World champion Shields' doping suspension lifted
Three-weight undisputed world champion Claressa Shields has had her doping suspension lifted.The 29-year-old American tested positive for marijuana following her win over heavyweight Danielle Perkins on 3 February in Michigan.The Michigan Unarmed Combat Commission which provisionally suspended Shields' licence said she "provided evidence" on 6 March and that "her conduct no longer poses an imminent threat to the integrity of the sport, the public interest, or the welfare and safety of a contestant".Shields wrote on X:, external "Officially unsuspended! "But y'all a little quiet! Ya'll was real loud about me 'supposedly' smoking marijuana and being suspended!"No worries! And still an undisputed heavyweight champ."Although Shields' suspension was dissolved, the commission said that "does not close the enforcement action", meaning she may face further sanctions.
She could be fined or have her victory over Perkins overturned as a no-contest.Marijuana is banned in competition by the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada).Shields denied using marijuana and said the tests showed only "trace" amounts.
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Wales Online
an hour ago
- Wales Online
Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney face up to £13.4billion reality after Wrexham promotion
Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney face up to £13.4billion reality after Wrexham promotion Wrexham have achieved huge success under Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, but now face a tough test in the Championship, where many clubs are well-backed Wrexham co-owners Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds are facing up to the financial reality of the Championship (Image: PA ) Wrexham's Hollywood owners are facing a stark new financial reality as the club prepares to compete in the Championship next season. The new campaign will mark the first time in 43 years that the Red Dragons have played in the second tier after previously spending four seasons in the old Second Division between 1978 and 1982. A lot has changed since then, with plenty of money floating around thanks to lucrative TV deals and parachute payments on offer for newly-relegated Premier League sides. Many club owners are also very wealthy in their own right, with one part-owner boasting a net worth stretching to an astonishing £13.4billion. Wrexham's co-owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney are hardly short of money themselves. The two A-listers have an estimated combined net worth of around £295m ($400m) thanks to their acting income and business investments. However, even their fortunes pale in comparison to the Championship's biggest hitters. As the North Wales outfit prepares for life in the second tier, WalesOnline looks at how Reynolds and McElhenney's wealth stacks up to that of their rival owners. QPR are often highlighted at the top end of the scale in terms of their owners' combined net worth, with their main shareholders being Ruben Gnanalingam, Richard Reilly and Amit Bhatia. Bhatia is the son in law and a representative of steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, who alone is said to be worth £13.4bn, according to Forbes. Article continues below Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna will be well-backed next season (Image: PA ) Not too far behind are American investment fund Gamechanger 20 Ltd, who own newly-relegated Ipswich, with reports valuing the firm at a staggering £10.8bn. Another well-backed side are Leicester, who also recently dropped out of the Premier League, with the Srivaddhanaprabha family worth approximately £2.7bn. Meanwhile, Bristol City owner Steve Lansdown holds a wealth of £2.3bn, and Stoke City custodian John Coates is said to have £2.2bn. At the bottom end of the table in terms of their net worth are Watford's Gino Pozzo (£93m), Millwall's James Berylson (£110m) and Hull City's Acun Ilicali (£147m). The combined net worth of Reynolds and McElhenney would therefore place Wrexham in a lower mid-table position in the Championship. However, they do have an ace up their sleeves in the form of the Allyn family from New York, who came on board as minority owners of the club in October. Eric Allyn and his daughter Kaleen have helped shore up Wrexham's financial position (Image: Geraint Lloyd ) Watch Welcome to Wrexham season 4 on Disney+ This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more from £4.99 Disney+ Get Disney+ here Product Description Welcome to Wrexham is back on Disney+ for a fourth season. Fans can watch the series with a £4.99 monthly plan, or get 12 months for the price of 10 by paying for a year upfront. For more than a century, the family were the owners of US medical device manufacturing company Welch Allyn Inc. That was until September 2015 when the firm was sold to Hill-Rom in a deal reported to be worth just under £1.5bn at current rates . The Allyns have since turned their focus to investing in private and public markets, and Wrexham have received several large cash injections since their arrival. It's hope their involvement will help Reynolds and McElhenney achieve their dream of taking the club into the Premier League. Deadpool star Reynolds restated that goal in the wake of Wrexham's promotion from League One, which was confirmed after a 3-0 home win over Charlton in April. Sign up to our newsletter! Wrexham is the Game is great new way to get top-class coverage Wrexham AFC is the arguably the fastest-growing club in the world at the moment thanks to a certain Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. The Dragons have achieved two consecutive promotions and are cheered on by crowds from not only North Wales but also from all over the globe, thanks to the success of the Disney+ documentary 'Welcome to Wrexham'. But does it have a dedicated, quality source of information piped through to your inbox each week, free of ads but packed with informed opinion, analysis and even a little bit of fun each week? That's where Wrexham is the Game steps in... Available every Wednesday, it provides all the insights you need to be a top red. And for a limited time, a subscription to 'Wrexham is the Game' will cost fans just £15 for the first year. Sign up for Wrexham is the Game here Posting on social media, the Canadian wrote: "We've been with Wrexham for what seems like the blink of an eye, but so much has happened. "I remember the first press conference, we were asked what our goals were… and I think Rob jumped in with, 'The Premier League'. People laughed. They had every right to. It seemed insane… But we weren't kidding." Article continues below The co-owners have certainly taken steps to shore up Wrexham's financial position in recent times and prudently took out an insurance policy to cover the cost of promotion bonuses ahead of the 2024/25 season. However, climbing into the Championship will be the biggest challenge they have faced yet during their whirlwind journey.
NBC News
4 hours ago
- NBC News
'We're happy to have this fight': Trump administration leans into California protests
President Donald Trump's immigration agenda has met a groundswell of opposition in Los Angeles, the country's second-largest city. At least 56 people have been arrested so far in massive protests against the administration's immigration raids in the city Friday. The demonstrations have spilled over onto one of the region's largest freeways, and federal authorities are facing criticism after they arrested, and apparently injured, a prominent labor leader. In response, the White House has threatened to arrest California's governor and mobilized Marines to support National Guard troops in defending federal property — even though state officials say they don't want the assistance and are now suing the administration. For the White House, this scene — Trump battling a blue state over his signature issue — is a win. It's a nationally watched saga of the sort that has long defined his career: a made-for-TV moment. 'We're happy to have this fight,' a White House official said, emphasizing that politically, the administration sees it as a winning issue. Democrats and immigration activists have broadly blasted the Los Angeles operation as illegal and inhumane and insisted that it's all about politics — and not about sound public policy. 'This Administration's actions are not about public safety — they're about stoking fear,' former Vice President Kamala Harris, a Los Angeles resident who ran against Trump last year, wrote in a statement. But Trump allies argue that it's simply Trump carrying out the hard-line immigration agenda that was the centerpiece of his campaign. NBC News spoke with four White House officials, in addition to other Trump supporters, who requested anonymity to speak candidly. 'This is what America voted for, period,' a Trump adviser said. 'This is the America First focus that got the president elected and is driven by nothing else than what he promised American voters.' 'Look at the violence, the attacks on law enforcement,' the adviser added. 'If Democrats want to support that, let them. This is why we win elections and they do not.' Trump advisers also pointed to the fact that the president's immigration policies continue to get high marks in most public polling. A CBS/YouGov poll conducted just before the Los Angeles immigration raids found that 54% of respondents approved of the administration's ' program to deport immigrants illegally.' Those numbers help clarify why the administration and more broadly congressional Republicans are politically comfortable leaning into support of the raids over vocal opposition from critics — and a persistent threat of legal challenge. 'I know there's no question places like California have thumbed their nose at the American people and decided they want to be a sanctuary for criminals,' Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., said Monday, adding, 'I think he's exercising exactly what he said he'd do and what people elected him' to do. Trump advisers say the president also points to the fact that he got more votes in California in 2024 than in his previous campaigns, even though he still badly lost the heavily Democratic-leaning state. The administration's response to the protests does seem to have one eye on the reaction in conservative media, a space increasingly dominated by pro-Trump influencers. Some of those influencers have been posting from the protests — most notably Phil McGraw, a well-known Trump supporter better known as 'Dr. Phil,' who embedded with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents during the Los Angeles raids, as he did during similar immigration raids in Chicago this year. The Trump adviser, asked about McGraw's involvement, said: 'This is an important moment in American history. People have a right to see it in a way not unfairly skewed by a biased mainstream media.' The adviser wouldn't elaborate on how McGraw, whose presence was first reported by CNN, was able to have front-line access to the federal immigration operations. A spokesman for McGraw didn't respond to a request for comment. Republicans more broadly also see the fight as a political winner and say Democrats are functionally taking the bait on an issue in which polling has given Trump an advantage. 'I think it is a symptom of how far left this party has done when you have major Democrats standing on the side of illegal aliens that are torching vehicles,' Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told Fox News on Monday. 'It is one of the reasons the Democratic Party is struggling so much nationally,' he added. Matthew Bartlett, a Republican strategist and former Trump administration official, said the raids shouldn't be a surprise because immigration is a 'legitimate issue' the voters have signaled they care about. 'There is no political upside in defending or denying the images of burning cars, rioters and looting and the destruction,' he said of Democrats. 'A feeling that things have spun out of control in California and that government can't effectively govern. … It has changed the conversation from illegal immigration to a breakdown in society.' Still, there has been some disagreement — at least in public messaging — about how far to push in going after California Democrats, a break between what may be politically popular with the base and what's politically realistic. The clearest example centers on the Trump administration's authorizing the deployment of National Guard troops over the opposition of California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass have argued that inserting National Guard troops will inflame tensions and potential violence — a response that has led Trump to signal he would consider arresting Newsom if he were to continue what the administration considers to be his interference. 'I would do it if I were Tom,' Trump said, referring to his 'border czar,' Tom Homan. 'I think it's great. Gavin likes the publicity. But I do think it would be a great thing.' While detaining Newsom would no doubt please Trump's MAGA base, White House officials privately say it's not currently in the cards. 'It's not being actively planned or considered,' a senior White House official said. 'But anyone who breaks federal law puts themselves at risk of being arrested. That's just a basic fact.' A second White House official said that if either Newsom or Bass, a former Democratic congresswoman, do something at odds with federal immigration law, they could be detained. But the official also acknowledged that the optics of arresting California officials amid an immigration fight they believe most Americans support could backfire with some Republican voters because, at the moment, it doesn't appear they have actually broken any immigration laws. The official said there isn't some grand strategy to deploy National Guard troops in blue cities across the country; the administration is simply waiting to see whether other protests get out of control. Meanwhile, Newsom has leaned into the threats, practically daring the administration to arrest him rather than focusing on the protesters. 'He's a tough guy. Why doesn't he do that? He knows where to find me,' Newsom told MSNBC on Sunday. Referring to Homan, he added: 'That kind of bloviating is exhausting. So, Tom, arrest me. Let's go.' On Monday, California sued the Trump administration, arguing that Trump's federalizing the state's National Guard is 'unlawful.' 'Let me be clear: There is no invasion. There is no rebellion,' Democratic state Attorney General Rob Bonta said. 'The president is trying to manufacture chaos and crisis on the ground for his own political ends. Federalizing the California National Guard is an abuse of the president's authority under the law — and not one we take lightly. We're asking a court to put a stop to the unlawful, unprecedented order.' Trump supporters have lined up behind him, with some even offering to head to Los Angeles to help, despite having no law enforcement experience. 'Preparing to deploy … to Los Angeles,' vocal Trump supporter Benny Johnson said on X. He followed up with a post to his 3.7 million followers showing him wearing military-style gear with his name on it. The increasingly contentious political fight over Los Angeles, administration officials admit, is no longer about just deporting those with criminal records, which was Trump's main pitch to voters on the campaign trail. On Monday, an MSNBC host asked Homan whether everyone ICE has arrested as part of the Trump administration's immigration efforts had criminal records, and he had a blunt response. 'Absolutely not,' he said.
South Wales Argus
11 hours ago
- South Wales Argus
Groomed terror suspect not treated as a ‘vulnerable child', says her mother
Rhianan Rudd, who died aged 16, had an 'obsession with Hitler', downloaded a bomb-making manual, and threatened to 'blow up' a synagogue after she was radicalised online by an American neo-Nazi. In the 18 months before she died, Rhianan was diagnosed with autism, investigated by counter-terrorism policing and MI5, and prosecuted over terrorism charges after she had been groomed and allegedly sexually exploited by extremists. Senior coroner Judge Alexia Durran concluded that she was not satisfied that Rhianan intended to end her own life at Chesterfield Coroner's Court on Monday. She said that 'missed opportunities' in Rhianan's case were 'not systemic' and she will not make a prevention of future deaths report. Rhianan was charged with terrorism offences (Family handout/Leigh Day Solicitors) In an interview, Rhianan's mother, Emily Carter, said she believes the teenager's death was preventable and the agencies involved in her case need to be held accountable. Ms Carter said: 'They need to recognise that the way they dealt with things was not the correct way, because she's dead. 'I don't ever want this to happen to another family. This has been devastating. 'If I could save just one child from these people making all their changes and making sure they follow through with everything, there's justice in my eyes – my daughter didn't kill herself for no reason. 'It was just one thing after another basically, but all of them should learn from Rhianan's death, all of them.' Ms Carter said Rhianan was not treated as a vulnerable child, despite her autism diagnosis, and she does not believe her daughter was ever a threat to other people. The mother said: 'She was five foot one, weighed seven stone. She was tiny. 'I don't know what people thought she could do, but I don't believe that she was ever a threat. It was just what people would put in her head – brainwashed her, basically. 'They (the agencies) treated her as a child, but I don't believe they treated her as a vulnerable child. 'If you've got vulnerable children, you take extra steps to watch them, to look after them, to make sure they feel safe, even from themselves, and they didn't. Obviously, she's dead.' Rhianan Rudd was found dead at a children's home (Family handout/Leigh Day Solicitors) The mother said the moment 19 police officers and two detectives came to arrest her daughter at their family home was 'mind-numbing' and she felt 'violated' when officers turned her house 'upside down'. She said: 'It hurt … the fact that they thought that my daughter was some sort of massive terrorist. 'They were going to put her in handcuffs, but the handcuffs didn't go small enough. Even on the smallest ones, they just fell off her hands. That's how small she was.' The inquest heard that the police did not refer Rhianan to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM), which identifies victims of human trafficking or modern slavery, when they began investigating her in 2020, but the referral was made by Derbyshire County Council in April 2021. Her mother says the NRM referral should have been done 'at the very beginning' because 'they could see that she was vulnerable'. Ms Carter added that she thinks Rhianan should not have been charged, and said: 'She was a child, a vulnerable child. A child with mental health issues. 'She should have been treated as a victim more than anything.' The mother also said it 'angered' her that Rhianan was investigated by MI5 before her death and added: 'If they knew that my daughter was being groomed and sexually exploited online, and then you're investigating at that time, why did nobody come and stop it? 'Why watch a child be completely humiliated, sexualised, trafficked, brainwashed?' Speaking about her daughter's autism diagnosis, Ms Carter said Rhianan would get fixated and 'sucked into' something until it was the 'be all and end all of everything'. She said Rhianan's fixations began with My Little Pony before she became interested in German history, wanted '1940s German furniture in her bedroom', and eventually made contact with extremists on the messaging apps Telegram and Discord. Ms Carter said: 'Finding out that she'd been groomed, and the way these people talked to her … it really changed her wholeness as a person, the way she thinks, the way she feels, everything.' She said that Rhianan was a 'bubbly' girl but she became withdrawn after she was radicalised, and added that the extremists 'took away an innocent child' and 'took away her substance as a person'. She said: 'After she started talking to her so-called friend online – I thought she was talking to gamer friends and friends from school – she started withdrawing. 'She stopped talking about normal things. She wasn't very bubbly, and I'd literally have to drag her out the house.' Rhianan Rudd (left) was aged 16 when she died (Family handout/Leigh Day Solicitors/PA) Ms Carter said she believes Rhianan's death could have been prevented if she was placed in a mental health unit, rather than the children's home, to 'deal with her mood swings, her brain going mad'. She said: 'They don't know a child like a mother does. Even when she was at home, I would wake up two or three times throughout the night and go and check her. These houses aren't guaranteed to do that.' The mother added that it was 'scary' when she referred her daughter to Prevent but she 'knew it had to be done'. She said: 'I was hoping that it was just going to take her two or three times a week to work on her mind, unpick her head, and turn her back into Rhianan. 'Not end up with all these police officers turning up arresting her and pulling my house apart. You don't expect that at all.' The inquest heard that Rhianan took an overdose of her mother's medication after being encouraged to by the 'two competing individuals' in her mind a week before she was charged and moved to the children's home. Recalling that moment, Ms Carter said: 'I go down the stairs and Rhianan was laying on my living room floor. And I actually thought she was dead, but she wasn't. 'She basically called them (an ambulance) when she decided that she changed her mind and didn't want to die.' Ms Carter continued: 'I've made mistakes, and I want the organisations to put their hands up and admit they've made mistakes and to rectify their mistakes so it doesn't happen again. 'And then that way everybody can be happy, except me, because I've already lost my daughter.' Ms Carter described Rhianan as 'loving, kind' and a 'really beautiful soul'. She added: 'Her brother, Brandon, and Rhianan were like two peas in a pod, and he just feels completely lost without her.' Following the inquest, Ms Carter said the family's anguish was increased by hearing that Rhianan was 'let down by the police, the Prevent anti-terror programme, Derbyshire County Council and the mental health bodies'. In a statement read outside Chesterfield Coroner's Court on behalf of Ms Carter by Anna Moore of Leigh Day Solicitors, she added: 'The chief coroner has found that Rhianan was denied access to services which should have supported and protected her and, I believe, could have saved her life. 'Looking at the number of missed opportunities recognised by the coroner, it's hard to see how they cannot have had an impact on Rhianan's state of mind.'
