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The Weekend's Football Action: Key Talking PointsThe latest round of Premier League matches and the FA Cup final provided plenty of talking points for football fans, from Manchester City's cup triumph to Liverpool's injury concerns and the ongoing VAR controversies that continue to divide opinion.Shaw's World Cup Hopes After Impressive SeasonLuke Shaw's first goal in over three years for Manchester United was a further reminder of the left-back's capabilities. This has been his best season at Old Trafford having featured in all 37 league games thus far, leaving his injury-prone past forgotten. Considering Shaw's experience and quality, he should be considered for a spot at the World Cup. Thomas Tuchel does not have a vast array of riches in the position and Shaw's consistency has been key to Michael Carrick's turnaround at Old Trafford. "He deserves to go," said Carrick after the win against Nottingham Forest. "His consistency, his performances, his experience, his qualities. He's an excellent full-back." Nico O'Reilly is the current first choice for England and he has a very different profile from Shaw, having converted from playing as a central midfielder under Pep Guardiola. Tuchel may want to take Shaw to provide variety and reliability, which would be a sensible approach.VAR Controversy Continues to Plague the GameAnother weekend of football brought another VAR controversy, this time at Old Trafford. Let's get this out of the way, it was handball. In a game with more on the line this latest VAR aberration would be hoisted up by abolitionists as another egregious example of why football is no better for the involvement of Stockley Park. "I think we need to have a meeting together to understand when it is a handball," said a measured Vítor Pereira post-match. We need a meeting to understand what good process is. Accidental handball was the final ruling; not sure that matters when it leads to a goal, but whatever. From the original incorrect decision to award the goal, it took the VAR three minutes to look at the ball clearly striking Bryan Mbeumo's hand, then another 60 seconds for the referee, Michael Salisbury, to go over to the screen and look at it again, only to ignore the referral and decide he was right the first time. That is far too long to make the wrong call. Pereira neatly summed it up with another damning understatement: "A lot of the time we don't understand the decisions."West Ham's Fight Against RelegationWhile it was hard to argue with Nuno Espírito Santo's assessment that West Ham had "a bad performance and a bad day" at St James' Park, his team are not Championship-bound just yet. Tottenham only need a point against Chelsea on Tuesday to effectively ensure their survival owing to their far superior goal difference, but they last took a point at Stamford Bridge four years ago. Their record against Chelsea is not reassuring: they have lost their past five meetings on the bounce by an aggregate scoreline of 12-4, with eight defeats from their last 10. Chelsea's players will have the added motivation of auditioning for the newly appointed Xabi Alonso, not that they need another reason to make their opponents' lives miserable. It could still easily come down to the final day, when Spurs face another difficult fixture against Everton. Nuno can only grit his teeth, hope Chelsea do his side a favour and, assuming Spurs's horrible run in west London continues, rally his troops for a desperate last stand against Leeds.Liverpool's Injury Woes ContinueAston Villa's season high represented another sobering low for Liverpool. Arne Slot's side failed to hurt Villa and were weak in defence, leaking two more goals at set pieces. Liverpool were without nine first-team players, including Alexander Isak, their £125m marquee signing who was not risked with a minor problem but could return against Brentford on the last day. Isak's season has been symptomatic of Liverpool's struggles. Is it just bad fortune or have Slot and his side simply underperformed? The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. "I don't think it could come to anyone as a surprise that if you miss your pre-season and then break your leg that minor injuries can occur if you then start into Premier League games in that intensity," Slot said. "Just a bit of bad luck for him that in a moment of time he comes back, then Hugo [Ekitiké] gets injured and we need him more."Guardiola's Warning Against ComplacencyAfter Saturday's FA Cup triumph over Chelsea, the 17th major trophy of Pep Guardiola's decade leading Manchester City, he reminded his players to never be complacent. "The most important thing is that [winning] trophies is good. Know what it takes to compete and win but don't take it for granted," the City manager said. "You start to believe that you are special, you will not win the FA Cup. Special we are not. The moment that we think [that], we will not be in these places. That is one of the things that through the years, we were OK with: knowing how difficult it is to win."Chelsea's Wembley Woes ContinueChelsea's dressing room and boardroom have been in a constant state of flux since Todd Boehly's BlueCo bought the club in 2022, but one thing has remained the same: they have a dire recent record in cup finals at Wembley. In the first decade after the stadium reopened in 2007, Chelsea won five of their six cup finals under the arch. Saturday's 1-0 defeat to Manchester City was their eighth loss in nine finals since 2017. Scoring goals at Wembley has also proven hard going, particularly since the departure of Didier Drogba (five goals in his five Wembley cup final starts). Christian Pulisic was the last Chelsea player to score in a domestic cup final, against Arsenal in front of empty stands in 2020. That's five finals in a row without a goal. It is a dry spell that can be tied to a young squad's relative lack of experience, but that argument does not stand up if you take into account the seven goals fired in against Paris Saint-Germain and Real Betis in the Club World Cup and Conference League finals just last year. Xabi Alonso is unlikely to have European football to play with next season, putting even more emphasis on Chelsea ending their Wembley drought and filling their silverware quota in domestic competitions.What's Next in the Premier League RaceWith the season drawing to a close, several key fixtures remain that could determine the final standings. Tottenham's survival hopes hinge on their match against Chelsea, while Liverpool will be hoping to end their injury-hit season on a positive note against Brentford. Manchester City, meanwhile, will be looking to build on their cup success as they continue their pursuit of more silverware in the final weeks of the season.

Legal Threats Emerge Over UK‑US Drug Pricing AgreementCampaigners Global Justice Now and Just Treatment have issued a nine‑page “letter before claim” stating they will pursue a judicial review if the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) does not repeal a statutory instrument that lets the health secretary overrule the independent judgment of NICE on NHS drug prices.Statutory Instrument Gives Ministers Power to Override NICEThe secondary legislation came into force last month, granting ministers authority to direct how much the NHS should pay for certain medicines.Both groups argue this constitutes an “unlawful power grab” that breaches the Health and Social Care Act 2012.Former health secretary Andrew Lansley has also labelled the instrument unlawful.Opaque Cost Data Undermines Parliamentary ScrutinyMPs from multiple parties have criticised the government’s refusal to publish an impact assessment of the decade‑long UK‑US deal.No concrete figures on the long‑term cost to the NHS have been released, limiting debate in the Commons.Potential Erosion of NICE Independence Risks NHS Price ControlsNICE is globally respected for its independent cost‑effectiveness assessments.Overriding its recommendations could lead to higher drug prices for the NHS, undermining the mechanism that keeps “big pharma’s overinflated prices” in check.Campaigners warn the move jeopardises patient safety and democratic oversight.Future Legal Battles May Shape UK Drug Policy LandscapeIf the judicial review proceeds, courts will examine whether the statutory instrument conflicts with existing health legislation.Continued parliamentary pressure may force the government to renegotiate aspects of the UK‑US tariff‑free drug export agreement.The outcome could set a precedent for how future health‑related secondary legislation is crafted and scrutinised.

The Call to Action Sousan Samadani was watching videos on YouTube one day when she came across a post about how the world’s soil was degrading so rapidly that it was in danger of extinction. The video – posted by the Save Soil movement – “was like a shock for me”, Samadani says. “I thought: ‘How is it possible that the soil that gives us food is dying?’” Embarking on a Journey Samadani made a decision in that moment: she was “going to be with this movement, fully, 100%”. According to Unesco, 90% of global soil could be degraded by 2050. Save Soil was launched by the spiritual leader “Sadhguru” Jaggi Vasudev, who announced a trip in 2022 to raise awareness: a 19,000-mile motorbike ride through Europe, the Middle East and India. A team of volunteers had already been booked to accompany Vasudev – so Samadani, 65, who lives in Utrecht in the Netherlands, decided to make her own shadow journey. While Sadhguru travelled to 27 countries, Samadani made it to all those and more, continuing on to Nepal, Suriname, Guyana and French Guiana, helping out at campaign events. A Life of Adventure Samadani had never even been involved with activism before. So why soil, and why now? Ever since she was a child growing up in Iran, Samadani says, she has felt huge empathy for others – her stomach would churn at the idea of others suffering whenever she heard an ambulance, and she would pick up banana skins from the ground so people wouldn’t slip on them. Her newfound love of campaigning has been transformative. “It’s where my life of adventure started,” she says. To raise awareness, she has skydived and cycled almost 400 miles from Chennai to Coimbatore in southern India. Biking around her home city of Utrecht, she wears her Save Soil T-shirt, and enjoys every interaction with curious passersby. A Dream to Return Home But there is one country she wants to take the campaign to. “My wish is to bring safe soil to Iran, because it needs it very, very badly,” Samadani says. She has not been back to her home country in 31 years. As a child, she used to pray for “a world without war … I will go back when this regime is not there any more,” she says. “I am just waiting.” And when she gets there? “My dream is to have a garden like my parents’. I believe that I will make it.”

The Celestial DisplayKeep an eye on the western sky after sunset this week to watch a beautiful sequence unfold over several evenings. A young crescent moon moves first past Venus and then Jupiter, creating a chance to track the moon's movement through its orbit around the Earth.The Lunar JourneyThe chart shows the view on May 18 looking west from London at 22:00. The moon will be just 2.4 days old, and just 6.2% of its visible surface will be illuminated. Close to this slim arc of light, Venus will be shining brightly, unmistakable even in twilight.Jupiter sits a little higher and dimmer, but is still prominent. Finally, dimmest of all are the stars of Gemini; the twins, Castor and Pollux. Over the next few nights, the moon moves eastward, towards Jupiter, growing in percentage illumination as the angle it makes to the sun changes night after night.Optimal Viewing ConditionsFor the best chance of seeing the alignment, choose a viewpoint with an unobstructed western horizon. The crescent moon and planets will be visible to the naked eye, but binoculars may enhance the viewing experience by revealing more details of the moon's surface and the surrounding stars.A Global PerspectiveFrom the southern hemisphere, the view will be a little easier to see. At this time of the year, the ecliptic, the path followed by the sun, moon and planets, is tilted upwards more steeply from the horizon. This will place the conjunction higher in the sky at sunset, making it more accessible for observers in southern latitudes.

Aaron Rai's Historic Win Aaron Rai's life changed on the 18th green at Aronimink, but his lifestyle didn't. Rai, 31 from Wolverhampton, became the first Englishman to win the PGA Championship since 1919, earning himself $3,690,000, and a lifetime exemption to the tournament doing it, and promptly said he was going to celebrate it all by going to Chipotle. The Celebration Plans “I haven't thought that far ahead just yet,” Rai said when he was asked how he would celebrate. “He'll probably have Chipotle,” his wife, Gaurika Bishnoi, cut in. Presumably he's buying. Rai's Historic Achievement Rai only found out about the hundred-year jinx on Saturday night. “There's been a lot of incredible and historic English players over those hundred years,” Rai said, “players who have gone on to achieve incredible things and had phenomenal careers, so to win this event and then to be the person that's the first one to have won it in a long time from England is an amazing thing and something to be extremely proud of.” The Secret to Success Rai said that the secret to steering his way through one of the most congested leaderboards in the history of major golf was to simply ignore it. “Honestly, I didn't look too much at the leaderboard,” he said. A Childhood Idol As a kid, Rai used to watch and rewatch VHS tapes of Tiger Woods' early successes. “We used to watch them a helluva lot, probably two, three times a week, if not more,” he said, “the videos of his US Amateur wins and then his early professional career. He's such an icon and such a huge figure in the game … and he's someone that I really idolized. I just remember being in awe just watching all of the things that he could do.”

The Resurgence of ISWAP and Boko Haram The killing of Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, the second-in-command of ISIL (ISIS), by United States and Nigerian forces marks a notable achievement for counterterrorism. Yet for analysts observing the Lake Chad Basin, it highlights how persistent and complex insecurity in the region has become. Borders, Weak Governance, and Violence Spike Al-Minuki, a Nigerian national from Borno State, was operating out of a compound near Lake Chad, at the centre of one of the world’s most active armed group theatres. His choice of northeastern Nigeria as a base underscores the conditions driving a renewed surge of violence by both the ISIL affiliate in West Africa Province (ISWAP) and its rival, Jama’at Ahl al-Sunna li al-Da’wa wa al-Jihad (JAS), more widely known as Boko Haram. The Data Analysis 2.9 million internally displaced people in the region, including 2.3 million in Nigeria. 1,827 schools across the Lake Chad Basin have been closed due to violence. Humanitarian actors received just 19 percent of the funding required for 2025. The Impact Analysis Perhaps equally significant is the parallel resurgence of Boko Haram, which quietly rebuilt itself while security agencies primarily focused on the more dominant ISWAP. “While regional forces focused on countering ISWAP’s threats, partly due to the group’s advanced drone capabilities, Boko Haram appears to have taken advantage of the relative attention on its rival to regroup,” Nimi Princewill, a security expert in the Sahel, told Al Jazeera. The Prediction “ISWAP and Boko Haram’s recent resurgence reflects not simply a military setback, but a deepening governance vacuum across the Lake Chad Basin,” Abiola Sadiq, a security consultant, told Al Jazeera. “With Nigeria’s 2027 general elections approaching, these groups are highly likely to intensify their operations, potentially extending attacks beyond their traditional strongholds in the Lake Chad Basin and northeastern Nigeria,” said Sadiq.

Aaron Rai clinched the US PGA Championship on 17 May 2026 with a spectacular five‑under‑par 65, becoming the first English major winner since Jim Barnes in 1919. The win at Aronimink Golf Club broke a 107‑year wait and instantly elevated Rai into the elite ranks of modern golf.Rai’s Historic Victory at AroniminkThe final round featured an unprecedentedly tight leaderboard: 21 players were within four shots of the lead and eight former major champions were in contention. After a roller‑coaster day, Rai surged ahead with a series of clutch birdies and a decisive 40‑foot eagle putt on the 9th.Date: 17 May 2026Venue: Aronimink Golf Club, PennsylvaniaWinning score: 65 (‑5)Previous English winner: Jim Barnes, 1919Numbers Behind the Win: Scores, Records, and Field DepthThe tournament showcased extreme volatility:Kurt Kitayama shot a 63 on Sunday, tying the lowest Sunday round ever recorded at a major.Rai made three bogeys on the front nine but recovered with an eagle on the 9th and birdies on 11, 13, 16 and a 68‑foot birdie putt on 17.Rai finished seven‑under for the week, two shots clear of the nearest challenger.Despite the pressure, the field’s depth was evident: Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Cam Smith and others all flirted with the lead before faltering.What Rai’s Triumph Means for English Golf and the Global TourRai’s breakthrough revives English major‑winning pedigree and could spark a surge in sponsorship and grassroots interest across the UK. The win also adds a new contender for upcoming events such as the Open Championship and the Masters, potentially reshaping Ryder Cup selections where English representation has been limited in recent cycles.Increased media exposure for English golfers on the European and PGA Tours.Potential boost in UK‑based golf academies and junior participation.Greater leverage for Rai in endorsement negotiations.Looking Ahead: Rai’s Future and the Next MajorsWith the Masters in April 2027 and the Open Championship in July 2027 on the horizon, expectations are high for Aaron Rai to contend. Analysts predict his confidence will translate into more top‑10 finishes, and his performance may influence the composition of the 2027 European Ryder Cup team.Should Rai maintain his form, the English golf landscape could witness a new era of major‑winning consistency, ending a century‑long wait and inspiring the next generation of players.

The Commission’s Call for Gender‑Focused ReformA shake‑up of Britain’s pension system must include measures to close the gender savings gap, the revived Pensions Commission will tell ministers in its interim report due this week.Half the Pension Wealth: £81,000 vs £156,000Median private pension wealth for women approaching retirement: £81,000Median private pension wealth for men approaching retirement: £156,000Women’s weekly pension contributions stay around £30 before and after first child, while men’s rise from £30 to over £60Why the Gap Matters for the UK EconomyThe commission warns that the gender pension gap is not only a fairness issue but also a driver of future pensioner poverty and a strain on public finances. The UK ranks second‑worst among OECD’s 38 rich nations, behind only Japan, despite near‑equal state pension entitlements expected in 2026.Policy Levers and Labour‑Market ReformsSolutions will require a “joined‑up approach”, including:Reforms to automatic enrolment to capture part‑time and caring‑leave workersImproved access to affordable childcareTargeted incentives for employers and pension providers to address the "motherhood penalty"The interim report draws on data from the Institute for Fiscal Studies, which identified the contribution plateau for women as a key driver.Looking Ahead: Recommendations and TimelineLed by Jeannie Drake (former Blair‑era commissioner) alongside Ian Cheshire and Nick Pearce, the commission will issue a final set of recommendations next year. Expected outcomes include:Legislative proposals to adjust contribution thresholds for part‑time workersPolicy pilots for childcare‑linked pension creditsMetrics for tracking gender parity in private pension accumulationIf adopted, these measures could narrow the wealth gap, reduce future pensioner poverty, and alleviate pressure on the UK’s fiscal position.

Lead: First Presumptive Hantavirus Positive Identified in British ColumbiaCanadian health officials announced on Saturday that a test returned a presumptive positive for hantavirus in one of four Canadians quarantined after exposure on the MV Hondius cruise ship. The patient, monitored in a Victoria hospital, exhibits mild fever and headache.Quarantine Protocols and Patient Management on the MV HondiusBonnie Henry, British Columbia’s provincial health officer, detailed the isolation steps: the four passengers arrived on 10 May, were placed in a 21‑day quarantine, and have since been transferred to hospital care as symptoms emerged. The partner tested negative but remains under observation; a third passenger was also moved to the hospital, while the fourth continues home isolation.Key Numbers: Cases, Deaths, and Viral SimilarityFour Canadian passengers under quarantine.Three deaths reported among other cruise‑ship passengers since 11 April.Genomic sequencing by the Pasteur Institute shows the virus is 97% similar to known Andes virus strains from South America.Public‑Health Impact: Regional and International ConcernsThe confirmation underscores the need for vigilant monitoring of zoonotic diseases linked to cruise travel. British Columbia’s health system is preparing for potential secondary cases, while the Pasteur Institute reassures that no new transmissibility traits have been detected. The incident may prompt stricter screening and isolation guidelines for future maritime voyages.Looking Ahead: Monitoring, Confirmation, and Policy AdjustmentsConfirmatory testing at the national microbiology lab in Winnipeg is expected over the weekend. Health authorities plan to maintain heightened surveillance of all contacts and may revise quarantine durations if the virus proves more contagious. The episode could accelerate policy discussions on cruise‑ship health protocols worldwide.