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Graham HunterAug 26, 2025, 03:57 AM ETCloseGraham Hunter is a Barcelona-based freelance writer for ESPN.com who specializes in La Liga and the Spanish national team.When Kylian Mbappé approached Real Madrid in July to tell them he wanted to inherit Luka Modric’s No. 10 shirt, both club president Florentino Pérez and Adidas licked their lips lasciviously.It was a marketing and sales windfall. Dollar signs flashed. But Xabi Alonso’s reaction was slightly different, slightly more nuanced.He told his superstar, with whom he’s forging a promising new relationship, that the shirt number came with responsibilities — not just romanticism and commercialism. Alonso warned…

Napoli are in talks with Manchester United over a deal for Rasmus Højlund, sources have told ESPN.The Serie A champions are searching for a replacement for Romelu Lukaku before the transfer deadline after the Belgium striker was ruled out for up to four months with a thigh injury.They have turned their attention to Højlund, who has been made available by United following the arrival of Benjamin Sesko from RB Leipzig.Rasmus Højlund’s opportunities look limited at Manchester United. Andrew J. Clark/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty ImagesNapoli are negotiating an initial loan for the 22-year-old, with either an option or obligation to make…

PORTO RAFTI, Greece (AP) — Bus coupon in hand, Diamantoula Vassiliou headed for the sea, determined to make the most of her brief beach excursion.The Athens resident was among thousands who took a four-hour tour this month to Avlaki Beach, one hour north of Greece’s capital, many hauling plastic coolers and homemade lunches — the accoutrements of summer holidays in leaner times.“We come here because there’s no money,” said Vassiliou, for whom day trips have replaced weeklong vacations for four years.Greece’s tourism industry is booming and the crystalline waters along its vast, rugged coast have transformed the nation into a…

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Two police officers were killed and another seriously wounded in a shooting Tuesday at a property in a rural part of Australia. The gunman remained at large as police scoured a vast remote area.The shooting occurred in midmorning when 10 armed police officers tried to execute a search warrant at a property in Porepunkah, a town of just over 1,000 people in Victoria state 320 kilometers (200 miles) northeast of Melbourne. The suspect killed a 59-year-old detective and a 35-year-old senior constable, Victoria’s Chief Commissioner of Police Mike Bush told reporters at a news conference…

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan has evacuated tens of thousands of people to safer areas after neighboring India released water from overflowing dams and swollen rivers into low-lying border regions, officials said Tuesday.The move came a day after New Delhi alerted Islamabad about possible cross-border flooding, marking the first public diplomatic contact between the two nuclear-armed rivals in months. Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority said it had issued an advance alert to its Punjabi counterparts about a surge in the Sutlej River and the risk of flooding, and that evacuations from various districts in the eastern Punjab province were underway.…

KONDUGA, Nigeria (AP) — In Nigeria, more women die giving birth than anywhere else in the world. In the country’s northeast, the risks are rising as Boko Haram resurges and U.S. foreign aid dries up. Chronic underfunding leaves Africa’s most populous nation with one of the world’s deadliest maternal mortality rates. This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors. A view of a ward in a government hospital in Konduga, in northeast Nigeria’s Borno state, Wednesday, July 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba) A view of a ward in a government hospital in Konduga, in northeast Nigeria’s Borno state,…

KONDUGA, Nigeria (AP) — Aisha Muhammed was in the third trimester of her pregnancy when she had the convulsions and high blood pressure of eclampsia, a leading cause of maternal death. Her village’s only health clinic had no doctor, and the only medical help was 40 kilometers (25 miles) away in one of the world’s most dangerous places.More women die giving birth in Nigeria than anywhere else in the world, according to the World Health Organization. But Muhammed managed to reach the city of Maiduguri and have a cesarean section the next day, delivering twins in April. “Even though children…

Drones have changed warfare on the battlefield and beyond. At present there are more drones than practical countermeasures, although that could possibly change in future. The preponderance of battlefield drones removes the shooter from the battlefield, preserving manpower, enhances target accuracy well beyond almost any other tool and subjects traditional hardware, especially armor, to effective interdiction and immobilization if not outright destruction. Ukraine has the most advanced drone operations program today, followed by Russia, with the US and China far behind. Experts believe warfare has changed irrevocably, with the drone in the forefront of tactical battlefield changes. That is why…

‌Published 8 hours ago By Liverpool FCWatch extended highlights and a full replay of Liverpool’s dramatic 3-2 win at Newcastle United in the Premier League on All Red Video.Rio Ngumoha set a new record by becoming the youngest goalscorer in the club’s history while netting the winner in the 10th minute of stoppage time at St. James’ Park on Monday night.Earlier, goals either side of half-time by Ryan Gravenberch and Hugo Ekitike had put the champions two up.Newcastle, who saw Anthony Gordon sent off in first-half stoppage time, pulled one back before the hour through Bruno Guimaraes and then Will…

Beth LindopAug 25, 2025, 07:18 PM ETCloseBased in Liverpool, Beth Lindop is ESPN’s Liverpool correspondent and also covers the WSL and UWCL.NEWCASTLE, England — There is perhaps some irony in the fact that, on an evening when Alexander Isak’s conspicuous absence dominated the prematch buildup, it was a 16-year-old debutant who stole the headlines.Before Monday night, few people outside of Merseyside will have heard of Liverpool starlet Rio Ngumoha. Now, after his match-winning goal in the Reds’ dramatic 3-2 victory over Newcastle United, his name has been marked out as one to remember.Having joined Liverpool’s academy from Chelsea in the…