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Robertson sees off Wu to make UK Championship quarters

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With a 6-1 victory over Wu Yize, Neil Robertson advanced to the finals of the York UK Championship.

Wu of China had already broken the opening frame with a score of 62, but as the Australians came in, things largely went one-way.

Robertson, 43, who has previously won the UK title three times, drew breaks of 51, 65, 75, and 68 as he reeled off the next five frames.

Robertson came from 48 points back to take the seventh frame after Wu, who won the International Championship last month, had no response.

Pang Junxu, who defeated Mark Williams 6-3, will now face Robertson.

Pang, who had only met the Welshman in his previous meeting before losing 6-1, received a standing ovation after completing his victory with a superb break of 116.

The 25-year-old Chinese won the next three frames after the players traded the opening two frames.

Williams, who had two centuries, unintentionally knocked in a red while potting the pink to give his opponent the lead in the subsequent frame, and was then punished for missing a long red in the ninth frame.

“I played pretty poorly,” I said. I either play well or I’m terrible, Williams said. That’s how it is now.

tighter pockets “keeping everyone honest”

Robertson has appeared revived in recent years despite initially falling to 28th in the world in 2023 and 2024 after a terrible run of form.

He is currently at the top of the snooker one-year list for prize money, having previously won the lucrative Saudi Arabia Masters earlier this year, and he is now third overall in the world rankings.

Robertson claims that tighter pockets have fostered a fairer test and are more in line with his first ten years as a professional despite the complaints of several players regarding table conditions.

Robertson said on BBC Two, “I believe there have been much more events with much bigger pockets over the past ten years.”

You have a group of players who are great even in those pockets and a group who aren’t great in those pockets, according to the statement. Many of the mistakes I saw in my first ten years as a professional have now come to mind.

There are too many matches where three or four people go through the same level of quality, you wonder.

They maintain honesty among everyone. Many professionals will be relaxing at home and saying, “Thanks Neil for speaking up.” Players have been discussing this issue in the video game, especially in China, where players are reporting inflated results.

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Indonesian villages flattened by catastrophic floods

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After landslides and catastrophic floods that claimed more than 1,400 lives across Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, were captured on aerial footage, villages in North Sumatra were found buried in mud. Officials and residents in Indonesia claim that the scale of the disaster was likely increased as a result of deforestation.

England’s Smith earns first central contract

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Linsey Smith of Hampshire is one of 17 players to have signed full England women’s central contracts between 2025 and 2026.

Smith, 30, has played in 34 one-day and T20 internationals for England, earning her first central contract.

Em Arlott and Emma Lamb, both of whom have two years of experience, have received their first contracts.

England’s women have decided not to extend any of their players’ two-year contracts, a change from last year and their male counterparts have.

Ten players have signed new one-year contracts, and seven others are extending their current terms.

Bowler Kate Cross, 34, made the announcement in September that she would lose her entire deal and that she would be the only player to do so.

Cross had “years of extraordinary service” to the women’s game, according to Clare Connor, managing director of England women, and that “none domestic cricket player ever has their door wide open.”

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has a skill contract, which effectively places them between a domestic contract and a central contract, to manage the workload and development of those players.

The T20 World Cup will be held in England after South Africa defeated them 125 runs in the semi-finals in October.

The awarding of these contracts, according to Connor, “reflects our confidence in this group of players with our collective focus firmly on winning the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup on home soil next summer,” he said.

Central contracts are the ECB’s fullest.

Lauren Bell (Hampshire), Charlie Dean (Somerset), Sophie Ecclestone (Lancashire), Heather Knight (Somerset), Amy Jones (The Blaze), Nat Sciver-Brunt (The Blaze), and Danni Wyatt-Hodge (Surrey), are the students in year two.

Tammy Beaumont (The Blaze), Maia Bouchier (Hampshire), Alice Capsey (Surrey), Lauren Filer (Durham), Mahika Gaur (Lancashire), Danielle Gibson (Somerset), Sarah Glenn (Yorkshire), Freya Kemp (Hampshire), and Linsey Smith (Hampshire) have all signed new one-year contracts.

The new management is “keeping the team on their toes.”

Analysis – Matthew Henry, a journalist for BBC Sport

This appears to be a predictable announcement, on the surface. The difficult decision to leave Cross was already known, but everything is still yours.

However, it’s interesting that no England player will be signed on a multi-year deal.

The women’s game was last year praised for its two-year contracts as a last-ditch effort to combat the growing threat of franchise cricket.

The younger generation could have benefited from contracts held by companies like Sciver-Brunt, Knight, Ecclestone, Jones, and Wyatt-Hodge, which were both held by older people. No offers of this nature were made.

This is in part due to a generation’s career transition in the last stages. Why offer a player a multi-year contract if they could leave after the T20 World Cup in their home country next summer?

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    • October 29
    England's Sophie Ecclestone (left), Alice Capsey (middle) and Nat Sciver-Brunt (right) look disappointed during England's World Cup semi-final defeat by South Africa

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    • August 16
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Troubled 90s sitcom star unrecognisable in mugshots after ‘painful wakeup call’ arrests

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Home Improvement, which aired from 1993 until 1999, had a number of run-ins with the law in the years since.

Home Improvement star Zachery Ty Bryan’s startling demise is laid bare in police mugshots after his sixth arrest in five years.

The actor, 44, was detained on Saturday, November 29, in Eugene, Oregon, after allegedly breaking the terms of his probation, which included a prior domestic violence conviction. He was detained without bail until Wednesday, December 3, at the Lane County Jail.

On the same day, police arrested Bryan’s ex-girlfriend Johnnie Faye Cartwright. She is accused of trying to get Bryan to stop and faces five traffic violations, including one attempted first-degree assault and three drunk driving counts.

According to a statement released by the Lane County Sheriff’s Office on Monday December 1, two people were detained after responding to “a report of reckless endangering” in Fall Creek, a campfire hotspot, were reported.

It was established that Bryan Cartwright, 32, and their three children had been “driving together.” According to the police, “Bryan walked on Big Fall Creek Road at some point after getting out of the truck.”

Then, according to the statement, Cartwright attempted to run over Bryan before crashing the truck into the ditch with the children inside. Bryan was able to get out of the way without getting hurt. No one was hurt in the pickup’s interior.

Deputies “found signs both were impaired” during an interview and “found that Bryan was not supposed to be in contact with Cartwright,” in accordance with his probation order.

Bryan shot to fame playing Brad Taylor, the oldest son of Tim and Jill Taylor, played by Tim Allen and Patricia Richardson, in the hit sitcom, which ran from 1993 to 1999.

He’s had a number of run-ins with authorities since the show’s conclusion.

Prior to this week, his most recent arrest was made in January of that year, when he was accused of second-degree domestic violence in connection with an incident at Cartwright and their children’s homes in South Carolina. A police report alleged that Bryan had “choked and punched in the face multiple times” Cartwright during an alleged assault.

However, his issues started in 2020 when he was charged with strangling his then-girlfriend. He later admitted guilt on two misdemeanor domestic violence charges.

He pleaded guilty to felony assault constituting domestic violence in 2023 after being charged with felony assault, robbery, and harassment. He was placed on supervised probation for seven days until October 2026.

He was detained twice on DUI charges the following year.

Bryan claimed in a recent interview with TMZ that he had made poor decisions and had struggled with substance abuse for a number of years. He continued, “I’ve struggled with the lasting effects of early fame, addiction, and poor decision-making, which have hurt people I care about and have resulted in numerous legal issues, including DUIs and previous domestic incidents.

A restraining order and serious accusations have been the subject of this most recent incident, which has been a painful wake-up call.

Continue reading the article.

Germany to host Women’s Euro 2029 as England chase trophy hat-trick

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The 2029 Women’s European Championship will be held in Germany, according to Uefa.

Aleksander Ceferin, president of the body’s executive committee, claimed that Germany’s offer was ahead of Poland’s and Denmark’s and Sweden’s joint offers.

Before he took Germany’s name out of the envelope, Ceferin, who was speaking at a meeting of Uefa’s executive committee in Nyon, Switzerland, declared it was heartbreaking that any of the three bids should have lost.

16 national teams will compete in the summer competition, which will take place in Cologne, Dortmund, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hannover, Leipzig, Munich, and Wolfsburg, as well as eight other cities.

Portugal and Italy both submitted dossiers to host the event, but they withdrew to pursuing co-hosting the men’s Euro 2032 and 2030 World Cup.

In the end, Germany won, receiving 15 votes from the committee, with Poland receiving none and Denmark and Sweden receiving two.

Germany, which has hosted the 2029 finals for the third time, will host the event after eight-time champions.

They won both times, both as West Germany in 1989 and in 2001.

It involved a lengthy journey. The German football association’s president, Bernd Neuendorf, stated that there are so many people working at DFB to host this tournament.

“We felt this support throughout the campaign thanks to all who supported us.”

England defeated Spain on penalties in the final to retain their trophy at Euro 2025 in Switzerland.

Ellen White, Jen Beattie and Ben Haines
The Women’s Football Weekly podcast returns for another season featuring Ben Haines, Ellen White, and Jen Beattie. On the Women’s Football Weekly feed, you can find interviews and additional content from the Women’s Super League and beyond as well as new episodes that are available every Tuesday on BBC Sounds.

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Trump pardons Democrat Henry Cuellar, claiming Biden political attack

Republican US Congressman Henry Cuellar, who was accused of being targeted by the administration of former US President Joe Biden, has received a pardon from Donald Trump.

Trump has used pardons frequently since taking office, but his pardon of Cuellar, who was charged with money laundering and foreign influence in 2024, stands out. Republican Trump has hardly ever used his position to aid Democratic Party opponents.

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Trump claimed in a Truth Social post that Cuellar and his wife had been “speaking the truth” about how the Biden administration handled the southern US border.

Cuellar, whose district borders the US-Mexico border, had been one of the most vocal Democrats criticizing the Biden administration’s immigration policies and messaging.

Trump refuted his claims that Biden abused the US Department of Justice to punish his political rivals in his post. Trump has been accused of doing that by critics, though.

Trump retorted the Congressman and even his wife, Imelda, for speaking the truth, according to Trump.

I’m hereby announcing my full and unwavering support for Texas Congressman Henry Cuellar and Imelda because of these details, and other factors as well.

Trump emailed the congressman a personal note, “Your nightmare is finally over,” noting that he didn’t know him.

A letter asking for pardon that appeared to be from Cuellar’s children was included in the post. They also questioned how their “father’s independence and honesty may have contributed to the beginning of this case.”

Cuellar and his wife were accused of being involved in “bribery, unlawful foreign influence, and money laundering” by federal authorities.

In exchange for influence-peddling in Congress and the executive branch, the pair allegedly accepted bribes worth up to $600,000 from two foreign entities, including the government of Azerbaijan and a bank in Mexico.

Imelda Cuellar’s alleged ownership of the money was allegedly through shell companies.

Cuellar and his wife’s innocence has been maintained despite the fact that the trial is scheduled to begin in April 2026.

He thanked Trump for “taking the time to examine the circumstances” of his case in a post on X.