RSV is a common virus that can cause cold and flu symptoms, and it can be serious for babies and older adults

RSV can cause a wide variety of symptoms(Image: Getty Images)

Many people could be battling a potentially severe respiratory illness, mistaking it for the common flu. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a widespread virus that can trigger symptoms similar to a cold or flu; however, it can pose serious risks for infants and older adults if contracted.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) reports that cases of both influenza and RSV are on the rise across the UK as we approach the winter season’s midpoint. RSV tends to spread more frequently during the colder months and can easily transmit to others.

Recent data from the UKHSA reveals that RSV positivity increased to 10 per cent in the week between November 24 and 30, up from 8.7 per cent the previous week. NHS guidance emphasises that nearly all children contract RSV at least once before their second birthday.

Some people are at a higher risk of complications(Image: Getty Images)

Despite this, infants and older adults can experience complications from an RSV infection, particularly pneumonia (lung inflammation), which may necessitate hospital treatment in some instances. Infants are also at heightened risk of bronchiolitis, a chest infection that can progress into a severe lung infection.

Thankfully, you can reduce the risk of infection by taking measures to prevent its spread, especially if you’re exhibiting symptoms of an RSV infection.

RSV symptoms

According to the NHS, people infected with RSV will typically show symptoms within the first few days of infection. This can include a variety of symptoms, many of which are similar to the flu or the common cold:

• A cough
• A high temperature – signs include your back or chest feeling hotter than usual, sweatiness and shivering (chills)
• A runny or blocked nose
• Tiredness
• Sneezing
• A cough that gets worse
• Shortness of breath
• Faster breathing or long gaps between breaths
• Difficulty feeding (in babies) or loss of appetite
• Wheezing
• Confusion (in older adults)

Some symptoms may need to be seen by a doctor(Image: Getty Images)

Symptoms from an RSV infection usually get better on their own without further treatment. However, there may be some situations where you may need to speak to a GP.

Full details on RSV can be found on the NHS website here.

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Donald Trump is being sued by a preservation group which wants a federal court to halt the construction of a new ballroom at the White House until it goes through multiple independent reviews and wins approval from Congress.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation’s lawsuit represents the most concrete effort so far to change or stop plans for the new $300m ballroom that would be nearly double the size of the White House before the East Wing was demolished.

“No president is legally allowed to tear down portions of the White House without any review whatsoever – not President Trump, not President [Joe] Biden, and not anyone else,” the non-profit organisation’s lawsuit states.

“And no president is legally allowed to construct a ballroom on public property without giving the public the opportunity to weigh in.”

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Pic: Reuters

The ballroom project has drawn criticism from preservationists, architects, and President Trump’s political opponents.

It is among several sweeping changes Mr Trump has made to the White House since he returned to office in January. He has installed gold decorations throughout the Oval Office, and paved over the lawn of the Rose Garden to create a patio similar to the setting at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

Image:
Pic: Reuters

Commenting on the lawsuit, White House spokesman David Ingle said that Mr Trump is within his “full legal authority to modernise, renovate and beautify the White House – just like all of his predecessors did”.

Mr Ingle did not specify whether the president was planning to consult Congress at any point.

While nearly every president alters the White House, Mr Trump’s plans are the most extensive since President Harry Truman’s near-total renovation of its oldest section.

Unlike Mr Trump, Mr Truman obtained explicit congressional approval and funding, consulted engineering and arts authorities, and appointed a bipartisan commission to oversee the work.

Mr Trump has stressed that the project is funded with private money, including his own, but that doesn’t change how federal laws and procedures apply to a US government project.

Federal law cites “express authority of Congress” over DC projects.

Image:
Pic: Reuters

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Mr Trump has long maintained that a White House ballroom is overdue, noting that large events are held in tents and guests get wet when it rains.

The lawsuit said Mr Trump never gathered public input and ignored statutes requiring consultation with the National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission of Fine Arts before tearing down the East Wing and starting work on the ballroom.

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Oil tanker movements in and out of Venezuelan waters come to near standstill after US seizes vessel and fuel cargo.

Venezuela’s oil exports have plummeted since the United States seized an oil tanker off the country’s coast this week and imposed new sanctions on shipping companies doing business with the embattled Latin American country.

Oil tanker movements into and out of Venezuelan waters have almost come to a standstill, the Reuters news agency reported on Friday, after the US announced that it would seize more vessels as part of its military pressure on Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro.

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The seizure on Wednesday of the Skipper tanker marked the first US capture of Venezuelan oil cargo since Washington imposed sanctions on Caracas in 2019. It also comes amid a US military build-up in the Caribbean, which appears designed to remove Maduro from power.

Threats of more seizures have now left tankers – loaded with about 11 million barrels of oil and fuel – stuck in Venezuelan waters and fearing to venture further, according to data and documents reviewed by Reuters.

Only tankers chartered by US oil giant Chevron have left ports and sailed into international waters carrying Venezuelan crude since the seizure of the Skipper, according to Reuters. Chevron has US government authorisation to operate in Venezuela through joint ventures with state-run oil company PDVSA and can export its oil to the US.

Chevron confirmed this week that it was operating in Venezuela “without disruption and in full compliance with laws and regulations applicable”, according to Reuters, and had exported two cargoes of Venezuelan heavy crude to the US since the seizure of the Skipper.

As the Skipper was taken to Houston, Texas, on Friday for the unloading of its confiscated fuel cargo, Trump reiterated that the US military will start carrying out strikes on land against drug trafficking targets in Latin America.

Speaking at the White House, Trump said that US forces – which have been attacking vessels in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean for weeks, killing some 90 people – had stopped 96 percent of drugs trafficked to the US by water.

The US also claims it is attacking drug trafficking vessels but has provided no evidence, while international law experts say the attacks amount to extrajudicial killings by Washington in international waters.

Trump says Maduro’s ‘days are numbered’

The Agencia Venezuela News site reported on Friday that Venezuela’s Executive Vice President, Delcy Rodriguez, filed a formal complaint with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) denouncing Washington’s “violation of freedom of navigation in the Caribbean”.

Rodriguez told the IMO of the “vulgar robbery” of Venezuelan oil by the US, which was an “internationally illegal act”,  the news agency said. “The Vice President also reiterated that Washington’s threatening actions are not related to a supposed fight against drug trafficking,” it added.

On Monday, Trump said in an interview that Maduro’s “days are numbered” while also declining to rule out a ground invasion of Venezuela by US forces.

Washington has offered a $50m reward for Maduro’s capture, accusing the Venezuelan president of leading the alleged “Cartel of the Suns”, which the US has branded a “narco-terrorist” organisation.

On Thursday, the US Treasury announced sanctions on three relatives of Maduro and six shipping companies and six vessels involved in transporting Venezuelan oil, a move that could imperil his leadership.

“If there are no oil exports, it will affect the foreign exchange market, the country’s imports… There could be an economic crisis,” Elias Ferrer of Orinoco Research, a Venezuelan advisory firm, told the AFP news agency.

“Not just a recession, but also shortages of food and medicine, because we wouldn’t be able to import,” Ferrer said.

Before the seizure of the oil tanker this week, Venezuela exported some 952,000 barrels per day of crude and fuel in November, with about 80 percent of those shipments sent directly and indirectly to China.

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Over the first 10 months of his second presidency, Donald Trump has not hidden his desire to control the US media industry – from encouraging TV networks to fire journalists, comedians and critics he dislikes to pushing regulators to revoke broadcast licences. Now he seems determined to set the terms for one of the biggest media deals in history.

It’s a deal that could have repercussions not just in the US, but across the world, with not just the future of Hollywood at stake but also the landscape of news.

Another American president likely would have politely declined to comment when asked by a reporter about a massive media merger that would require fact-driven oversight and regulatory approval by a purportedly independent-minded branch of their administration.

But when Trump was asked on Sunday about Netflix’s $82.7bn (£61.8bn) deal to acquire the studio and streaming businesses of Warner Bros Discovery – the media company whose assets run the gamut from Batman and Casablanca to The Sopranos, Succession and CNN – he didn’t hesitate to say he would be “involved” in the review process for the deal.

Days later a media conglomerate with close ties to his administration, Paramount Skydance, the company behind the Paramount Pictures movie studios, CBS US TV network and Channel 5 in the UK, countered with a hostile $108bn offer for the company.

Trump then offered a contrasting commentary on his role.

“I’m not involved in that,” he told reporters on Wednesday, before adding: “I will be probably involved – maybe involved in the decision. It depends. You have some good companies bidding on it.”

Contradicting himself, Trump then laid out a condition for his support of a deal: the company that buys WBD’s studio, HBO and its streaming assets must also acquire its television channels and make big changes at the cable news network he has long despised, CNN.

“I think CNN should be sold, because I think the people that are running CNN right now are either corrupt or incompetent,” he said.

President Trump has made contradictory comments over his involvement in the deal for Netflix to acquire Warner Bros Discovery. Photograph: Patrick T Fallon/AFP/Getty Images

Only Paramount – run and backed by Trump supporters – had bid for the entire company.

This isn’t normal, commentators and former antitrust officials were quick to point out. “It’s not designed to be a system where the president wakes up one morning and decides it. It’s actually supposed to be the opposite of that,” said Columbia University law professor Tim Wu, who served in Joe Biden’s White House from 2021 to 2023 as a special assistant to the president for competition and tech policy.

During the Biden administration, “we followed the old rules, and the old rules suggested that the White House had to stay very far away from mergers,” Wu said – though “the parties always wanted us to get involved”.

“It’s all set up to keep the White House away,” he said. “This White House? Totally different kind of place.”

Phillip Berenbroick, who served as chief counsel for the US Senate’s judiciary subcommittee on antitrust matters, said that while “it’s not surprising that [Trump’s] interested and says so publicly, that is different from how most presidents and how most administrations have treated the antitrust review process. I think he does relish playing the role of deal-maker”.

Paramount’s starring role raises the likelihood of Trump’s involvement, considering the company is backed by his longtime friend and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, and run by his Trump-friendly son David, who has talked up the company’s “good” relationship with the administration.

Another factor that may well weigh in Paramount’s favour, as far as Trump is concerned, is the role of his son-in-law Jared Kushner, whose investment company Affinity Partners is an outside funder for the bid – though Trump said earlier this week that he hasn’t talked to him about it.

Jared Kushner, with wife Ivanka Trump, owns investment company Affinity Partners which is an outside funder for the bid from Paramount. Photograph: Luigi Costantini/AP

Senator Elizabeth Warren, of Massachusetts, along with several of her fellow Senate Democrats, has called foul.

“Donald Trump seems to be saying any Warner Bros bidder needs to make a deal with him – and that could involve a donation to his gold-encrusted ballroom, or it could involve getting rid of a news outlet that he doesn’t like or making movies that only flatter him,” she told the Guardian.

“But Donald Trump should not be the ultimate decision maker here. There needs to be a fair and independent review of this deal, and a straightforward application of the strong antitrust laws we already have on the books.”

But despite Trump’s seeming preference, this deal is far from done. Whichever company ultimately wins out for WBD– and WBD has said that it will evaluate Paramount’s proposal and give its shareholders a recommendation within 10 days – the deal will need to be approved by the antitrust division of the justice department, which is run by Gail Slater, a lawyer with a solid reputation around Washington.

Wu emphasised that while the justice department has the most significant role to play, a decision to approve the merger could easily be challenged by a state attorney general or attorneys general, with California – ground zero for the entertainment industry – most likely to take adverse action and potentially hold up the deal.

“Usually people say, ‘Well, it all depends on what Trump thinks.’ But I think it’s actually not that simple,” Wu said, adding, “Trump likes the idea that it all depends on what Trump thinks.”

When asked about the Paramount bid on Monday, Trump played neutral, suggesting that neither Netflix nor Paramount “are particularly great friends of mine” – though a White House official said that he has good relationships with both companies and does not have a position one way or the other.

Trump has acknowledged that he had recently met Ted Sarandos, the co-chief executive of Netflix, calling him “fantastic”, though he said Sarandos made no guarantees to him about the merger.

Trump has said approval of the deal would depend on how much market share Netflix would take on by acquiring WBD, which he said “could be a problem”, considering its existing dominance of the streaming business. “I want to do what’s right,” he said. “It’s so very important to do what’s right.”

Because a merger of WBD with either Paramount or Netflix would probably serve to greatly reduce competition in Hollywood, both deals are “highly dubious in terms of legality”, said Victor Pickard, professor of media policy and political economy at the University of Pennsylvania. “It seems to me that it should be a textbook case of being seen as anti-competitive in defiance of our antitrust laws, but that certainly doesn’t mean it won’t go through.”

Berenbroick, now a senior strategist for the American Economic Liberties Project, predicted that the merger will “raise red flags” for state, federal and global regulators because of the “significant consolidation” that would result. He expressed confidence in the career staffers at the justice department’s antitrust division. “Those people are really professional and good at their jobs,” he said. The department can file a lawsuit to block the deal, as it did – unsuccessfully – in 2017 to stop the merger of AT&T and then-CNN parent company Time Warner.

Trump could hamper the government’s case in a potential lawsuit by making a statement of preference for one bidder or another, creating the perception of a skewed process, industry experts say.

Despite concerns about consolidation, both Netflix and Paramount have argued publicly that their company would have an easier time winning regulatory approval for the deal. And both companies have hired officials with ties to Trumpworld, potentially easing the path to approval. In October, Paramount brought on as chief legal officer Makan Delrahim, who served as head of the department of justice’s antitrust division during the first Trump administration. Not wanting to be outdone, Netflix this past week brought on Virginia Boney Moore, a former special assistant in Trump’s first office of legislative affairs.

But Trump clearly has a closer relationship with the Ellisons, and officials in his White House had previously discussed their preference for Paramount to emerge as the winning bidder for WBD, which formally put itself up for sale in October. In a filing with the US top financial regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission, Paramount said a Netflix acquisition of WBD would come with “with extraordinary regulatory risk” and “a longer timeline to a possible closing” as a result.

During an interview on CNBC on Monday, David Ellison acknowledged having recent conversations with Trump that touched on CNN. (The Guardian first reported in November that Ellison’s father, Larry, had talked with a senior White House official about potentially ousting two anchors the administration views as Trump critics, Erin Burnett and Brianna Keilar.)

CEO of Paramount Skydance David Ellison says he has had ‘great conversations’ with President Trump about his company owning CNN. Photograph: Jeenah Moon/Reuters

When asked whether he thinks Trump would “embrace” Paramount Skydance owning CNN, Ellison responded, “We’ve had great conversations with the president about this … but I don’t want to speak for him in any way, shape or form.”

Pickard said reported conversations between Trump and the Ellisons about potential firings at CNN are “profoundly troubling” and “just absurd for any democratic society worthy of the name”.

“The end goal of all of this is that Trump wants to snuff out any capacity for dissenting views or independent journalism,” he added.

Trump has largely praised the Ellisons for their stewardship of CBS News, which would probably be combined with CNN. Last month, Trump sat for his first interview with 60 Minutes in five years, and called Bari Weiss, the “anti-woke” commentator who is now the network’s newly appointed top editor, a “great person”. On Sunday, David Ellison sat in Trump’s box at the Kennedy Center Honors award ceremony in Washington which the president himself hosted.

However, minutes after Paramount unveiled its bid on Monday he took to social media to slam the company over CBS’s Sunday news magazine show 60 Minutes interview with the retiring congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. “My real problem with the show, however, wasn’t the low IQ traitor, it was that the new ownership of 60 Minutes, Paramount, would allow a show like this to air. THEY ARE NO BETTER THAN THE OLD OWNERSHIP.”

These are just the opening salvoes in a corporate battle that could take months to resolve and will ultimately reshape global media. A veteran of the anti-trust space said it seems likely that Trump could pressure attorney general Pam Bondi to approve a deal of his choosing.

“If the president wants this deal approved and he tells Pam Bondi, ‘I want this deal approved’ … they’ll find a way to approve it,” the veteran said. “But that doesn’t mean that the states can’t come in and fight the deal.”

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US President Donald Trump’s overseas envoy will travel to Germany this weekend to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders for the latest round of high-level talks on ending the war.

Steve Witkoff, who has been leading White House attempts to mediate between Ukraine and Russia, will discuss the latest version of the proposed peace agreement in Berlin.

The Trump administration is pushing for a deal to be in place by Christmas and has held several rounds of talks with Ukrainian and Russian representatives in recent weeks, though there has been little sign a breakthrough is imminent.

It has not yet been confirmed which European leaders will attend the Berlin talks.

The Wall Street Journal, which first reported details of the meeting, said UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz would all take part.

Confirmation of the Witkoff-Zelensky meeting comes days after Ukraine gave the US its revised version of a 20-point peace plan, the latest iteration of a proposal which first emerged in late November and has triggered a flurry of diplomatic activity.

The fate of territory in eastern Ukraine remains one of the most intractable topics in the negotiations, with Kyiv refusing to cede land which has been illegally occupied, and Moscow repeating its intention to take the Donbas region in full by force unless Ukraine withdraws.

Zelensky has reacted sceptically to the White House’s latest proposal on resolving the territorial question, which is for Ukraine’s army to pull out of the region and for it to be turned into a “special economic zone”.

The Ukrainian president told reporters that under the US-proposed terms, the Kremlin would undertake not to advance into the areas vacated by Ukraine’s forces, with the land between Russian-controlled parts of the Donbas and Ukraine’s defensive lines effectively turned into a demilitarised zone.

The proposal, seemingly an attempt to resolve the question of legal ownership by creating a new status for the land, has been publicly questioned by Zelensky, who said: “What will restrain [Russia] from advancing? Or from infiltrating disguised as civilians?”

Ukraine and allies in Europe have said publicly that the US-led talks have been fruitful, and have hailed progress on securing amendments to a plan which was widely viewed as favouring Russia when it first emerged.

But there have been signs in recent weeks that Trump is losing patience with Zelensky and his backers on the continent.

In a scathing interview with Politico earlier this week, the US president labelled European leaders “weak” and renewed his calls for Ukraine to hold elections.

Zelensky said elections could be held within 90 days if the US and Europe provided the necessary security. Elections have been suspended since martial law was declared when Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

As the White House’s diplomatic push continues, attention in Europe is focused on how to support Ukraine in the event of a peace deal, with talks ongoing over security guarantees and funding.

The Ukrainian government faces a stark financial situation: it needs to find an extra €135.7bn (£119bn; $159bn) over the next two years.

On Friday, European Union governments agreed to indefinitely freeze around €210bn (£185bn; $247) worth of Russian assets held in Europe.

It is hoped that agreement paves the way for the funds to be loaned back to Ukraine if a deal can be reached at an EU summit next week, providing Kyiv with financial help for its military and efforts to rebuild parts of the country left devastated after nearly four years of all-out war.

That move has been condemned as theft by the Kremlin, and Russia’s central bank has said it will sue Euroclear, a Belgian bank where the vast majority of Russian assets frozen after the invasion are held.

Officials were still negotiating the exact structure of a deal to repurpose the Russian assets on behalf of Ukraine, with the Belgian government being particularly sceptical due to its particular legal exposure as the main holder.

Elsewhere, it was reported that the latest version of the peace plan being circulated envisions Ukraine rapidly joining the European Union.

The Financial Times said Brussels backed Ukraine’s swift accession to the bloc, an idea proposed by Ukraine in the latest draft it has given to Washington.

Ukraine formally applied to join the EU days after the 2022 invasion but despite promises of an accelerated process is still several years away from becoming a member.

Under the plan, Ukraine would become a member as soon as January 2027, AFP reported, citing an unnamed senior official. It was unclear whether Washington had approved that element of the draft.

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Argentina football star Lionel Messi’s much-anticipated visit to India, as part of what’s billed as his “GOAT (greatest of all time) Tour,” has generated great excitement.

Messi, who just won Major League Soccer’s Most Valuable Player award for the second season in a row, last visited India in 2011, when Argentina faced Venezuela in an international friendly in Kolkata, India’s footballing heartland.

After kicking off his four-city visit in Kolkata on Saturday, Messi is scheduled to visit the southern city of Hyderabad and Mumbai before concluding the tour in New Delhi on Monday, where the 2022 World Cup winner is to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Among the highlights of his stop in Kolkata, Messi is to inaugurate the world’s largest statue of himself, a towering 70-foot (21.3 meter) behemoth.

He will also be accompanied by Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan as well as former India cricket captain and current Cricket Association of Bengal President Sourav Ganguly during a three-hour event at Kolkata’s main stadium, which is to include a 7-on-7 celebrity match and coaching clinics for selected young talents.

The 2022 World Cup winner is set to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on MondayImage: Deepak Salvi/ANI

Football’s deep, although regional roots

While cricket continues to be India’s dominant sport, football also has deep roots in the country, especially in states like West Bengal, where Kolkata clubs Mohun Bagan and East Bengal command passionate fan bases.

Arjun Sen, a fan who has followed the game for 30 years, has taken leave from work to attend Saturday’s event.

“I have already arranged leave for the day and plan to reach the stadium hours early. This is something we have only dreamed of. But seeing Messi in person is going to be unforgettable for everyone here,” Sen told DW.

Priya Das, an amateur football coach, told DW of the excitement his young players are feeling.

“They are talking nonstop about Messi’s visit and hoping to attend the clinics. It is not every day that football legends come to India, and it makes football feel more alive for us.”

While cricket continues to be India’s dominant sport, football also has deep roots in the country, especially in states like West BengalImage: Satyajit Shaw/DW

Initiating positive change

Satadru Dutta, the architect behind Messi’s visit, said it’s not just a spectacle, it’s about growing the game in the country.

“He is a world champion. If I can get conversations going on reviving football, I think that is a big start. Football will not change with Messi’s coming, but there can be small steps which can be initiated,” Dutta told DW.

Dutta also spoke about another of his ventures, “Edu Soccer,” a grassroots initiative. The project, which is to be launched by Messi, involves taking a group of 10-12 children and giving them professional football training over a period of 15 years.

However, the self-described “businessman, crazy about football” declined to disclose how much money Messi will earn from his Indian sojourn or the amount of revenue expected to be generated through sponsorships, VIP packages, broadcasting rights and merchandise.

“That is classified. Messi is priceless and it will stay that way,” he said.

Challenges holding the game back

India is 142nd in the FIFA men’s rankings — 27th among Asia’s 46 nation. This is despite the fact that it is the world’s most populous nation and possesses a passionate football base in pockets like Kolkata, Kerala and the Northeast region.

The country has never qualified for a World Cup, and its domestic leagues struggle with inconsistent attendance, limited infrastructure and negligible international visibility.

Moreover, the Indian Super League (ISL) faces severe financial and operational challenges, exacerbated by the All-India Football Federation’s (AIFF) recent failure to secure a new commercial rights partner, leading multiple clubs to suspend operations.

Soccer fever in India: Turning young lives around

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Shaji Prabhakaran, a former AIFF general secretary, agrees that while Messi’s visit will not transform Indian football, it can act as a catalyst that forces stakeholders to create lasting value.

“The timing is appropriate because Indian football is facing a difficult phase, and the visit can put Indian football firmly in the spotlight, prompting discussions among politicians, industrialists and football bodies,” Prabhakaran, who is acting as chief adviser for Messi’s GOAT tour, told DW.

“If this trip can heighten national focus on football rather than treating it as a one‑off celebrity appearance, it can help.”

More commercial than transformative?

The tour undeniably carries significant commercial dimensions. Ticket prices range from approximately 4,500 rupees (€43/$50) to 11,800 rupees depending on city and seating category, with Mumbai tickets starting at 8,250 rupees.

Messi cemented his legacy as one of the greatest footballers of all time after winning the Qatar World Cup in 2022Image: Matthias Koch/IMAGO

Premium hospitality packages command substantially higher prices, though exact figures for VIP experiences have not been publicly disclosed.

Bollywood stars are expected to attend the event at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai and participate in a philanthropic fashion show alongside Messi, Luis Suarez and Rodrigo De Paul, who are also to attend.

A senior AIFF official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told DW that the event was “a lucrative pit stop on a branded world tour that will leave Indian football exactly where it was, starstruck but still starving.”

Arup Das of the India Youth Soccer Association (IYSA) wondered aloud whether this moment will translate into anything lasting for Indian football or simply fade like previous high-profile visits.

A jersey and its impact

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“The Messi visit feels like another superstar comet that does a flyby of India especially at a time when Indian football is in a dark uncertainty. The ISL is without a commercial partner and shows no sign of starting anytime soon,” Das told DW.

The IYSA is an NGO established in 2000 supporting children playing football in rural areas where there has been a boom in small academies in the last decade. It says that so far it has reached over 5,000 children and coaches in more than 50 villages and small towns in northern India.

‘Inspiration is not infrastructure’

“Messi is not going to the football-passionate parts of India like Kerala, Goa, and the Northeast, with the exception of Kolkata, but instead to Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai which are no longer centers of football and these events are in cricket stadiums, which just goes to show how neglected our football stadium infrastructure is,” Das added.

Jaydeep Basu, a former director of communication and media at AIFF, hopes football’s administrators will leverage Messi’s visit for investment in sustainable football infrastructure.

“Inspiration matters in sports development. Seeing Messi can ignite passion in young players who might otherwise never pursue football seriously. But inspiration without infrastructure is merely sentiment, not change,” Basu underlined.

Rural India’s rugby girls battle to keep playing

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Edited by: Chuck Penfold

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NEED TO KNOW

• Taylor Swift’s new Disney+ docuseries, The End of an Era, premiered with its first two episodes on Dec. 12
• In the first episode, Swift is filmed on day one of rehearsals in a sweatshirt she may have had to retire
• The Pennsylvania-born pop star sported an oversized grey Philadelphia Eagles crewneck sweatshirt

Taylor Swift has a history of cheering on teams with a Kelce on their roster, even before she started dating Travis Kelce.

Swift recently released her new Disney+ docuseries, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour | The End of an Era, which chronicles the six months of developing and rehearsing for the titular tour.

In the first episode, Swift, who will be 36 on Dec. 13, arrives on the first day of rehearsals representing the Philadelphia Eagles. Swift grew up near Reading, Penn., and confirmed she was an Eagles fan after writing a lyric about an Eagles t-shirt in her 2020 song “Gold Rush.”

Taylor Swift in an Eagles sweatshirt.

Disney

Months after the rehearsals, Swift’s allegiance shifted toward the Kansas City Chiefs as her romance with Kelce developed.

Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift on November 7, 2025 in New York City.

XNY/Star Max/GC Images

The Eras Tour began in March 2023, one month after the Chiefs defeated the Eagles in Super Bowl LVII. It was the first Super Bowl in which two brothers, Travis and Eagles center Jason Kelce, faced one another.

In July 2023, Travis attended the Eras Tour stop at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. While the football star traded friendship bracelets with fans inside the venue, he revealed weeks later that he actually tried — and failed — to meet Swift after the show. 

A couple months later, Swift attended the Chiefs’ game against the Chicago Bears at Arrowhead Stadium, her first time seeing Travis play in person.

The pair have publicly shared their support for one another, but during the first episode of The End of an Era, the couple privately discussed the similarities in their professions. 

“We basically do the same job,” Swift told Travis during a phone call.

“You got teammates, I got teammates,” Kelce said in response.

Swift replied, “You’ve got Coach Reid, I’ve got…my mom,” as they both burst into laughter.

As the conversation winds down, Kelce tells Swift, “Thanks for making my life better.” Swift then responds, “I know, this was like — some people get a vitamin drip. I got this conversation.”

Jason and Travis Kelce on February 06, 2023 in Phoenix, Arizona.

Swift shared her gratitude for her fiancé while appearing on the Wednesday, Dec. 10 episode of The Late Show, telling host Stephen Colbert that being engaged to “the love of [her] life” is one thing she’s most grateful for.

Swift and Travis announced that they got engaged on Aug. 26 with a sweet joint Instagram post captioned, “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married 🧨.”

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The first two episodes of Swift’s six-part The End of an Era docuseries are now streaming on Disney+; Swift also released The Eras Tour | The Final Show, a Disney+ concert film from her last performance in Vancouver in December 2024, on Dec. 12.

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A California mother preparing for surgery on a gargantuan ovarian tumor found out she was pregnant – and days later gave birth to a full–term baby boy.

Suze Lopez, 41, was set to have a 22–pound benign cyst on her ovary removed at the Cedars–Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles when doctors had her undergo a required pregnancy test.

Stunningly, it turned out that she was expecting a baby.

‘I was used to very irregular periods and some abdominal discomfort,’ she told the hospital’s website. 

‘I could not believe that after 17 years of praying, and trying, for a second child, that I was actually pregnant.’

Three days later, Lopez delivered the news to her husband Andrew while they were at a Los Angeles Dodgers baseball game.

But what should have been a moment of happiness suddenly turned sour.

Lopez’s abdomen began hurting and she was rapidly taken to Cedars–Sinai with dangerously high blood pressure.

Doctors later diagnosed Lopez with an abdominal ectopic pregnancy, which the hospital said was ‘almost unheard of.’

Suze Lopez, 41, was about to have a 22–pound benign ovary cyst removed when she was told that she was pregnant

A ‘nearly full–term baby boy in a small space in the abdomen, near the liver, with his butt resting on the uterus’ was discovered inside Lopez’s abdomen

‘Suze was pregnant, but her uterus was empty, and a giant benign ovarian cyst weighing over 20 pounds was taking up so much space,’ John Ozimek, the hospital’s medical director of labor and delivery, said.

He said a ‘nearly full–term baby boy in a small space in the abdomen, near the liver, with his butt resting on the uterus’ had been discovered inside Lopez’s abdomen.

The baby was growing behind the ovarian cyst, pushing it forward and making it grow in size.

Ozimek said: ‘It makes sense that she just thought the tumor was getting bigger again, not that she could be pregnant.’

About 30 experts were required for what the hospital called a ‘highly coordinated, complex delivery and surgery’ on Lopez’s extremely rare pregnancy.

The experts involved in the risky delivery included maternal–fetal medicine specialists, gynecological oncologists, nurses, anesthesiologists and surgical technicians.

When the baby was delivered, Lopez immediately began hemorrhaging badly.

Doctors diagnosed Lopez with an ‘almost unheard of’ abdominal ectopic pregnancy, which put her and her baby’s life at risk 

Abdominal ectopic pregnancies are extremely rare and can be fatal. They happen outside of the uterus and in the abdominal cavity

‘We were a specially trained team of obstetric anesthesiologists and well prepared, but it was still intense,’ Michael Sanchez, an anesthesiologist at Cedars–Sinai, said.

Abdominal ectopic pregnancies happen outside of the uterus and in the abdominal cavity.

They are associated with high morbidity and mortality, and it is extremely rare for babies to be born from an abdominal pregnancy.

‘In my entire career, I’ve never even heard of one making it this far into the pregnancy,’ Michael Manuel, a gynecological oncologist, said.

Manuel works at the Providence Cedars–Sinai Tarzana Medical Center but was specifically called in to help remove Lopez’s giant cyst.

He said doctors had to figure out how to deliver the baby while doing ‘everything we could to save mom and this child.’

The surgery was a success – and Ryu Jesse Lopez was born on August 18, SFGATE reported. The newborn weighed eight pounds and had a full head of hair when he was born.

Cedars–Sinai said that about 30 experts, some of which were called from other hospitals, were required to operate on Lopez

Ryu Jesse Lopez was born on August 18. He weighed eight pounds and had a full head of hair at the time of his birth

A press release from Cedars–Sinai celebrated Ryu’s birth as a ‘medical miracle.’ 

Doctors were initially concerned that Ryu’s lungs might not have developed properly, but he was ‘feisty’ shortly after his delivery.

‘The following day we were able to remove the breathing tube,’ Sara Dayanim, a neonatologist with Cedars–Sinai Guerin Children, said. ‘Over the course of his two weeks with us, Ryu quickly reached all of the important benchmarks for surviving well.’

She added: ‘He defied all the odds.’

His father Andrew said that Ryu’s middle name, Jesse, was chosen because it means ‘gift from god.’

‘He is our gift, and Ryu and Suze are my miracles,’ he said. ‘They let me in the operating room, and it was tough to watch what she was going through, and amazing to see Ryu delivered.’

Meanwhile, Lopez deemed her son’s birth and life ‘an example to the world that God exists.’

‘I appreciate every little thing,’ she said. ‘Every day is a gift and I’m never going to waste it.

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This could save you some money ahead of Christmas

Sophie Buchan Money and Lifestyle Writer and Lauren Haughey Lifestyle and Money Reporter

04:14, 13 Dec 2025

Special stickers can be found in selected Asda stores(Image: MMassel/Getty Images)

It’s no secret that Christmas can get expensive. From gifts and decorations to the big roast dinner on the day, these festive costs can quickly add up.

However, a new initiative from Moonpig may just help to soften this financial blow. The firm is now offering Asda shoppers the chance to claim free greeting cards before December 25 – but they’ll need to spot a crucial detail. Although simple, this involves keeping an eye out for Moonpig stickers on items sold in the supermarket’s bakery aisle.

These bright pink labels feature a pig wearing reindeer antlers and can be peeled to reveal details on how to claim the freebie.

Asda shoppers should look out for Moonpig stickers on bakery items(Image: Moonpig)

Currently, the festive offer is available at more than 150 selected Asda stores across the UK, including major cities such as Wolverhampton, Portsmouth and Canterbury. According to a previous Mirror article, others encompassed in this are:

1. Aintree
2. Ashington Lintonville Terrace
3. Ashton
4. Barnsley
5. Beckton
6. Benton
7. Bexley Heath
8. Birmingham Barnes Hill
9. Blackburn
10. Blackpool
11. Bloxwich
12. Blyth
13. Boldon
14. Bolton
15. Boston
16. Bridge of Dee
17. Brighton Hollingbury
18. Brighton Marina
19. Bromborough
20. Burgh Heath
21. Burnley
22. Cannock
23. Canterbury
24. Chadderton
25. Chatham
26. Chelmsley Wood
27. Clydebank
28. Coatbridge
29. Colindale
30. Corby
31. Coventry
32. Crewe
33. Cumbernauld
34. Cwmbran
35. Dagenham
36. Derby
37. Doncaster
38. Donnington Wood
39. Dundee Milton
40. Dunfermline
41. Eastbourne
42. Eastgate
43. Eastlands
44. Eastleigh
45. Edinburgh
46. Elgin
47. Ellesmere Port
48. Falmouth
49. Fareham
50. Farnborough
51. Ferring
52. Fulwood
53. Gateshead
54. Gillingham Pier
55. Glasshoughton
56. Glenrothes
57. Gloucester
58. Govan
59. Grantham
60. Gravesend
61. Great Bridge
62. Grimsby
63. Halifax
64. Hamilton
65. Harrogate
66. Hartlepool
67. Havant
68. High Wycombe
69. Huddersfield
70. Hull Hessle Rd
71. Hulme
72. Hunts Cross
73. Huyton
74. Ipswich
75. Isle of Dogs
76. Keighley
77. Kendal
78. Killingbeck
79. Kingswood
80. Kirkcaldy
81. Lancaster
82. Leigh
83. Leyton
84. Linwood
85. Liscard
86. Livingston
87. Long Eaton
88. Longwell Green
89. Lower Earley
90. Luton
91. Mansfield
92. Milton Keynes
93. Minworth
94. Morley
95. Newton Abbot
96. Norwich
97. Nuneaton
98. Oadby
99. Parkhead
100. Patchway
101. Peterlee
102. Pilsworth
103. Plymouth
104. Poole
105. Portsmouth
106. Pudsey
107. Queensferry
108. Queslett
109. Radcliffe
110. Robroyston
111. Rochdale
112. Rotherham
113. Runcorn
114. Scunthorpe
115. Sheffield
116. Sheffield Drakehouse
117. Shoeburyness
118. Skelmersdale
119. Slough
120. Small Heath
121. St Austell
122. Stafford
123. Stevenage
124. Stockton
125. Strabane
126. Sunderland
127. Sutton in Ashfield
128. Swanley
129. Swindon West
130. Tamworth
131. Taunton
132. Thornaby
133. Thurmaston
134. Tilbury
135. Toryglen
136. Totton
137. Wakefield
138. Wallington
139. Walton
140. Washington
141. Watford
142. Wembley
143. West Bridgford
144. Westbrook
145. Weston Super Mare
146. Widnes
147. Wigan
148. Wolstanton
149. Wolverhampton
150. York

Beyond the new Moonpig freebie, Asda recently revived its ‘Winter Warmer’ scheme across 212 cafes, which will run until the end of February 2026. The deal allows anyone over 60 to enjoy soup, bread and unlimited tea or coffee for just £1 during the colder months.

Customers can select either tomato or chicken soup as part of the seasonal offer. They also have the option to upgrade the meal deal: for an additional 55p, they can add a small latte, cappuccino, or speciality tea, or choose a medium size for £1.10.

In light of the initiative, Jordan Cummings, Buying Manager, Cafes and Concessions at Asda, said previously: “We know winter is set to be incredibly hard for thousands of pensioners as they continue to worry about how to keep themselves warm in the face of rising living costs and on a fixed income. Last year alone we sold over half a million meals showing the vital need for this initiative.”

He also added: “By bringing Winter Warmers back this November, we hope it will continue to be just as impactful across the winter months for those who need it most, as well as offering a relaxed social environment to come and chat to others.”

Asda has been approached for further information on the Moonpig offer.

Christmas can be a very costly festive holiday (stock image)(Image: Catherine Falls Commercial/Getty Images)

When are Asda’s Christmas delivery slots available?

Asda made its festive delivery bookings available to passholders from October 15, with others able to book starting October 21. These deliveries are scheduled between December 21 and 23.

Asda’s online advice reads: “Pre-order your festive centrepieces and let us take the hassle out of your festive food shop. Whether delivered directly to your door or collected from one of our stores, your festive feast will make this a Christmas celebration to remember.

“You can now order from our Food to Order range by booking a Christmas delivery or collection slot between 21st–23rd December.” This year, ASDA’s Christmas range includes more than 500 products, including festive classics and various new items.

Visit Asda’s website for more information.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Russian attacks ‘had no … military purpose whatsoever’.

Russian forces have attacked two Ukrainian ports, damaging three Turkish-owned vessels, including a ship carrying food supplies, according to Ukrainian officials and a shipowner.

Friday’s attacks by Russian forces targeted Chornomorsk and Odesa ports in Ukraine’s southwestern Odesa region on the Black Sea. A Ukrainian navy spokesperson told the Reuters news agency that three Turkish-owned vessels were damaged in total, but did not provide additional details.

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Posting video footage on social media of firefighters tackling a blaze on board what he described as a “civilian vessel” in Chornomorsk, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Russian attacks “had no … military purpose whatsoever”.

“This proves once again that Russians not only fail to take the current opportunity for diplomacy seriously enough, but also continue the war precisely to destroy normal life in Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said.

“It is crucial that … the world maintains the proper moral compass: who is dragging out this war and who is working to end it with peace, who is using ballistic missiles against civilian life, and who is striking the targets that influence the functioning of Russia’s war machine,” he said.

Today, the Russian army carried out a missile strike on our Odesa region, and last night there was also a Russian attack on Odesa’s energy infrastructure. At one point we talked about the situation in this city and the people of Odesa with President Trump.

Today’s Russian… pic.twitter.com/gIgXUlc4AJ

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) December 12, 2025

Zelenskyy did not name the vessel, but it was identified as the Panama-flagged and Turkish-owned Cenk T by Reuters, which matched cranes and buildings to satellite imagery of Chornomorsk port.

The ship’s owners, Cenk Shipping, confirmed it was attacked at about 4pm local time (14:00 GMT). There were no casualties among the crew, and damage to the ship was limited, it added.

An employee of a private company was also injured in a separate attack on Odesa port, where a cargo loader was also damaged, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba confirmed.

He added that Russia had used drones and ballistic missiles in the port strikes, which were “aimed at civilian logistics and commercial shipping”.

Ukraine’s three large Black Sea ports in the Odesa region are a key economic artery for Kyiv.

Late on Friday, Turkiye’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed the vessel had been attacked in Chornomorsk port. It added that there were no reports of injured Turkish citizens.

The ministry said in a statement that the attack “validates our previously stated concerns regarding the spread of the ongoing war in the region to the Black Sea, and its impact on maritime security and freedom of navigation”.

“We reiterate the need for an arrangement whereby, in order to prevent escalation in the Black Sea, attacks targeting navigational safety as well as the parties’ energy and port infrastructure are suspended,” it added.

Hours earlier, in talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Turkmenistan’s capital of Ashgabat, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for calm in the Black Sea and suggested that a limited ceasefire for energy facilities and ports could be beneficial for regional security.

Turkiye, which has the longest Black Sea coastline at approximately 1,329km (826 miles), has grown increasingly alarmed at the escalating attacks in its back yard and has offered to mediate between Kyiv and Moscow.

The attacks come just days after Putin promised retaliation and threatened to cut “Ukraine off from the sea” for Kyiv’s maritime drone attacks on Moscow’s “shadow fleet” – unmarked tankers thought to be used to circumvent oil sanctions – in the Black Sea.

Kyiv says the tankers are Moscow’s main source of funding for its almost four-year-old war. It has also tried to squeeze Russian revenues by expanding attacks to the Caspian Sea, where it struck a major oil rig this week.

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