Three members of Liverpool’s title-winning squad have been nominated for the Premier League player of the season award.
Captain Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah and Ryan Gravenberch lead the eight-player shortlist after helping the Reds to a 20th league title.
Defender Van Dijk has played every game for Liverpool this season, helping them record 14 clean sheets, while midfielder Gravenberch has missed only one match.
Forward Salah has registered a league-high 46 goal contributions, including 28 goals.
Nottingham Forest are the only other club with more than one nominee.
Midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White is included alongside striker Chris Wood, who is enjoying his most prolific Premier League campaign with 20 goals in 34 matches.
Also nominated are Newcastle striker Alexander Isak, who is second in the scoring charts with 23 goals, and Brentford forward Bryan Mbeumo, who has 18 goals and seven assists – the third highest goal contributions tally in the league.
Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice completes the list.
Palmer and Delap up for young player award
Cole Palmer is in the running to win the Premier League young player of the season award for a second year in a row.
The 23-year-old Chelsea forward has 15 goals and eight assists in 35 appearances.
Liverpool’s Gravenberch and striker Liam Delap, who has scored 12 of Ipswich’s 35 goals, are also on the eight-player shortlist.
Pereira on manager award shortlist
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Wolves’ Vitor Pereira is in the running for the Premier League manager of the year award.
They were 19th in the table when Pereira took charge in December, but he has led them to safety, winning 10 and drawing two of his 18 matches in charge. Wolves are currently 14th.
Arne Slot, who won the title in his first season at Liverpool, is also nominated along with Newcastle’s Eddie Howe and Forest’s Nuno Espirito Santo.
Newcastle and Forest remain in contention for Champions League qualification with two matches remaining.
Thomas Frank, whose Brentford side are on course for their highest finish of eighth, is also on the shortlist.
Nigeria’s headline inflation rate eased to 23.71% in April 2025, according to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Thursday.
The statistics office said the April 2025 headline inflation figure represents a 0.52% decline when compared to that of March 2025.
On a month-on-month basis, inflation growth slowed considerably, printing at 1.86% in April compared to 3.90% recorded in March.
The Eurovision Song Contest 2025 continues this evening with its second semi-final which includes Miriana Conte representing Malta with Serving, originally known as Kant
Miriana Conte has revealed she was left vomiting over the reaction to her Eurovision Song Contest 2025 entry. The performer, who is representing Malta, has also discussed what it’s like to take part in the global contest.
The singer-songwriter, 24, will take to the stage of the arena St. Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland, tonight in the second semi-final of this year’s contest. She will perform her song Serving, originally known as Kant, and is among the acts hoping to make it through to the grand final on Saturday.
Kant, as it was then known, was selected as Malta’s entry in the country’s national final back in February, which was won by Miriana. The song, which shared its title with a Maltese word for ‘singing,’ attracted much attention earlier this year, including over the lyric “serving kant” in the chorus.
It was considered a reference to “serving c***,” which can be used to represent someone expressing themselves in a powerful or bold way, and Miriana’s pronounciation drew comparisons to “c***” too. Amid controversy over the song, she shared in March that she had been told to change the lyrics by organisers and ended up removing the word ‘kant’.
Miriana reflected on the controversy and lyric change in an interview with the Mirror. Whilst speaking to us, she also gave an insight into the writing process and how she found the reaction once her song was released.
Asked about the initial reception to the song, which is understood to have gone viral on TikTok, Miriana told us: “Honestly, I spent the first two days after it was released puking because I was not expecting such good like reactions from people. My phone was blowing up, it was telling me that the device is too hot, literally. Notifications, messages.”
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Miriana Conte, pictured in a rehearsal, will represent Malta with the song Serving in a Eurovision Song Contest semi-final tonight(Image: Sarah Louise Bennett / EBU)
Miriana gave examples of receiving praise over the “word play” and people relating to the track. She then shared that following her performance of the song in Malta’s national final three months ago, she had “so many beautiful messages”.
She commented: “[They were from] people who haven’t like, for example, exited the house because they’ve been body-shamed or they’re not comfortable in their skin, and they told me ‘when I saw you on stage, I fully went out after two years locked in my house’. So that was beautiful, because that was my intention from day one. For people to like relate fully and feel comfortable within themselves.”
Recalling the writing process, Miriana – who is credited as a co-writer on the song – admitted that she wasn’t particularly keen on joining a writing camp for potential entrants. She said: “I am a very anxious person when it comes to like sort of breaking the ice, because I’m always scared I’m too much, I’m too loud, I’m too bubbly. However, this experience did change me a lot, so that was Miriana before!”
And speaking about her plan for the song, she revealed: “I was like ‘I want to be me completely’. So I don’t want to go into the dark, sexy vibe I usually go for. Because there’s so much more to me. I’m such a bubbly ball of energy.
“I’m all over the place. I’m the clown of the group. I’m the loudest person in the room and I wanted to write exactly about that. How growing up I always felt like I needed to wind myself down to match other people’s energies. [My co-writers] got the assignment fully and back then Kant was born.”
She shared that she loves both the original version and its current form, Serving, “so much”. Speaking about the controversy, she said: “Thank God it [happened], because one it got much more popularity and got much more people watching it, people were on the tips of their toes to find out what the word change was, when there wasn’t [one].” She added: “It was all very exciting. […] So if I had like relive the process and choose what to happen, I would still choose for this to happen.”
The singer-songwriter, pictured in a rehearsal for the contest, spoke to the Mirror about her entry last month ahead of her performance(Image: Sarah Louise Bennett / EBU)
Miriana has promoted the song in the build-up to the contest itself, including at the London Eurovision Party last month. Speaking about meeting the UK’s act Remember Monday, she told us recently: “I love them so much.
“I was in a girl group twice during my career so when I sang with them, because we sang Serving together during the pre-party, my heart was like bursting with happiness that my girl group energy was coming back. They’re such nice girls. […] We’re very close this year, in general – like the contestants, we’re very like tight. So yeah, I honestly loved meeting them and I can’t wait to see them again now!”
Giving an insight into life as a Eurovision act, she teased: “You live the superstar experience, literally. Sort of you have to be on time, you have to go to press, you have to time when you eat, when you sleep. You have to be very strict. Very strict on time. You have to be strategic with a lot of things so you grow a lot as an artist. I believe Eurovision helps artists grow like to another extent.”
Looking ahead, Miriana – who said that, although she wants to make it through to the final, she will be “happy” as long as she has a “good performance” – told us: “I think what I’ve achieved with Serving is so much bigger than Eurovision because it’s touched so many people’s hearts and I think I’ve finally gotten my flowers. All I want now is to continue building on it and obviously achieve more things when it comes to my music and career.”
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The Eurovision Song Contest 2025 in Basel, Switzerland, continues tonight with the second semi-final from 8pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in the UK. This year’s grand final will air at the same time on Saturday night.
He was greeted as a “wildcard appointment”, has been admired as a “very sharp student of the game” and is seen by one former team-mate as a “big coup” for Leicester Tigers.
When Geoff Parling returns to Tigers in the summer after 10 years away, he will do so as a rookie head coach with a big reputation.
The 41-year-old former England lock, who earned three British and Irish Lions caps while playing for Leicester, where he won two Premiership titles in six years, replaces a coach of world renown in Michael Cheika.
For months, Tigers’ search for Cheika’s successor had the club linked to a multitude of high-profile coaching figures.
Stade Francais coach and ex-Harlequins head of rugby Paul Gustard and ex-Munster head coach Graham Rowntree were two former Tigers that were favourites for the job at different times, as was ex-England boss Stuart Lancaster and even former New Zealand player and assistant coach Leon MacDonald.
Australia assistant Parling, whose entire coaching career to date has been spent working down under after he retired as a player in 2018, was the surprise choice.
“He hadn’t been mentioned at all,” said former Leicester Tigers and England winger Tom Varndell, whose first spell with Tigers ended in 2009 before Parling moved to Mattioli Woods Welford Road from Newcastle.
“Geoff is a bit of a wildcard, but I think he is a really good one.
Former Tigers hooker George Chuter, who played alongside Parling throughout the lock’s time at Leicester, says his former team-mate appears to have “come up on the inside rail and snuck in at the end” to get the job.
While Parling was not a name being “bandied around” during the months in which speculation around the job swirled, Chuter says getting him back is a “big coup”.
He describes Parling as a “very intelligent and very sharp” thinker who will have a “deep appreciation for what it takes” to make Tigers successful.
“Geoff was a player that had to study the game,” Chuter told BBC East Midlands Today.
“If you were to describe someone who maximised their talent, I think that would be Geoff because he wasn’t the most naturally gifted rugby player. He looked about 48 years old when he was 25, so he is that sort of guy.
“He had a really great work ethic, physical skills he worked on but his brain was two or three steps ahead of most other people.
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Cheika the ‘forever coach’
And with Parling being the ninth head coach Tigers have had in nine years, it’s arguable there are no more demanding conditions to work under than those in Leicester.
Cheika took the job “very last-minute” when fellow Australian Dan McKellar – who, like Parling, left his role as Wallabies assistant when he took over as Tigers head coach in 2023 – got through only one year of a “long-term deal” with the club.
The length of Parling’s contract has been described the same way.
Stability is something Tigers back-rower Hanro Liebenberg has previously said Leicester need to find in Cheika’s replacement.
Cheika himself spoke about “stability and all that business” after Parling’s role was announced, but said that trying to deliver a Premiership title this season is the “best thing” he can do to help the incoming boss.
But that may not be all, as Cheika remains keen to stay in touch with the club after his departure.
When asked if he would “pick up the phone” if Parling ever had a question in future, Cheika replied: “Yes, of course.
“And I’ve said it to the guys here – once I’ve coached them, I’m coaching them forever. You ask these guys to do things for you all the time, and the respect they show is something that is a big connector.
Everton are drawing up plans about how they will reduce the capacity of Goodison Park when the club’s women’s team move in, including closing some of the stadium’s upper tiers.
The 133-year-old stadium plays host to its final Premier League game on Sunday, when Everton face Southampton, before moving to a new 53,000-capacity arena at Bramley-Moore Dock.
Everton have announced that proposals to demolish Goodison Park have been scrapped and will be used for their women’s team from next season.
The women’s team average attendance has been 2,062 at their current home at Walton Hall Park and Everton are keen to make Goodison more intimate with its current capacity at 39,572.
The club had also offered season ticket holders and seasonal hospitality members the opportunity to buy the seat they have used in the 2024-25 season as a permanent souvenir of Goodison Park after the final men’s game has been played.
That plan will go ahead and any seats bought will be replaced by the club in areas that will be occupied by supporters for women’s matches.
Everton are then planning to reduce the number of seats in each row where seats have been bought to create extra space, with the current capacity at 39,572.
Under previous owner Farhad Moshiri, the club had announced plans for an £82m post-demolition renovation project on the Goodison site, which was set to include housing, a care home, retail units and a park.
The centre circle, where the ashes of Everton legend Dixie Dean – whose record of 60 league goals in the 1926-27 season still stands – are scattered, was going to be preserved as an area of green space.
By Louis Jacobson and Loreben Tuquero | Politifact
The administration of US President Donald Trump says it has accepted a plane worth an estimated $400m from the state of Qatar. While Trump is president, the White House says it would be used as the new Air Force One, then it would go to Trump’s presidential library after his term ends.
The aircraft would become the most expensive gift from a foreign government ever to a US elected official, ABC News reported. But some members of Congress say accepting it would be unconstitutional.
When asked about the potential gift at a May 12 executive order signing, Trump blamed Boeing’s lack of progress in building a new Air Force One. He said he would be “stupid” to refuse a free plane, and said he won’t use it after he leaves office. “It’s not a gift to me, it’s a gift to the Department of Defense,” he said.
What do experts say?
Legal experts told PolitiFact that they believe accepting the gift would violate the US Constitution’s emoluments clause, which reads, “No Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.”
The emoluments clause was designed “to prevent foreign nations from gaining improper influence” over US leaders, said David Forte, Cleveland State University emeritus law professor.
Experts differed on whether accepting the plane would be an impeachable offence.
Michael Gerhardt, a University of North Carolina law professor, said that if Trump accepts the gift, it could be an impeachable deed, because it would amount to “a fully corrupt act”.
Forte, however, said the gift wouldn’t necessarily amount to a bribe or an impeachable offence, but it “is a form of influence buying designed to gain the gratitude of the recipient by playing to his vanity.”
Is this the first time Trump is facing such accusations?
During Trump’s first term as US president, Congressional Democrats, private individuals and attorneys general from Maryland and Washington, DC, filed lawsuits against Trump stemming from the emoluments clause.
However, many of the cases were dismissed on procedural grounds, and the US Supreme Court did not rule on the transactions’ underlying constitutionality.
Trump’s possible acceptance of the aircraft is different, said Frank Bowman, a University of Missouri emeritus law professor.
In his first term, Trump said payments were made to his businesses. This time, there would be no connection to Trump’s businesses. It would be a gift offered for free with no promise of payment from the president or the US Treasury, Bowman said.
NBC News, citing an anonymous senior Justice Department official, reported that Attorney General Pam Bondi approved a memo prepared by the agency’s Office of Legal Counsel that deemed it was legal for the Defense Department to accept the gift. Bondi has previously lobbied on behalf of the state of Qatar.
Trump, on his part, has thanked Qatar for the jet.
“If we can get a 747 as a contribution to our Defense Department, during a couple of years while they’re [Boeing is] building the other one, I think that’s a very nice gesture [from Qatar],” he said on May 12.
Can the emoluments clause be enforced against Trump?
Legal experts said it’s unlikely that Congress, controlled by Republicans, will stop Trump from accepting the gift.
Meghan Faulkner, communications director for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said that since it appears the Justice Department has signed off on receiving the gift, it “could make it harder to hold him accountable”.
Bowman said the Justice Department, according to longstanding policy, wouldn’t prosecute a sitting president.
