Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander might be adding a couple more trophies to his collection. San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama has a shot at doing the same.

And for the eighth consecutive year, the MVP will be an international one.

Gilgeous-Alexander — the reigning NBA MVP — is one of the finalists for this year’s top individual honor, along with Denver’s Nikola Jokic and the Spurs’ Wembanyama, who is also a finalist for defensive player of the year.

The NBA’s run of international MVPs started in 2019 and 2020 with Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is of Greek and Nigerian descent. Jokic, a Serbian, won in 2021, 2022 and 2024. Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid, who was born in Cameroon but since became a U.S. citizen, won the award in 2023, and Canada’s Gilgeous-Alexander won last year.

Gilgeous-Alexander is also a finalist for Clutch Player of the Year this season.

The NBA announced the finalists for seven individual awards Sunday night and will start announcing winners on Monday. The Defensive Player award — widely expected to be going to Wembanyama — comes out then, followed by Clutch Player on Tuesday and Sixth Man on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the appeal that got the Los Angeles Lakers’ Luka Doncic onto the award ballots might earn him All-NBA, but did not lead to him getting his first MVP award. He was not among the top three in the balloting for MVP; voters cast their ballots last week after Doncic and Detroit’s Cade Cunningham won appeals that got them on the ballot even though they didn’t satisfy the terms of the NBA’s 65-game rule for eligibility in most cases.

Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards lost his appeal — but might get an award after all.

Edwards is a finalist for Clutch Player of the Year. He wasn’t on the ballot for MVP, All-NBA and other honors, but was on the Clutch ballot because those nominees were selected by the league’s coaches.

The finalists

— MVP: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City; Nikola Jokic, Denver; Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio.

— Defensive Player of the Year: Wembanyama; Chet Holmgren, Oklahoma City; Ausar Thompson, Detroit.

— Clutch Player: Anthony Edwards, Minnesota; Gilgeous-Alexander; Jamal Murray, Denver.

— Most Improved Player: Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Atlanta; Deni Avdija, Portland; Jalen Duren, Detroit.

— Sixth Man: Tim Hardaway Jr., Denver; Jaime Jaquez Jr., Miami; Keldon Johnson, San Antonio.

— Coach of the Year: J.B. Bickerstaff, Detroit; Mitch Johnson, San Antonio; Joe Mazzulla, Boston.

— Rookie of the Year: VJ Edgecombe, Philadelphia; Cooper Flagg, Dallas; Kon Knueppel, Charlotte.

MVP

Gilgeous-Alexander is trying to go back-to-back, Jokic — who has been first or second in five straight seasons, entering this year — is seeking his fourth MVP in six years and Wembanyama is a finalist for the first time.

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This would be a “seismic change”, were it to happen, Mr Swinney says, adding that in Wales, where Labour have been in power since the start of devolution, it would be a “massive change in the fortunes and perspective of the Labour Party” which would then have “enormous implications for the United Kingdom”.

Connor Casey, 22, of The Brambles, Birtley, appeared at Durham Crown Court via video link from Holme House Prison, where he is remanded in custody.

He is accused of stalking a woman between January 28 and March 16, causing her to fear violence would be committed against her.

The allegation states that he kept track of her movements, damaged and threatened to damage her property, followed her when socialising with friends in Newcastle and when she travelled abroad, to Ibiza.

Casey is also accused of assaulting her, causing actual bodily harm, in Thailand, between January 31 and March 3, this year, and intentional strangulation, at Chester-le-Street, between December 31 and February 1.

All three counts were put to Casey at the hearing and he denied them all.

A timetable prior to trial was agreed, with the prosecution to serve its file of evidence by May 8 and the signed defence statement to be submitted by June 5.

All parties agreed on a trial start date of Tuesday September 1.

Judge Nathan Adams told Casey, of The Brambles, Birtley, near Chester-le-Street: “You have pleaded not guilty and the case is now timetabled to trial.

“By June 5 you need to help in the preparation of your signed defence statement, setting out why you say you are not guilty.

“The trial will start on September 1, and you will remain in custody in the meantime.”

Passengers were forced to miss connecting flights and faced hours of disruption – reports suggest there was overcrowded waiting areas and huge queues at major airports

Passengers have been left stranded after a huge number of flights were reportedly cancelled as four major airlines experienced delays.

According to Travel and Tour World, nearly 500 flights were delayed as Capital Airlines, Garuda Indonesia, China Eastern Airlines and Pakistan International Airlines.

The airlines collectively cancelled 23 flights across a number of different airports in Asia, including Shanghai Pudong and Islamabad International Airport.

Reports suggest that these delays created a whole host of problems – with passengers missing connecting flights and facing hours of disruption. Travel and Tour World reports that there were overcrowded waiting areas and huge queues at Shanghai and Beijing.

It comes as Aer Lingus is expected to cancel around 500 flights due to “mandatory maintenance” on aircraft.

An Aer Lingus spokesperson told RSVP Live: “Aer Lingus has commenced operating its planned summer schedule. A number of recent cancellations have been required due to mandatory maintenance on aircraft, along with a limited number of schedule adjustments.

“Where schedule adjustments are being made, the vast majority of customers are being reaccommodated on same day services.”

Earlier this month, Ryanair chief Michael O’Leary cautioned that flights could be cancelled this summer owing to the soaring cost of jet fuel.

He told ITV News: “We’re all facing an unknown scenario. And we are certainly looking at maybe having to cancel 5 per cent, 10 per cent of flights through May, June and July.”

Should passengers find their flight cancelled, O’Leary suggested they should ‘blame Trump’ rather than the airline.

Air Canada is also set to suspend services to New York’s JFK International Airport over the summer as the war in Iran creates jet fuel shortages that have sent prices soaring.

Canada’s flag carrier said on Friday that flights from Toronto and Montreal to JFK will cease on June 1 and resume on October 25.

Services to the New York metropolitan area’s two other airports — LaGuardia and Newark — will continue.

Air Canada said it will reach out to customers who are affected by the suspension with alternative travel options.

“As jet fuel prices have doubled since the start of the Iran conflict and some lower profitability routes and flights are no longer economic, we are making schedule adjustments accordingly,” a spokesman for the Montreal-based carrier said.

Swedish Chief of Defence warns Moscow could carry out Baltic Sea ‘land grab’ at any time to test NATO’s resolve as military intelligence says Russia capable of war expansion

Sweden is bracing itself for a potential Russian operation to seize the island of Gotland, according to the country’s military chief.

Swedish Chief of Defence Michael Claesson warned that Moscow could execute a land grab “at any time” in order to put NATO’s determination to the test.

“It doesn’t have to be particularly extensive at all, but more to make a point and wait to see what might happen politically,” Claesson said.

NATO military exercises have traditionally centred on a potential Russian land assault along the alliance’s eastern flank, however focus is now turning towards the Baltic Sea.

War games have simulated possible Russian landings on strategically vital islands such as Gotland in Sweden, Bornholm in Denmark, and Hiiumaa and Saaremaa in Estonia.

Swedish military intelligence has cautioned that Russia is capable of broadening its conflict in the years ahead.

They further warn that any resolution to the Russian war could enable Putin to redeploy troops closer to NATO territory.

It follows US President Donald Trump repeatedly rounding on NATO allies over what he regards as insufficient backing for the Iran war. Most recently, at a Turning Point event in Arizona on Friday, 17 April, Trump delivered a keynote speech in which he declared that his country must depend on itself.

Trump said: “If NATO teaches us any one thing, and I hope you all watched because they weren’t there for us, if it teaches us any one thing: we have to rely on ourselves.

“We can’t rely on outside countries and outside sources.”

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has condemned a US decision to extend the period during which Russia is allowed to sell oil despite Western sanctions.

The move means countries can purchase Russian oil and petroleum products already loaded on vessels at sea until 16 May.

The US argues that the waiver is meant to ease the energy supply crunch sparked by the US-Israel war with Iran.

But in his remarks on Sunday, Zelensky said “every dollar paid for Russian oil is money for the war” in Ukraine. Widespread sanctions have been in place against Russia since President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of its neighbour in February 2022.

“Edward”, a nine-year old Kenyan boy, has always been aware his father worked for the British military. The boy’s skin colour, lighter than his peers, has provoked years of bullying. His father disappeared before Edward [not his real name] was born, leaving his mum living in extreme poverty, ostracised by some of her family.

‘It’s the most difficult thing to trust your killer, your occupier, who stole your land, your house, who killed your daughter’

Two bereaved fathers, one Israeli and one Palestinian, are using their friendship to campaign for peace between their two nations.

Despite having fought for opposing sides as young men, Rami Elhanan and Bassam Aramin say they are now “family” and have dedicated their lives to building respect and understanding between their communities.

The two men were in Dublin to speak at an event hosted by the charity Trocaire. They have visited the country before, touring the island and sharing their stories last summer.

“I’m proud that he considers me a brother,” Mr Elhanan says of Mr Aramin.

The 76-year-old veteran of the Yom Kippur War described a man who, aged 17, was jailed for throwing hand grenades at Israeli jeeps.

Mr Elhanan’s life changed “dramatically” following the death of his 14-year-old daughter in 1997.

Smadar Elhanan was killed by Palestinian suicide bombers while shopping for school books with friends in Jerusalem.

The following year he was invited to a meeting of bereaved Palestinian and Israeli parents, set up by The Parents Circle – Families Forum (PCFF), a joint Israeli-Palestinian organisation for bereaved families.

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“I was very suspicious… I was very reluctant and cynical,” he said, but added that the meeting “changed my life, changed my mind, changed my attitude”.

“I was 47-years-old, and until today, I’m ashamed to admit it was the first time ever in my life I’d met Palestinians as human beings, not as workers in the streets, and not as terrorists, but as human beings who carry the same burden that I carry, who suffer like I suffer.”

He became involved in grassroots peace movements and met Mr Aramin through the group Combatants for Peace in 2005.

“He always said that I immediately fell in love with him the minute I met him, which is completely true,” Mr Elhan said of Mr Aramin.

That love was needed when, two years later, Mr Aramin’s 10-year-old daughter, Abir, was shot by the Israeli military in East Jerusalem.

“We ran to the hospital,” Mr Elhanan said: “We spent two days by her bed until she passed away and for me, it was like losing my daughter for the second time, I knew this girl.”

Since then the men have campaigned together, sharing their personal tragedies as a warning, and their friendship as a symbol of hope.

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“We proved that we can build a real partnership, we can live together all side by side,” Mr Elhanan said.

They say mutual respect and understanding between their two peoples is what is needed to bring the brutal conflict to an end.

“One word is essential, without it nothing will happen, the word is respect,” said Mr Elhanan.

“You have to be able to respect the guy next to you exactly as you want to be respected, no more and no less and once you achieve this, all the rest are technicalities.”

This, he says, can be achieved by “being brave, by telling the truth, by looking straight into your eyes, not being polite, not being not controversial, telling them from the river to the sea, everyone should be free, everyone should be safe, everyone should be equal”.

“It’s the most difficult thing to trust your killer, your occupier, who stole your land, your house, who killed your daughter,” Mr Aramin added.

But he said learning about the “humanity” of those he considered the “enemy” has changed his perspective.

The 57-year-old said it was not until he met Mr Elhanan’s father, an Auschwitz survivor, that he understood the horror of the Holocaust.

He said when he first heard about the Second World War genocide he thought: “I don’t care, it’s not me, I don’t know about anyone.”

“When you meet Rami’s Father, it’s hard, and he starts to talk to you about before he go to the oven.

“Then you understand what’s the name of the Holocaust.”

Mr Elhanan said some in his community claim grief caused him to lose his mind.

“I lost many friends, I lost many family members,” he said, but added: “I get new family members, new friends, and I’m not afraid anymore the worst has already happened.”

“I see the goal very clearly, very sharply, I know exactly where I’m going, what needs to be done in order that children will not keep on dying in this Holy Land of ours, no Muslim children, no Christian children, no Jewish children, no children at all.”

A 2020 novel Aperiogon, based on the pair’s friendship and written by Irish author Colum McCann, was longlisted for the Booker prize.

They compare coming to Ireland to a football team playing a home match, with Mr Aramin saying people in the country “understand us, they’re very supportive”.

They say they use the peace that has been achieved in Northern Ireland as a story of hope.

“It’s not written anywhere that we’re going to continue killing each other forever,” Mr Aramin said.

“It must end at one point, and I believe very soon.”

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

Emergency services descended onto Broadmoss Drive

Armed police were called to a block of flats after a woman was found dead. Emergency services flooded Broadmoss Drive, Blackley, on Sunday evening (April 19).

A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder and Greater Manchester Police has said there is no wider risk to the public.

Multiple officers, detectives, forensics, and ambulance staff were spotted in the area today where a cordon was placed at the entrance of Somerton Court.

Police cars were stationed around the flats, with officers standing outside keeping watch.

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One resident who lives in Somerton Court described to the M.E.N the moment they heard armed police enter the tower block.

“Earlier today at 18:26 I heard a big bang and a door had been kicked in,” they said. “When we heard the noise, we went to look and then went back up.

“I saw about four ambulances go in as well as armed police and thought, what’s going on?’”

A scene remains in place.

The 22-year-old had been seen as a potential option for Wales going forward

Welsh-qualified centre Riley Higgins has signed for Edinburgh in a blow to Steve Tandy’s hopes of strengthening his playing options.

Despite the Welsh Rugby Union scrapping its Exiles programme last year, the need to expand Wales’ player pool is more pressing than ever, with high-ranking figures within the union casting the net across the globe to find new names. Higgins, who currently plays for Super Rugby Pacific outfit the Hurricanes, was one player seen as a potential option for Tandy, with the 22-year-old qualifying for Wales through a grandmother.

However, the New Zealander is also eligible for Scotland through his Ayrshire-born grandmother, and he has seemingly signalled his international intentions by signing for Edinburgh on a three-year deal from next season.

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Higgins – who can play at 12, 13 or on the wing – is highly thought of in New Zealand rugby circles, making his Super Rugby debut before playing any NPC rugby.

He has also represented New Zealand U20s and an All Blacks XV and has unsurprisingly attracted a lot of interest from around the globe in recent times, with English, Japanese and other Super Rugby clubs also thought to be keen on securing his signature.

But while he was previously seen as a player who could potentially add some x-factor to the Wales midfield, Higgins has decided the next step of his career will come in Scotland, and he will more than likely come into contention for international selection by Gregor Towsend from next season.

“I can’t wait to get stuck in with Edinburgh,” he said as his signing was confirmed on Sunday. “It’s a big move but the challenge of testing myself in a new competition, with such a great team and such passionate fans is very exciting.

“The club has a great feel to it, and I can’t wait to grow my game with Edinburgh Rugby over the next few years. I’m still young and learning but I’m hungry to improve as a player and person on and off the field, and help the team wherever I can in the hope of winning some titles.

“Fans can expect a hard-working player who will never give up, and someone who brings an exciting style of play,” Higgins added. “I can’t wait to see you all soon!”

Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt added: “Riley is an outstanding talent and this is a significant signing for Edinburgh Rugby.

“He has already proven himself at the highest level in the southern hemisphere – a player who was keeping All Blacks out of the Hurricanes’ starting lineup before his 24th birthday – and we believe the best is still very much to come from him.

“The fact that he has chosen to turn down a potential All Blacks future, and has rejected higher offers elsewhere, to come to Edinburgh tells you everything about his ambition to succeed in Scotland. We worked enormously hard over many months to get this deal over the line, and I’m delighted we’ve got it done.

“At 23, Riley still has room to grow, and I genuinely believe the best is still to come from him. Alongside guys like Matt Currie and Mosese Tuipulotu, we are building something really exciting in our midfield, and I know our supporters will enjoy watching this group develop together. I can’t wait to have him with us this summer.”

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Local councillors objected to the proposal, calling it ‘unneighbourly’

Local councillors are outraged over plans for a flat conversion in Cardiff which they have described as an “unneighbourly development”. The plans propose the conversion of the existing two flats at 15 Lisvane Street in Cathays into three self-contained flats, along with extensions to the building.

Cardiff councillors Sarah Merry, Christopher Weaver and Norma Mackie sent a letter to the council’s planning office objecting to the application on the grounds of it being an “unneighbourly overdevelopment” that will “impact negatively on neighbouring properties”.

Part of the letter reads: “The extension covers the full width of the plot leaving only a small remaining amenity area after the inclusion of cycle parking within 5 metres of the rear boundary wall. Never miss a Cardiff story by signing up to our daily newsletter here

It continues: “Visually as it is the corner property it will be very visible and impact negatively on the character of the area.”

The application reads: “The design aims to achieve an optimal balance between maximizing the use of available space and preserving the character and structural integrity of the original building plus retaining the ground floor shop use.”

It also states that parking, landscaping and waste management will be “addressed” to minimise the impact on the local community.

The applicant, JNR Properties, wrote that the development would be a “harmonious blend of old and new, where the character of the existing building is respected while adapting it to meet contemporary housing needs.”

The planning officer’s report reads: “The scale of the proposal and its relationship with neighbouring properties is considered acceptable.

“It is considered that the proposal would not be overbearing or generally un-neighbourly which would justify concern.”

The councillors’ objections were noted by the report.

All extensions planned for the property were also called “acceptable”.

According to the application, the front of the property will be preserved or “sensitively altered” to “blend seamlessly with the surrounding neighbourhood”.

Planning documents also read: “The design will create high-quality, sustainable, and functional living spaces that enhance the value of the property and positively contribute to the local community.”