Rory McIlroy made the cut with a shot to spare at the Players Championship, but heads into the weekend trailing leader Ludvig Aberg by 13 shots.

Defending champion McIlroy, who has been struggling with a back injury, birdied his last hole to card a 71 as he reached the halfway stage on one-over par at TPC Sawgrass.

Aberg grabbed three birdies and an eagle in his first four holes, adding another eagle at the ninth as he went out in 29.

Another three birdies coming home, with a single dropped shot, saw the Swede card a 63 to reach 12-under par and establish a two-shot lead.

Xander Schauffele hit every fairway en route to a 65 and second place, one clear of fellow American Cameron Young, with Justin Thomas and Canada’s Corey Conners on eight-under par.

Sepp Straka was a shot further back with English duo Tommy Fleetwood and Matt Fitzpatrick among those on five-under par.

McIlroy was in good company fighting to beat the cut, with world number one Scottie Scheffler also grabbing a birdie at the last to finish on one-over par, one shot better than the cut line.

McIlroy withdrew from the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Saturday before his third round and he said he felt “rusty” on Thursday after he laboured through his opening round.

He told Sky Sports: “I felt a little bit better. I would say if anything it was just I was struggling to trust everything was OK yesterday.

“I struggled a little bit on lies that were beneath my feet and stuff like that, but today I felt pretty good and felt like I hit the ball well. I really just couldn’t get a putt to drop. That was the issue.

“I tried my best, I grinded and made a good birdie at the last, hopefully to make the cut.

“Game feels good, I just went five or six days without really touching a club or doing anything so just getting my feels back a little.

“Hopefully another couple of days to get myself up the leaderboard. I’m 11 back at the minute, I’m not sure I’m going to contend for the title, but hopefully two good days and have a respectable finish.”

Black Phillip’s Impossible Market will take place above the Impossible bar in St Helen’s Square from 12pm to 4pm on Saturday, April 11.

Several traders will be on hand at the free-to-attend market.

‘Black Phillip’, the mysterious character in charge of the market, said the items on sale will include “recycled goodies, taxidermy, gothic home décor, witchcraft items, art made with real spiderwebs, gothic jewellery, hand-made prints”, along with “doorways to other dimensions”.

“Oh, and some ultra-foul scented candles, of course,” they added.

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An event spokesperson said: “Come along to see Black Phillip, the (g)host with the most, as it throws open the doors to another one of it’s market experiences!

“You’ll smell strange things, hear strange things and see some very strange things! It opens at 12pm and closes at 4pm. All ages are welcome and it’s free entry.”

The event follows previous markets by Black Phillips held at the York Medical Society in Stonegate.

The Bolton-born comic and presenter was due to be in Bolton today for a fundraising event, featuring other big name comics to raise money for Endeavour, a charity which supports those affected by domestic abuse.

The sold out comedy show, held at Bolton Whites Hotel, also featured Justin Moorhouse and Colin Manford, alongside legend Mick Miller.

Unfortunately, Paddy got his dates mixed up, and instead sent a message and also shared the charity’s work with his 2.2 million followers.

Bolton’s very own Paddy McGuinness is set to join TV star Fearne Cotton on stage this summer for (Image: Ian West/ PA Wire)

In the video, Paddy said: “Hello everybody at the Endeavour Project in Bolton, so sorry I can’t be with you today.

“Gutted, my fault, got my diary mixed up, but it’s going to be an absolute belter.

“You’ve got Justin Moorhouse down there doing their comedy and Colin Manford, you’re going to have a belter.

“See you in the next couple one.”

He signed off by blowing a kiss.

Endeavour is a registered charity that works to support all those affected by domestic abuse and provides a range of services, community support, group work and counselling.

It was the first charity in the country to offer an in-house pet fostering service, allowing people to flee domestic households without having to abandon their animals.

The six artists or collaborations are Alex Hartley and Tom James, based in Devon and London, Helix Arts x George King Architects, based in the North East, Mary Dalton, based in Hampshire, non zero one, based in London, Sam Williams Studio, based in Sussex, and Trigger, based in Bristol.

The popular series, which offers huge prizes to competitors, is back for 2026 and you can claim a free pair of tickets worth up to £64 to Chelmsford City racecourse PLUS kids go free

The Sky Bet Sunday Series kicks off again in April and we are giving readers the opportunity to claim free tickets to any one of the five meetings up and down the country.

We have partnered with Racing TV to secure 9,000 tickets to give away to readers and what’s more, you can claim two free tickets to your chosen event – plus kids go free, so it’s a great opportunity for a fantastic family day-out.

The Sky Bet Sunday Series is in its sixth year and showcases racing in the attractive Sunday twilight slot. There is huge prize-money to be won, in addition to significant cash bonuses, which means hugely competitive racing, all played out in front of the ITV cameras.

Skybet Sunday Series is in association with horsepower – British racing’s hub dedicated to the Thoroughbred racehorse – Safety and Welfare in Horseracing visit horsepwr.co.uk

Also new for the year, the Series will partner with Young Lives vs Cancer – Sky Bets charity partner of the year. For more information CLICK HERE.

The five participating Sky Bet Sunday Series race meetings for this offer are:

• Musselburgh – Sunday 12th April 2026 – Gates open 13:30
• Ayr – Sunday 26th April 2026 – Gates open 13:45
• Hamilton Park – Sunday 17th May 2026 – Gates open 14:00
• Thirsk – Sunday 31st May 2026 – Gates open TBC (Communicated nearer the time, check website for details)
• Chelmsford City – Sunday 2nd August 2026 – Gates open 11:30

Click here to claim your free tickets (subject to availability, first come, first serve basis)

Terms and Conditions : 1. This promotion covers all events and will be open until either (i) 7 days before the particular race which you have entered the promotion for or, (ii) until all tickets for that particular event are redeemed, whichever occurs first. Musselburgh will close at midnight on April 1 due to Easter Bank holiday. The entire promotion for all events will close at 23:59pm on Sunday, July 26, 2026.

2 . This is a syndicated offer across the Daily Mirror/ Sunday Mirror, Daily Star/Daily Star Sunday, Daily Record/Sunday Mail, Daily Express/Sunday Express, Sunday People and and their relevant Reach online platform, aswell as 6 regional newspapers and their online platform: Cambridge News / cambridge-news.co.uk, Paisley Daily Express, Newcastle Chronicle, Journal, Sunday Sun / chroniclelive.co.uk, Teesside Gazette / gazettelive.co.uk. Aswell as the following Premium Subsription apps: Daily Record, Newcastle Chronicle

3. Tickets are limited for each event to 2000 (1000 pairs) except Musselburgh which has 1000 (500 pairs) and are subject to availability and will be offered on a first come first served basis.

4. To enter the promotion you will need to be over 18 years of age (i) choose your preferred racing event; (ii) fill in your full name and email address, (iii) click enter and then you will be sent an instant email with ticket information in the event you are successful receiving tickets to attend the event. If you are not successful (if all tickets have been taken), you will be informed that you have not been successful. Please check junk email if successful and move your email to your inbox immediately to avoid deletion of your email which is automatically from your junk/spam email after 30 days.

Full terms and conditions can be found on the entry form and must be adhered to in order to enter the promotion.

The first instalment of The Claudia Winkleman show had fans rushing to social media to vent their opinions as the former Strictly host spoke to a star-studded guest list

Claudia Winkleman has fronted her new show and fans are immediately having their say. The star of The Traitors and formerly of Strictly Come Dancing is now sharing Graham Norton’s Friday evening talk slot as she entertains on her own brand new series.

It marks Claudia’s first new solo gig since she and co-host Tess Daly stepped down from hosting Strictly Come Dancing. And The Traitors star admitted the new venture as “really scary” as she readied herself to speak to a star-studded line-up of famous faces from the world of TV, music, and more.

The aptly named The Claudia Winkleman Show, is filmed in front of a live studio audience and the presenter said before the show she is “going to be awful”. And fans were quick to share whether they agreed with her statement as they rushed to Twitter /X during the first instalment.

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One viewer sighed: “So Television is Graham Norton’s production company, they also produce The Claudia Winkleman Show which is why, despite a set change, the format is identical. A shame nothing different was attempted with this chat show!”

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Another complained: “The Claudia Winkleman Show is just the Graham Norton Show without Graham Norton.” And a third said: “This is just not working the Claudia Winkleman show is dull as the dark teal sofa.”

However, others were appreciating the new show – including guest Tom Allen, who ssaid it was a great show. On Instagram he said: “It was FABULOUS to be part of!”

And a X user also seemed to enjoy the set up. “First thoughts about The Claudia Winkleman Show, not that much different from The Graham Norton Show really but I love her anyway,” they said. Another added: “The Claudia Winkleman Show gets four stars. . . .A welcome contrast to the Graham Norton Show, which is a very, very out-of-step production.”

The opening instalment of Claudia Winkleman’ s new chat show sees Jennifer Saunders confess that she and Dawn French once made plan to take ecstasy together – but were thwarted.

Jennifer, who appeared on the show to promoted her new film The Magic Faraway Tree, revealed: “Dawn and I once thought we’d be really daring, and we got an ecstasy tablet. We thought one day when we’re alone – we could take half an ecstasy tablet. We kept it on Dawn’s mantlepiece and one day, about six months later, we thought ‘OK, we’re ready’.”

Before the show aired, Claudia had said: “I can’t quite believe it, and I’m incredibly grateful to the BBC for this amazing opportunity. I’m obviously going to be awful, that goes without saying, but I’m over the moon they’re letting me try.”

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The Claudia Winkleman Show got going as its first episode meant to go on: with the newly minted chat show host doing crowd work.

The average BBC viewer might not realise from the muted set-up and dimmed lights, but much is riding on Winkleman’s eponymous show debut. The fringetastic phenom has helmed the Beeb’s two marquee franchises (the castle and the ballroom), and the question now is whether she can conquer the sofa too.

Coming off that high-rating streak, The Claudia Winkleman Show is the disarming star’s blank cheque moment. 

But show guest Tom Allen (also the first episode’s runaway star) summed up the premiere best: ‘It does feel sometimes like I’m in a nursing home.’ 

That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, except when it was. 

Clear effort has been made to set Winkleman’s intimate saloon apart from Graham Norton’s shining, showbiz-forward studio. Smooth jazz soundtracked the show, with lighting from stylish sconces that created a speakeasy effect, but one in which celebs flog their wares.

With no real warm-up, we were straight in with the sofa set: Hollywood’s Jeff Goldblum and Vanessa Williams, as well as national treasure Jennifer Saunders and Allen on the end bit of the emerald velvet settee, absent of back support. As if the comedians didn’t already get short shrift with the seating plan.

It was strange to see Winkleman nervous, but she did admit as much. The anxious grinning was a foreign quality from her unflappable demeanour on The Traitors and Strictly, but the self-deprecation was still there. It was ‘the first and possibly last show’. (Except they’ve already booked big names for next week).

The hour-ish unfolded much like the jazz tunes Goldblum was promoting: winding, with sedate interludes and no clear chorus. This is where Winkleman’s freewheeling ability to get out of the way runs up against the chat show as we know it. 

As the celebrity podcast industrial complex has shown, inane luvvie musings are in no short supply. Being low on ego is commendable, until you’re in a room of people brimming with it. Then, you can get lost in the shuffle.

Winkleman’s laid-back hosting style left the show prone to clumsy moments. Certain questions and anecdotes failed to take off. We paused to observe Goldblum wiggle his ears one at a time, which somehow merited applause and left me wondering what might be on the cutting room floor.

In such moments, it was Allen who saved the day, doing bit after bit from the end of the sofa. Did I look up tickets to the show he was promoting? Yes, I did. Winkleman felt disappointingly static by comparison.

But this was an inaugural outing (when are pilots ever perfect?), and The Claudia Winkleman Show held promise. There were glimmers of those spontaneous celeb interactions – the gold-dust these shows are powered on – like Allen’s mild horror when Goldblum started to read at random from his new novel.

The crowd engagement is where Winkleman has sought to set herself apart from Norton; they fill the void of the Big Red Chair anecdotes, but without that bleak sense that the audience members are court jester puppets for the elite.

In Winkleman’s world, the spectators are just as interesting as the sofa. There was the person who designed the sofa and the one who makes pencils for a living. Some of these interactions struck better than others, but they offered a nice point of difference.

The show needs a speck of polish, but I do hope the gentler, more intimate feel remains in future episodes, as long as the thing can still be kept on the rails. Perhaps for the second episode, Winkleman will have sparked to life and won’t feel the need to bring out a sweet pup to win us over. 

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Verdict

Only a fool would discount Claudia Winkleman at this point in her career. She hasn’t figured out the format yet, but I don’t doubt she will.

The Claudia Winkleman Show returns to BBC One on Friday at 10.40pm.

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Mojtaba Khamenei has been confirmed as the new Iranian supreme leader – only the third in its history.

The 56-year-old succeeds his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in his Tehran compound on the first day of the war. He was the supreme leader for more than 37 years before his death.

Mojtaba was not there, and so survived, but his mother, wife and daughter were killed.

Follow the latest on the Iran war here

The supreme leader is chosen by the assembly of experts, a body of 88 Islamic scholars selected for their loyalty to the regime.

A building where it meets was flattened in an airstrike, but none of them are thought to have been present at the time.

In the days after he was appointed as supreme leader, US President Donald Trump said he believes Khamenei was “damaged” by joint US-Israeli strikes.

And on Friday, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said he was “wounded and likely disfigured”.

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Israeli jets strike Khamenei’s underground bunker

Little is known about Mojtaba Khamenei.

He is the second eldest son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and has kept a low profile over the years, rarely speaking publicly or taking Friday prayers.

The 56-year-old is a hardline conservative who served in the Habib battalion of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s and has been linked with the violent suppression of protests in his country.

His time in the IRGC helped him build influential connections with men who now hold senior positions in the country.

Describing the new leader as a “lightweight”, Mr Trump said: “Khamenei’s son is unacceptable to me. We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran.”

Tara Kangarlou, author of The Heartbeat of Iran, told Sky News that Mojtaba Khamenei “holds a lot of power in the IRGC apparatus; he has his hands in pretty much every infrastructure you can imagine in Iran: so a lot of money, power and influence”.

Khamenei is under US sanctions but has reportedly amassed a valuable empire of properties around the world, including in London.

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Trump wants to choose Iran’s new leader

Unlike his father, who was a well-known intellectual, a student of Persian poetry and strong orator with a following inside Iran before he became supreme leader, Khamenei does not have a strong reputation in the country.

The position of supreme leader is not just the ultimate authority in Iran, he (and it’s always a man) is the guardian of the Islamic Republic.

Although Khamenei studied in the holy city of Qom, he has only ever been a mid-ranking cleric, not a senior ayatollah.

By inheriting the role, the assembly of experts has in effect created a dynasty – not unlike a monarchy.

But Iranians do not like dynasties: they overthrew the Qajar dynasty in 1925 and the Pahlavi monarchy in 1979.

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Although Khamenei has influence in the inner circles of Iranian politics, he has never held public office or been elected to any government role.

In 1989, when his father became supreme leader, he worked in his offices and became his “principal gatekeeper” and “the power behind the robes”, according to US diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks.

He is close to the IRGC, and that’s important because they would have been instrumental in his appointment, and it suggests the hardliners retain some power, which does not bode well for negotiations to end the war.

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the fourth and final day of the Cheltenham Festival as we build up to the Gold Cup at 4pm.

Overnight rain has made the going good to soft, soft in places, but with a drying breeze and only light showers forecast today there cannot be any excuses. It remains good National Hunt ground.

What we could call the King George triumvirate – The Jukebox Man, Gaelic Warrior and Jango Baie – are jostling for favouritism at the top of the betting, but the money this morning has come for Jango Baie, 7/2 from 11/2.

Last year’s Arkle winner is stepping up in trip, but could be the classiest type in the contest and Nicky Henderson’s horses have generally been running well. Nico De Boinville is on board, and is looking to win his second Gold Cup having won as a conditional jockey on novice Coneygree in 2015.

Harry Redknapp’s The Jukebox Man finished in front of Jango Baie and Gaelic Warrior in the King George and is four from four over fences. He has every chance, but the price is looking a little skinny. Kempton is not always the best gauge for the Gold Cup, but many believe the stiffer track will suit him; The Jukebox Man was beaten by a whisker by Stellar Story over three miles in the Albert Bartlett two years ago, suggesting he should come up the hill.

Gaelic Warrior beat Fact To File in the John Durkan at Punchestown this season, before the positions were reversed in the Irish Gold Cup. Like Jango Baie, Gaelic Warrior is an Arkle winner so he has a turn of foot. The question mark might be whether the Irish Gold Cup run has left him with enough in the tank, given the heavy ground at Leopardstown.

A contender who has taken a different route is Welsh and Irish National winner Haiti Couleurs, trained in Wales by Rebecca Curtis. The nine-year-old could be in the mould of Gold Cup winner Native River; an out-and-out stayer who will look to make all from the front and make this a test of stamina. Front-running has been a fruitful strategy this week, but one or two of these might have a touch more speed.

Last year’s winner Inothewayurthinkin has had awful preparation, running three stinkers in Ireland. However, following reports of more positive work at Fairyhouse, he was backed in from 18/1 to as short 6/1 a few weeks ago. The defending champion has softened in the market since then, and it would require a hell of a revival and training performance by Gavin Cromwell to keep his crown.

Before the main event, we have Festival highlights such as the Triumph Hurdle, the County Hurdle and the Albert Bartlett, which have a recent history of producing winners and placed horses at fancy prices. 

Paddy Kirk (Dominic Brunt) paid a visit to Bear Wolf (Joshua Richards) in Emmerdale this evening, but he had quite a surprising request.

Beloved Bear has been spending time in a mental health unit to recover from the ordeal he suffered on the farm. He was so deeply traumatised, Bear knew in his heart that being admitted there was the right thing to do.

Shortly after Paddy returned home from dropping Bear off, he discussed the investigation into Ray Walters’ (Joe Absolom) murder. Paddy had managed to prevent Bear from getting re-arrested by taking him to the unit, but DS Walsh (Amanda Ryan) explained that once he’s discharged, he will go back to prison.

Mandy Dingle (Lisa Riley) and Dylan Penders (Fred Kettle) grew curious and suggested to Paddy that if Bear spends enough time in the unit, the CPS may deem him unfit for trial, and drop the charges.

This was the only thing on Paddy’s mind in tonight’s episode, as he headed to the hospital to see Bear.

The former pro-wrestler was looking a lot better than a few weeks ago. He was still sporting his beard of course, but the way Bear held himself was more than enough to confirm the therapy was really helping.

He explained this to Paddy, but he was puzzled when his son said that the doctors cannot find out about the brilliant progress Bear is making. Paddy told him that if he gets released, DS Walsh will soon arrive and then he’ll have to face a murder trial.

But Bear’s clear head meant that he could finally speak for himself and understand what he wants. He told Paddy that he’s not going to back down from a fight, before heading off for his next session.

Hours later, Bear was home. The family sadly didn’t have long together, as DS Walsh was back and ready to take Bear to the station.

Paddy, Mandy and Dylan were devastated, but Bear was ready to face his next battle.

Will this be one he ends up winning though?

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