A “young, attractive guy.” US President Donald Trump responded to press questions about his meeting with the Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa as he flew on board Air Force One between Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Trump also referenced al-Sharaa’s past membership of Al Qaeda, saying he had “a tough past.”
EXPLAINER
Pete Rose and “Shoeless Joe” Jackson have been reinstated by Major League Baseball (MLB) Commissioner Rob Manfred, making both eligible for the sport’s Hall of Fame after their careers were tarnished by gambling scandals.
Rose’s permanent ban was lifted on Tuesday, eight months after his death and a day before the Cincinnati Reds honour baseball’s career hits leader with Pete Rose Night.
Manfred announced he was changing the league’s policy on permanent ineligibility, saying bans would expire at death.
Here is all to know about the MLB lifting the ban on two of baseball’s all-time great players:
Rose and Jackson were considered longstanding pariahs in Major League Baseball due to their gambling on the sport.
Jackson was a member of the Chicago White Sox team that were accused of conspiring with gamblers to purposely lose the 1919 World Series.
He accepted $5,000 to throw the series, which the Cincinnati Reds won. Eight players from that White Sox team, despite avoiding criminal charges, were banned from organised baseball in 1921.
Rose was caught betting on games while manager of the Cincinnati Reds and was barred for life from baseball by Commissioner Bart Giamatti in 1989.
Jackson’s phenomenal career batting average of .356 is the fourth highest in MLB history. Later, after he was banned from the majors, he played baseball under assumed names in southern leagues in the United States.
Jackson died in 1951 but remains one of baseball’s most recognisable names in part for his depiction by actor Ray Liotta in the 1989 movie Field of Dreams.
Rose set MLB career records for hits (4,256), games played (3,562) and at-bats (14,053) – among others – and finished with a .303 career batting average. He won the World Series three times, twice with the Reds and once with the Philadelphia Phillies.
Rose also won three batting titles, two Gold Glove Awards, the National League Rookie of the Year and the National League Most Valuable Player.
Rose died on September 30 aged 83.
Rose’s supporters have included US President Donald Trump, who expressed on social media in March that he intends to pardon Rose posthumously. Trump didn’t specify what a Rose pardon would be for, but he was sentenced to five months in prison for submitting falsified tax returns in 1990.
Manfred discussed Rose with Trump when the pair met in April, but he hasn’t disclosed specifics of their conversation other than they discussed Rose’s eligibility for reinstatement into the league.
Was Trump’s pardon post two months earlier behind the MLB’s decision on Tuesday to lift the bans on Rose and Jackson?
The MLB would point to its in-house disciplinary procedures as the only way for disgraced players to be formally reinstated into the league.
Rose and Jackson won’t be eligible to come up for a vote until the Hall of Fame’s Classic Era Baseball committee meets in December 2027.
The committee is responsible for voting on individuals who made their biggest impact in baseball before 1980.
Australia’s code-crossing star Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii is to have surgery to fix a fractured jaw, putting the 21-year-old under pressure to be fit for the British and Irish Lions tour.
Suaalii was concussed in a collision with Waratah’s team-mate Andrew Kellaway during their defeat by Queensland Reds on Friday.
It was then found that he had a “small, undisplaced fracture” which needed an operation.
Suaalii is likely to be sidelined for at least four weeks.
“This is unfortunate for us and especially for Joseph. We wish him all the best in his recovery and return to full health,” Waratahs coach Dan McKellar said.
The Waratahs’ Super Rugby campaign is set to end during Suaalii’s absence with only three rounds of the regular season remaining and play-off qualification only a distant possibility.
The utility back, who made his debut in professional rugby union in Australia’s win over England in November, could potentially make a return to action in the Wallabies’ warm-up Test against Fiji on 6 July, or the Waratahs’ own match against the Lions the day before.
Suaalii was signed from rugby league’s Sydney Roosters last year in a three-year deal worth a reported 5.35m Australian dollars (£2.6m).
While he has continued to impress in his appearances in union, his progress has been checked by injuries, with a toe complaint causing him to miss four Super Rugby matches
President Bola Tinubu has transmitted a proposed ₦1.783 trillion statutory appropriation bill for the FCT to the Senate for consideration and approval for the 2025 financial year.
In his communication to the upper chamber on Wednesday, President Tinubu urged the Senate to give the bill expedited consideration, noting that its passage was critical to ensuring an effective and service-oriented administration for residents of the FCT.
Responding to the request, the Senate invoked Order 78 to allow the bill to scale second reading the same day it was introduced.
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However, the accelerated process did not go without a grudge as an opposition lawmaker, Senator Abdul Ningi, raised concerns about the procedure under Order 77 (3 and 4), pointing out that lawmakers had not been provided with copies of the bill prior to the debate.
The Senate, therefore, began debate on the general principles of the FCT Statutory Appropriation Bill for the 2025 fiscal year.
Leading the debate on the bill, the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, explained that the proposed legislation seeks to authorise the issuance of ₦1,783,823,708,392.00 trillion from the FCT Administration’s Statutory Revenue Fund to finance personnel, overhead, and capital expenditures between January 1 and December 31, 2025.
The budget breakdown includes N150.35 billion for personnel costs, N343.78 billion for overhead, and N1.29 trillion allocated for capital projects.
Bamidele underscored that the primary objective of the budget was to drive an effective and enduring service-oriented administration, with a strong focus on completing ongoing projects that have significant impacts on infrastructure and essential services in Abuja.
Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones seized on a May 9 video of a train car meeting among three European leaders to claim they had used drugs and were trying to hide it.
The video showed French President Emmanuel Macron sitting at a table with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer. On the table before them were two blue folders, two drinking glasses and a small white object. The three men smiled for photographers who had gathered. Just as the shutter clicks started, Macron removed the crumpled white object from the tabletop and held it in his fist.
“DEVELOPING SCANDAL: Macron, Starmer, and Merz caught on video on their return from Kiev. A bag of white powder on the table. Macron quickly pockets it, Merz hides the spoon,” Jones said in a May 11 X post. “No explanation given. (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelensky, known cocaine enthusiast, had just hosted them. All three of the ‘leaders’ look completely cracked out.”
Jones’s post had been viewed more than 29.5 million times as of May 13 and he promoted the drug-use narrative in several more posts. “BREAKING: It’s Coke,” he said in another May 11 post later that day. A few hours later, he shared another photo that he said “clearly” showed “a bag of Blow”. Similar posts spread in Spanish.
Jones did not respond to PolitiFact’s request for comment. But original videos of the meeting by the AFP news agency and The Associated Press and high-resolution photos captured by AP showed the white object Macron removed from the table was not a bag of white powder – it was a tissue.
Elysee, the official X account of the French presidency and the Elysse Palace presidential residence, posted pictures that also showed what appeared to be a tissue on the table. It said on X that the white object was a tissue “for blowing your nose”, adding that “this fake news is being spread by France’s enemies, both abroad and at home. We must remain vigilant against manipulation.”
In an email to PolitiFact, a German government spokesperson described Jones’s allegation as “absurd”.
Jones’s post also got another detail wrong. He said Zelenskyy “had just hosted” Macron, Starmer and Merz. However, the news reports said the leaders were on their way to meet Zelenskyy when the photos and videos were captured; they had not already met with him.
We asked digital forensic experts to analyse the close-up photo Jones posted that he alleged “clearly” showed a bag. Experts said they were unconvinced it was authentic.
V.S. Subrahmanian, a Northwestern University computer science professor, and Hany Farid, a University of California digital forensic expert, told PolitiFact that the image could have been modified using artificial intelligence, producing an image that may make the object look less like a tissue.
Darren Linvill, a Clemson University communication professor who studies Russian disinformation campaigns, said he saw the earliest mentions of this narrative in French on May 10.
At about 7:34 ET on May 11, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova posted images of the meeting on the messaging app Telegram; she’d added red circles around the white object on the table. Her caption said Macron, Starmer and Merz had forgotten “to put away their paraphernalia” before journalists arrived to take photos, according to a Guardian report and a Google Translate translation of her post from Russian to English. Her post also described Zelenskyy as an “unbalanced drug addict” who used cocaine in 2022.
Linvill said the false narrative proliferated across English social media – including X, Facebook and Reddit – on the morning of May 11. It was amplified and popularised by “accounts known to be part of the Russian Storm-1516 campaign distribution network”, he said.
Russian disinformation experts told PolitiFact it’s not uncommon for Russian influence campaigns to falsely accuse foreign leaders of illicit drug use, specifically involving cocaine.
“Anything that makes the leaders of rival nations appear debauched and corrupt works to their advantage,” Linvill said. “Russia wants to undercut the legitimacy of Western democracy to make their own system appear better by comparison.”
Scott Radnitz, a University of Washington professor at the Jackson School of International Studies, said the cocaine claim tapped into “a long-running Kremlin narrative” that Zelenskyy uses drugs.
A senior Russian official in 2024 called Zelenskyy an “illegitimate drug addict” and accused him of trying to continue the Ukrainian war to preserve his power.
In 2022, PolitiFact also fact-checked a deceptively edited video that said it showed Zelenskyy saying he does cocaine. In the original video, Zelenskyy said he likes coffee and denied he uses cocaine. Such rumours date back to the 2019 Ukrainian presidential campaign, when Zelenskyy’s political rival challenged him to a drug test, which Zelenskyy took without any narcotics being detected. We found no credible news reports supporting claims that Zelenskyy uses drugs.
Radnitz said far-right online influencers like Jones often disseminate pro-Kremlin conspiracy theories. Some reports have said Jones’s website Infowars has republished more than 1,000 articles from a Russian state-sponsored outlet.
“In this instance, the cocaine connection was broadened to also include world leaders in order to discredit an otherwise successful diplomatic engagement for Ukraine,” Radnitz said.
Whilst every red carpet appearance has us swooning over a celeb’s makeup, the real unsung hero is almost always their skincare prep. As every good beauty lover knows, your skincare is half the battle when it comes to achieving a flawless makeup look, helping create a smooth, hydrated canvas for products to be applied to.
Selena Gomez is no stranger to some knockout red carpet glam, and her makeup artist. Hung Vanngo, recently revealed that he preps her skin using Dr Althea’s 345 Relief Cream, £32.99, the cult favourite Korean moisturiser. The moisturiser has gone viral on TikTok with over 18 million views, but wasn’t available to use here in the UK – until now.
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The viral moisturiser is now finally stocked on Amazon, so UK shoppers can try it for themselves to see if it really does live up to the hype. And to make it even better, the Dr Althea 345 Relief Cream is already on sale, slashed from its usual price of £35.99 to £30.50.
Considering she has her own beauty line with Rare Beauty, the fact Selena is more than happy to use the 345 Relief Cream for big events like red carpets is definitely a strong testament to its effectiveness. Although it can be used as a regular moisturiser underneath makeup, it’s also a great soothing step in your evening skincare routine.
Each use gives your skin some deep hydration, as well as calming irritation or sensitivity. It also strengthens your skin barrier, and does it all without clogging your pores which can cause acne and breakouts.
It contains a blend of niacinamide and plant extracts, which reduce dark spots and blemishes whilst creating a more even, clear and radiant complexion. It also contains ceramide NP and hyaluronic acid for that intense hydration boost and provides some added nutrients to your skin.
Weleda Skin Food is also a top celebrity pick with similar results, with everyone from Victoria Beckham to Rihanna and Adele using it as part of their skincare routines. However some people aren’t as keen on its thick, heavy consistency, which is why the Weleda Skin Food Light (£15.95) has become more popular, thanks to its lighter, silkier formula.
Skin + Me’s Soothe + Smooth Rich Moisturiser (£21.99) is also a great alternative, containing shea butter, glycerin and hyaluronic acid to calm, soothe and hydrate tight, sensitive skin. However Selena’s go-to Dr Althea 345 Relief Cream has gone viral for a reason, and now it’s finally available in the UK it’ll no doubt be the top of most skincare fanatics shopping lists.