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Liverpool boss Arne Slot said on Thursday the Premier League champions will only sign the right player for the right price, but refused to be drawn on the club’s position regarding unsettled Newcastle striker Alexander Isak.

Since Liverpool’s reported 110-million-pound ($148m) bid for the 25-year-old Sweden international was rejected earlier this month, they have not held further talks, but equally do not appear to have given up hope of bringing Isak to Anfield.

Newcastle, for their part, are reported to be demanding a British record transfer fee of 150 million pounds ($201.1m) for Isak.

The forward’s decision to go public on Tuesday, accusing Newcastle of breaking promises and saying he “can’t continue” and “change is in the best interests of everyone”, has intensified speculation about Isak’s future.

Newcastle’s response was to insist: “We have been clear that the conditions of a sale this summer have not transpired. We do not foresee those conditions being met”.

The back-and-forth exchanges have all added another layer of interest to Liverpool’s match at Newcastle’s St James ‘ Park on Monday, with Isak expected to be absent again as he continues to train away from the squad.

Slot, speaking at a pre-match news conference on Thursday, said, “I am happy with the squad, but if we think there is a player who can really make us better, then this club has always shown they can bring them in”.

The Dutch manager, who has seen Liverpool’s 300-million-plus-pound ($402.1m) spending spree during the break, offset by more than 200 million pounds ($268.1m) worth of sales, added, “But it needs to be everything we want: right transfer fee, right position and the player wants to come to us.

” I don’t think]it will be a busy end to the summer transfer window] because]that would mean] I would be unhappy with the squad, and I am happy with the squad.

“I say two players for each positions is ideal, but sometimes, less is more, so you are not disappointing players”.

Newcastle manager Eddie Howe said ahead of the new season that Isak “controlled” his own future.

Slot, meanwhile, rejected the suggestion Liverpool’s trip to the northeast would be made easier by Isak’s absence and the ensuing turmoil it has caused Newcastle.

“I don’t think they are a club with troubles”, he said. “I assume Isak is not playing, but they still have Anthony Gordon as a nine, they have Anthony Elanga as a right winger, and Harvey Barnes from the left – and Jacob Murphy is not even playing.

” This is the Premier League, we all have a lot of options and Newcastle have them, as well. “

But Slot’s options at right-back have been reduced, with new signing Jeremie Frimpong ruled out until after next month’s international break with a hamstring injury sustained in their opening victory over Bournemouth.

Joe Gomez was pressed into action for 18 minutes despite having had just two training sessions after three weeks out with injury.

Gomez could still be in contention at Newcastle, with Conor Bradley only returning to training on Thursday.

We only have two injuries right now, but they are both in the same position, “said Slot.” The advantage is that there are other players who can play.

James Dobson, a controversial and deeply influential Christian activist who advised several presidents, including US President Donald Trump and campaigned against abortion and LGBTQ rights has died.

Dobson died on Thursday at the age of 89, according to the Dr James Dobson Family Institute, which highlighted his role in “creating one of the largest faith-based organizations in the world”. No cause was given for his death.

Born in 1936 in Shreveport, Louisiana, Dobson, who was a child psychologist, started a radio show counselling Christians on how to be good parents and in 1977 founded Focus on the Family.

At the height of his influence in the 1980s, Dobson was viewed as one of the most powerful figures in the so-called “religious right” or “Christian right”. Critics viewed him as an agent of intolerance, but he had broad support in the US heartland, where his folksy style and love for hunting went down well.

His organisation at its peak had more than 1,000 employees and gave Dobson a platform to weigh in on legislation and serve as an adviser to five presidents.

Dobson successfully pushed for conservative Christian ideals in US politics alongside fundamentalist giants, such as Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, campaigning for bringing religious conservatives into the political mainstream. With his daily radio broadcasts heard on more than 3,000 radio stations in North America, he promoted his conservative agenda and encourage like-minded people to vote for candidates who reflected their views.

This usually meant Republicans, although Focus on the Family’s tax-exempt status prevented it from explicitly endorsing parties or candidates.

Decades later, Dobson served on a board of evangelical leaders that advised Trump in 2016. He supported Trump in all three of his presidential campaigns.

Dobson was a ferocious opponent of abortion rights and gay marriage, viewing both as attacks on the “traditional family” and, by extension, his vision of a functioning society. But he denied charges from opponents that he was a bigot.

“It is primarily the homosexual activist community that has an agenda and sees me as a threat to it, and so they mischaracterise me as hateful and vicious. I’ve been on the radio for 30 years and you will not find one single comment [like that],” he told Reuters in an interview in 2007.

He celebrated the 2022 overturning of Roe v Wade – including Trump’s conservative appointments to the US Supreme Court credited with the landmark decision that allowed states to ban abortion.

“Whether you like Donald Trump or not, whether you supported or voted for him or not, if you are supportive of this Dobbs decision that struck down Roe v Wade, you have to mention in the same breath the man who made it possible,” he said in a ministry broadcast.

On social media, while some mourned his loss, many highlighted the trauma they had endured as a result of his work. Dobson had encouraged corporal punishment of children and was a fierce advocate for so-called conversion therapy, a pseudoscientific practice aimed at forcibly changing the sexual orientation or gender identity of LGBTQ youth.

“I know we’ll have to contend with James Dobson’s legacy for a long time, but I felt such relief this morning,” Sarah Jones, a New York Magazine writer, posted on X. “He committed his entire life to violence and cruelty and now he’s gone. I’ve been waiting to write his epitaph since I was a child.”

Zach Lambert, a Texan pastor, wrote on X: “It’s genuinely hard to quantify the pain he and his organization are responsible for. I’ve walked with hundreds and hundreds of people who experienced severe trauma (spiritual, emotional, physical, etc.) because of his teachings.”

James Dobson’s legacy isn’t “family values” — it’s intolerance.

He blamed mass shootings on LGBTQ rights & abortion and reduced marriage to a sexist bargain.

FFRF will keep fighting the Christian nationalism he championed.https://t.co/AtCBxY3OnQ

A civil fraud fine that would have cost US President Donald Trump and his business associates nearly half a billion dollars has been rejected by an appeals court in New York, calling the fine “excessive.”

After considering Trump’s appeal for almost 11 months, a five-judge panel in New York’s Appellate Division made its decision on Thursday.

The panel cited the US Constitution’s Eighth Amendment, which forbids the government from imposing excessive fines on its citizens.

Letitia James, the attorney general of New York, filed a civil lawsuit alleging that Trump had inflated his financial standing to gain advantages from banks, insurance companies, and other financial institutions.

A lower court in February 2024 had mandated that Trump pay a $ 355 million fine, which the appeals court questioned. Due to the accumulating interest, that amount has since increased to about $515 million.