‘s population. They oppose enlistment because they believe studying full-time in religious seminaries is their most important duty.

The broad exemptions from mandatory military service have reopened a deep divide in Israel, especially during the war in Gaza.

It comes as hospitals in the Gaza Strip said at least 11 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the enclave in the last 24 hours.

Airstrikes in Gaza kill 11 people, locals say, as Israel claims Hamas violated ceasefire

The dead included five men in their 20s, who were killed in an Israeli strike in Khan Younis, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies.

The Israeli military said it had carried out multiple strikes in response to several ceasefire violations near the Yellow Line, which separates Israeli-controlled areas from the rest of Gaza.

Manchester City goalkeeper James Trafford returned to the club in summer but was quickly displaced by Gianluigi Donnarumma

James Trafford said that he had no idea Manchester City were signing Gianluigi Donnarumma when he agreed to move to the Etihad. Trafford could leave after just one season after finding his ambition of regular football for club and country dashed inside a month.

Newcastle were confident making Trafford their No.1 last summer and offered Burnley a fee that the Premier League newcomers would have accepted. However, City had a clause from when they sold the goalkeeper that allowed them to match any bid and they duly did, leaving the decision in Trafford’s hands.

The 23-year-old ultimately opted for a return to the Etihad as his best chance of meeting his ambitions to become a No.1 at the highest level for club and country. However, before the transfer window closed City brought in Donnarumma from PSG and declared the 26-year-old as a signing for the next decade.

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Donnarumma has said he was aware of City’s interest before the summer transfer window started and that contact strengthened after the Club World Cup – a month before Trafford was signed. According to Trafford, while he wasn’t definitively told he would be No.1 when he picked City over Newcastle he wasn’t told about Donnarumma either.

“It wasn’t that, but it wasn’t what happened [either], so it is what it is, it’s football,” he said. “It is what it is, you’ve got to keep grafting every day and the games that come, play as hard as you can. It’s just another experience to add to my career and yeah, it has been good learning.”

Donnarumma instantly came into the team when he signed in September and Trafford has not played a Premier League game since, having to be content with cup competitions for a chance to shine. He has taken his opportunities, making important stops in the Carabao Cup semi-final against Newcastle as well as the FA Cup win over Salford on Saturday.

His lack of game time has put his England place in jeopardy for the World Cup though. Rather than pushing to be No.1, he was left out of the last squad altogether before being belatedly called up when Nick Pope picked up an injury.

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Trafford is trying to make the best of his situation, but did not sound upbeat when he stopped to speak after the Salford game. Having looked to leave City in the January window, he did little to play down the idea that an exit is on the cards for the summer as he admitted that he hadn’t spoken to anybody at England about his hopes of going to the World Cup.

“I haven’t spoken to them [about] if that’s enough, but I play as well as I can and train every day very hard and it’s just down to me. Obviously everyone knows what’s going on with me, so I’ve just got to, whenever I play, play as well as I can.

“I’ve obviously got a contract, so yeah, I don’t know what happens next season. I just know that I’ll just take it a day at a time and try and improve.”

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Returning from a day out with the family, Dez Thomas expected nothing more dramatic than unpacking the car. Instead he arrived back at the old chapel he’d just bought up in flames. Such was the damage he wouldn’t be able to return properly for 18 months.

“It didn’t feel great,” Dez, from the village of Llanrug in Gwynedd, said of the old chapel named Capel Mawr which he now credits with changing his life. “It was the springboard for everything that came afterwards.”

An ex-Royal Welsh Fusilier hailing from Cemaes Bay on Anglesey, Dez departed the Army in the late 1980s to pursue carpentry training in Wrexham. He embarked on a career fitting out shops and restaurants, which took him across the globe, from Austria to London and New York.

In 2004, whilst operating a garden decking business, he stumbled upon a listing for Capel Mawr. Capel Mawr – the “Great Chapel” – has stood at the heart of Llanrug since 1798, reshaped and rebuilt as the village grew on the back of slate and revivalist zeal. By 1867 it had been reborn in Romanesque style, a monument to faith and ambition.

Long after the hymns faded, it found new life as a television studio for Welsh-language broadcaster S4C, thanks to actor Dyfan Roberts who inserted a mezzanine for offices and dressing rooms while preserving much of its original fabric.

Dez ended up buying it 22 years ago for £80,000. “The price of a terraced house,” he reflected in conversation with North Wales Live. “It seemed too good an opportunity to pass up.”

When Dez acquired the property he found that it was scarcely liveable. “I slept on a mattress upstairs,” he recalled. “It was really quite bohemian.”

He eventually managed to get hold of a proper bed – but disaster struck with the fire. During his forced time away Dez resolved to use his expertise and restore the building himself. He started with the upper floor.

“When he converted the chapel to a TV studio, Dyfan Roberts had been careful to retain as much of the building’s original fabric as possible,” he said. “I was the same – I re-used wood panelling from the reception area to create the apartment.”

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In 2007 Dez returned and began restoring the chapel’s vestry and school room. These spaces had once been gathering points for local residents attending film screenings.

Following completion in 2010 he began letting the upper apartment as holiday accommodation. But the chapel’s main space remained untouched and, with regional tourism flourishing, Dez made the bold decision to renovate this section too. Finance for the project came from selling the vestry.

He enlisted family support. His eldest son Jake, a joiner by trade, and youngest son Morgan joined the team. By 2019 a second holiday rental – Basement 19 – was welcoming guests. Visitors were captivated by the expansive space and premium finishes in the Manhattan-inspired loft flat.

“I’d worked on a property owned by the Lehman Brothers investment bank in Manhattan,” said Dez, 61. “I was inspired by that.”

During the post-Covid surge revenues rocketed to £117,000. They’ve since stabilised at £85,000 annually, maintaining a robust occupancy rate exceeding 75%.

Nevertheless, Dez has grown tired of the journey from Benllech on Anglesey, where he currently resides, to greet guests and manage cleaning and upkeep.

He’s also eager to embark on another substantial restoration scheme. “I’m looking to provide unique places for couples to stay,” he said. “Somewhere that offers glamping with yurts and shepherd huts. I’m also planning to convert an old helicopter into an Airbnb.

“I’m currently refitting a coffee shop in Four Mile Bridge on Anglesey. For the next project I’ll need funds so I’m reluctantly letting the chapel go.”

Twenty-one years after acquiring Capel Mawr he’s listed the property on the market for just under £1m. The estate agents are Williams and Goodwin The Property People.

They characterise Capel Mawr as a “truly unique opportunity”. The lower flat contains five bedrooms, whilst the upper one boasts four.

The layout is open-plan and, as one visitor observed, “photos don’t do justice to this absolutely stunning property”. The estate agents described the ground floor flat as offering an “almost cavernous open plan living space”.

They’ve identified various potential uses beyond maintaining the holiday rental business. Splitting the space into two separate dwellings is feasible, or purchasers could “create a home with an income”.

A second home is now also permitted following Cyngor Gwynedd’s unsuccessful appeal to maintain its Article 4 direction, which previously prevented change of use without planning permission.

A premium kitchen fitted with contemporary appliances sits adjacent to a dining space featuring a table that “easily seats 14 guests”.

The layout flows seamlessly into the sitting area designed for unwinding. Alongside a utility room the ground floor contains a bedroom with bunk beds and a contemporary shower room.

Four of the lower flat’s bedrooms are located on a galleried landing that overlooks the principal open-plan living area. Access is via an open-tread timber staircase. Each of these double bedrooms features fitted wardrobes and high-end en suites.

The upper flat follows a more conventional style. The agents noted: “This has been painstakingly restored and modernised to a style that enhances many of the original features with feature windows and impressively restored ceiling roses. A bespoke craftsman timber kitchen is second to none.”

The layout is also rather distinctive – reflecting Dez’s international travels. The apartment’s open space is circular in design and has been divided to create three separate zones for the kitchen, lounge and dining areas.

Various rooms branch off from the open-plan living space and spacious entertainment area. These comprise two double bedrooms and a dining space that’s cleverly concealed “almost at a mezzanine level”.

There’s also a principal bedroom which features a substantial dressing room that could serve as a fourth bedroom. Its bathroom is “full of Victorian elegance” and timber craftsmanship.

At the property’s front sits a generous gravelled parking and turning area with room for multiple vehicles. The wisteria-adorned front door creates an impressive entrance, with a lobby providing private access to both apartments.

“It’s been fantastic sharing the properties with visitors,” said Dez. “I’m very attached to the place and I’ll be sad to let it go.”

Whenever US federal immigration agents pull up to a location in Minneapolis, people take their whistles out, start blowing them and start filming.

In December 2025, the US government sent more than 2,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents into Minnesota as part of Operation Metro Surge. They joined more than 700 agents already present in the state – their mission to find and deport people the Trump administration calls “worst of the worst illegal alien criminals.”

The residents of the  metropolitan area known as the Twin Cities – Minneapolis and Saint Paul – quickly came together to try to prevent their neighbours being caught up in ICE raids.  As well as monitoring ICE activities, block by block, people are organising mutual aid for neighbours fearful of going out in case of immigration raids.

Since their arrival, the Trump administration claims ICE agents have arrested more than 4,000 people in Minnesota.  They have also killed two American citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

In this episode of The Conversation Weekly podcast, we speak to Daniel Cueto-Villalobos, a doctoral candidate at the University of Minnesota, who lives in southern Minneapolis and studies race, religion and social movements. He tracks the neighbourhood groups that have sprung into action in response to the ICE presence back to mutual networks set up during the 2020 COVID pandemic, and in the wake of the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis policeman.

“What it did was force us to talk to each other in the most basic sense, and get together as a community to develop these networks that we see really playing out today,” says Cueto-Villalobos.

Listen on The Conversation Weekly podcast.

This episode of The Conversation Weekly was written and produced by Katie Flood, with production assistance from Mend Mariwany. Mixing by Eleanor Brezzi and theme music by Neeta Sarl. Gemma Ware is the executive producer.

Newsclips in this episode from Associated Press, Fox 11 Los Angeles, CBS Evening News, Reuters, CBS News, LiveNow Fox and NBC News.

Listen to The Conversation Weekly via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our RSS feed or find out how else to listen here. A transcript of this episode is available via the Apple Podcasts or Spotify apps.

A powerful storm system has unleashed severe weather across the southeastern United States, triggering tornado warnings in Mississippi and Louisiana before advancing towards parts of Georgia and Florida. This turbulent weather front arrives as the Northeast enjoys a welcome reprieve from weeks of bitterly cold temperatures.

The most intense storms were reported near Lake Charles, Louisiana, where high winds from a thunderstorm caused significant disruption. A horse trailer and a Mardi Gras float were overturned, an airport jet bridge sustained damage and a metal awning was ripped from a house, landing in power lines. These incidents were documented by National Weather Service employees who surveyed the area.

Further reports from the weather service indicated snapped and toppled power poles near the Louisiana towns of Jena, Cheneyville, and Donaldsonville.

While no fatalities or serious injuries have been reported, the storm system continues its trajectory, placing parts of south Georgia and the Florida Panhandle under tornado watches throughout Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Northeast was beginning to thaw after a weeks-long stretch of uncommonly cold weather.

Boston was running nearly 7 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 14 Celsius) below average for February by midweek, and the city was on pace for its coldest winter in more than a decade. Boston remained cold on Sunday, but the week’s forecast called for temperatures climbing into the high 30s and low 40s, which is closer to the seasonal average.

Elsewhere in the U.S., parts of California were bracing for showers, thunderstorms and snow showers. Jacob Spender, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sacramento, said a storm system was moving on shore in California throughout Sunday and through the week.

Heavy snow was forecast for elevated areas, Spender said.

“As we get up into the mountains and the foothills, we’re going to be looking at some snowfall,” Spender said. “So there will be snowfall all the way down into the foothills as well.”

Spender said people should heed travel advisories in the coming days.

“So if they are traveling, packing winter safety kits. Anything to be prepared. This is a bigger system, and a major system,” Spender said.

Call the Midwife viewers were left devastated during the latest episode of the BBC show.

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On Sunday night, emotions ran high among BBC viewers as they discovered the fate of Sister Monica Joan, portrayed by Judy Parfitt.

In recent episodes of Call the Midwife, fans learnt that the much-loved character was suffering from kidney failure, with Dr. Patrick Turner, played by Stephen McGann, indicating that further tests would shed more light on her condition.

Sadly, the results of these tests were disclosed in the latest episode of the drama.

As Dr Turner, Sister Julienne (Jenny Agutter), and Nurse Phyllis Crane (Linda Bassett) sat down to discuss the findings, Dr Turner began: “I was hoping it was something that could be treated, but chronic kidney disease is just-“.

Interrupting him, Sister Julienne added: “Something that takes old people gently, but kindly.”

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Dr Turner stressed that despite its ‘gentle’ nature, the disease still claims lives, leading Nurse Phyllis to ask how long Sister Monica Joan had been living with the illness, reports the Mirror.

He responded: “I suspect not long.”

When questioned about her life expectancy, he admitted: “The same, unless we can persuade her to accept what treatment there is, she’ll progress to end-stage renal failure fairly quickly.”

Despite the devastating news, Nurse Crane responded: “Till that day comes, we’ll just have to love her as we always have, but a bit more carefully.”

It wasn’t long before viewers flocked to X to express their reactions to the looming death of Sister Monica Joan, with one person writing: “Are they actually going to kill of sister Monica Joan? Just end Call The Midwife there!”.

Another commented: “No, Sister Monica Joan is immortal…she can’t die.”

Whilst a third added: “SISTER MONICA JOAN. Sobbing.”

A further viewer wrote: “Absolutely devastated hearing the news that Sister Monica Joan has kidney failure and may not have long left, if we lose her, it will be like losing a much-loved family member. I’d be completely heartbroken.”

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

One person posted: “Don’t you dare let anything happen to Sister Monica Joan.”

Meanwhile another said: “#callthemidwife Oh no, surely it can’t be the demise,of Sister Monica Joan? On the other hand could it be the end on Nonnatus? What a fantastic drama this is @CallTheMidwife1 #SundayMood.”

Sister Monica Joan has featured in the cherished period drama since its debut back in 2012. However, as the programme enters its 15th series, it’s been reported that the finale will feature a birth, a wedding and a funeral.

Call the Midwife continues Sundays on BBC One from 8pm

A glove containing DNA found about two miles from the house of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie’s mother appears to match those worn by a masked person outside her front door in Tucson the night she vanished, the FBI said Sunday.

The glove, discovered in a field beside a road, was sent for DNA testing. The FBI said in a statement that it received preliminary results Saturday and was awaiting official confirmation. The development comes as law enforcement gathers more potential evidence as the search for Guthrie’s mother heads into its third week. Authorities had previously said they had not identified a suspect.

Nancy Guthrie, 84, was last seen at her Arizona home on Jan. 31 and was reported missing the following day. Authorities say her blood was found on the front porch. Purported ransom notes were sent to news outlets, but two deadlines for paying have passed.

The discovery was revealed days after investigators had released surveillance videos of the masked person outside Guthrie’s front door. A porch camera recorded video of a person with a backpack who was wearing a ski mask, long pants, jacket and gloves.

Late Friday night, law enforcement agents sealed off a road about two miles (3.2 kilometers) from Guthrie’s home as part of their investigation. A series of sheriff’s and FBI vehicles, including forensics vehicles, passed through the roadblock.

The investigators also tagged and towed a Range Rover SUV from a nearby restaurant parking lot late Friday. The sheriff’s department later said the activity was part of the Guthrie investigation but no arrests were made.

On Tuesday, sheriff deputies detained a person for questioning during a traffic stop south of Tucson. Authorities didn’t say what led them to stop the man but confirmed he was released. The same day, deputies and FBI agents conducted a court-authorized search in Rio Rico, about an hour’s drive south of the city.

Authorities have expressed concern about Nancy Guthrie’s health because she needs vital daily medicine. She is said to have a pacemaker and have dealt with high blood pressure and heart issues, according to sheriff’s dispatcher audio on broadcastify.com.

Earlier in the investigation, authorities had said they had collected DNA from Nancy Guthrie’s property which doesn’t belong to Guthrie or those in close contact with her. Investigators were working to identify who it belongs to.

The FBI also has said approximately 16 gloves were found in various spots near the house, most of which were searchers’ gloves that had been discarded.

It should be stressed that Arsenal and Eze were doing this against highly accommodating opponents. Few teams in world football can cope when Arsenal play with the beautiful ferocity of their opening half hour and it was fathoms above the capabilities of the team 22nd in League One, who have conceded 14 goals in their past five matches.

The match felt ripe to be seized by Eze for one of those Gareth Bale vs Inter Milan-type performances. Instead his moments of genius were matched by needless losses of possession, which might have been punished by a better counter-attacking team.

His defensive contributions do not lack effort, but he is clearly more effective with time and space on the ball than when out of possession. Certainly he seems unlikely to thrive when his average position is deeper than anyone other than Declan Rice and Arsenal’s two centre-backs among their outfielders, as it was against Brentford.

Even as the main man at Palace he could go quiet during games, but would often provide a defining moment from unpromising situations. In that respect he is an unusual presence in Mikel Arteta’s impeccable machine, but his manager appears relaxed about what he offers his team. “Some superb balls,” Arteta said of Eze’s performance “His intentions, the risks he took in the final third, the amount of shots he tried to take. That’s really positive, that’s what we want from him.

“He is already playing a big role, he’s played a lot of games for us and will continue to do that. Especially the creative players, they need to feel they are producing those moments. I’m very happy with that and Gabi [Martinelli] as well, the run he made, the timing of that and the finishing action, really positive. For the mood and the confidence it’s a really good thing.”

The afternoon belatedly improved for Wigan when they mercy-killed Hunt and brought on Matt Smith, who made Arsenal’s bench in their last FA Cup final in 2020. Graham Barrow, the Wigan caretaker manager, switched to a back four, which made his team more solid. Still you sensed Arsenal’s supporters were keen for a cathartic bludgeoning, some footballing Senokot to relieve their attacking blockages.

Instead, Arsenal understandably eased off. The game was won and there was a gradual mutual understanding between crowd and staff that the secondary objective was avoiding injuries. Ben White did not manage that, although walked off when he was replaced by Martín Zubimendi. Riccardo Calafiori was hurt in the warm-up with Bukayo Saka brought in to start shortly before kick-off.

There were some minor grumbles towards Viktor Gyokeres, on for Saka and unfortunate not to score, hitting a post instead. His worst crime was miscuing a header from a serviceable Martinelli cross. It did not matter much, although there was a slight unfulfillment with the scoreless second half. Arsenal had earned the right to that with their electric start. For all his unusual qualities as a player, Eze was its architect.