It’s America's favorite time of year (besides Christmas maybe) and MLS has put together a red-hot slate for us to enjoy on Saturday and Sunday. Some of the nation’s best players are facing off in matches that could be future conference championship matchups. The first and second-pla...

Hospital worker Fred Leparan attempted to sell a baby boy to an undercover BBC reporter.

Defender Heather Payne says it is back to business as usual for the Republic of Ireland after a dramatic Friday night that saw their behind-closed-doors friendly with Colombia aborted and midfielder Denise O’Sullivan taken to hospital with a suspected shin injury. The World Cup warm-up in Brisbane was abandoned after 20 minutes due to what the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) would later explain in a statement was as a result of it becoming “overly physical”. Initial scans revealed O’Sullivan had not sustained any fractures, with an update expected during Monday afternoon’s training session – just three sleeps away from the Girls in Green’s World Cup debut against Australia on Thursday night. While they will be hoping for more encouraging news about their team-mate, Payne insisted the team have otherwise put the tumultuous events behind them, saying: “It’s a new week as well, and I think everyone is just… our main focus here is the World Cup and we’re all really focused on that game on Thursday. “It’s Monday now, it’s a new week, the game is just a few days away. Honestly, we’re all good. We had a recovery day and a day off and it was nice. We’ve been together for so long now, it’s nearly five weeks, so it’s nice to get out and about and do your own thing. But yeah, I think everyone is just focused on the upcoming game.” Players enjoyed a rest day on Sunday, with some heading to the beach and others meeting koalas at a sanctuary nearby their Brisbane base. The Republic have been handed the intimidating task of opening their maiden World Cup in front of more than 80,000 fans at Sydney’s Stadium Australia, where the majority will be cheering for co-hosts the Matildas, 12 places above Payne’s number 22 side in FIFA’s global rankings. It does not get any easier for the only Group B nation to never have featured in the global showpiece, with Olympic champions Canada – the Republic’s highest-ranked group rivals in seventh – in Perth to follow, then a first-ever meeting with Nigeria in Brisbane to conclude the group stage. In May, 23-year-old Ballinasloe native Payne graduated from the University of Florida, where she played for the Division One Seminoles. She stayed in the States for a month, both to train and close that particular chapter of her career, before joining up with her Republic team-mates. She said: “I was able to enjoy my last time there and take it all in, but since I’ve been home we’ve had camp and then I was able to just kind of fully switch over to this mode. “I think over the past couple of weeks I’ve kind of been focusing on both (the World Cup and next steps) a bit, but now that I’ve gotten here my full focus is on the World Cup. This is a huge, huge tournament and our first, so I just want to be fully focused on that.” At some point soon, Payne will inevitably appear in one of those pen-in-hand promotional photos, wearing the colours of whichever club she chooses to call her next home. For now, however, green is the only shade that matters. Payne added: “Wearing that shirt means everything. I think now more than ever, I think since we see the Irish support and we see that the whole country is behind us, I think it’s meaning quite a lot now more than ever. “It’s absolutely brilliant. I think when we’re out there on Thursday in front of 80,000 people and then knowing everyone at home is also watching, I think we’re all going to be super proud.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live The sporting weekend in pictures England’s Nathan Kimsey falls to Vincent Norrman in playoff in PGA debut ‘The best player to ever don boots’: Lionel Messi unveiled to Inter Miami’s fans

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Many on TikTok are convinced that the ‘megalodon’ still exists, after an old satellite image of the huge shark went viral. The earliest megalodon fossils date to approximately 20 million years ago, and went extinct 3.6 million years ago. Recently a satellite image has gained lots of attention on TikTok as users claim that a huge shark-like shadow that can be viewed beneath the ocean’s surface is in fact the extinct megalodon. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter One TikTok, from an account dedicated to creepy and unsettling sightings, says: “The following video is footage from a satellite. When you zoom in it appears to look similar to a shark.” The video proceeds to zoom into the shadow and compare to the size of a 40-foot yellow bus, emphasising the size. @theyrewatchingusnow MEGALODON STILL OUT THERE⁉️ Follow Back Up: @theyrewatchingusnow2 #ocean #megalodon #megalodon? #shark #deepoceanvideo #deepocean #scary #unexplored #atlanticocean #pacificocean #indianocean #oceans #conspirancytheory #oceancreatures #realfootage #greatwhiteshark #oceansecrets #creepy #sharkattack #sharksattack #fyp #fypシ #fypシ゚viral #foryoupage #foryou #foryourpage #foryourpages #foryouuuu #viral #virallllllllllllll #viralvideo #viralvideosofficial #oceanconspiracy #trending #screammovie The image has many viewers convinced that the extinct species exists: “Humans had to adapt to all world disasters repeatedly, do why would it be impossible for animals to adapt,” reads one comment. Another commented: “They’re absolutely still alive. The ocean is quite deep and we’ve only explored 5-10 per cent”. “People keep saying we would’ve found a meg by now but do you have any idea how little of the ocean we have discovered?” One commenter told sceptics. The clips used in the TikToks come from a video shared on YouTube by Discovery in 2014 (as seen above) as part of their Shark Week feature. The satellite image was captured by NASA and initially caused huge concern as it looked like an oil spill. It actually turned out to be a swarm of non-hazardous microbes. Whilst investigating the believed oil spill at the time, after the satellite image was zoomed in that shark-shaped shadow raised eyebrows. Almost 10 years later it’s still not clear what the shadow was, but it’s clear there’s still speculation on if it is in fact a megalodon. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

The companies Chemours, DuPont and Corteva announced on Friday they have agreed to pay more than $1 billion to settle claims that "forever chemicals" contaminated public US water systems.

Max Verstappen goaded his forlorn rivals by challenging Red Bull to pointless “pit-stop training” during his exhibition win in Belgium on Sunday. Verstappen started sixth by virtue of a grid penalty for a gearbox change, but he assumed the lead on lap 17 of 44 before taking the chequered flag 22.3 seconds clear of Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez. Charles Leclerc finished third for Ferrari. Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton started third and crossed the line in fourth. Verstappen’s triumph was his eighth in a row – leaving him just one short of Sebastian Vettel’s record. It also marked his 10th victory from 12 rounds so far this season, his 19th from his last 23 outings and Red Bull’s 22nd in that period. The team from Milton Keynes head into Formula One’s summer break unbeaten this season. Verstappen is riding on a wave of invincibility – a staggering 125 points clear in the championship – and with nine laps remaining here, his supreme confidence was expressed in a message to his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase. “I could also push on and we do another stop?” he said. “A little bit of pit-stop training?” “Not this time,” replied Lambiase. “He has reason to be cheeky because he is just driving circles round everybody else on merit,” was the verdict of Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff following another so-so afternoon for the Silver Arrows. “The stopwatch never lies and there is one guy in one car above everyone else.” From sixth to fourth at the end of the first lap, Verstappen dispatched of Hamilton at 210mph on the Kemmel Straight on lap six, and then Leclerc three laps later following a fine move round the outside of the Ferrari pole-sitter at Les Combes. Then came the first of a series of sharp-edged radio exchanges with Lambiase which would provide some entertainment on a one-sided afternoon in the Ardennes. Trailing Perez, Verstappen wanted Red Bull to perform a double-stack tyre-stop in order not to lose any time to his team-mate on fresh rubber. But his request was rebuffed by the Red Bull pit wall. “So don’t forget Max, use your head please,” said Lambiase. “Are we both doing it (stopping) or what?” replied Verstappen. “You just follow my instruction,” came Lambiase’s response. “No, I want to know both cars do it,” fired back Verstappen. “Max, please follow my instruction and trust it, thank you,” said Lambiase. Lambiase was promptly back on the radio to ask Verstappen if he could make his dry rubber last for the next nine minutes with fine drizzle anticipated. “I can’t see the weather radar,” was Verstappen’s spiky response. A lap after Perez stopped for tyres, Verstappen came in. He left the pit-lane 2.8 sec adrift of the Mexican but he required only two laps before he was crawling all over the back of his team-mate’s identical machine. Verstappen tracked Perez through the fearsome Eau Rouge-Raidillon section before he applied DRS and roared round Perez along the Kemmel Straight. By the end of that 17th lap, Verstappen had already established a 1.6 sec gap over his team-mate. It then began to drizzle, and Verstappen endued a hairy moment through Eau Rouge as the back end of his Red Bull stepped out at 180mph. “F***, I nearly lost it,” said the championship leader after he regained control. On lap 29, Perez now trailing Verstappen by nine seconds, stopped for a second time, with Verstappen following in on the same lap and then building on his lead. Lambiase returned to the airwaves. “You used a lot of the tyre on the out-lap, Max,” he said. “I am not sure if that was sensible.” Verstappen responded by producing the fastest lap of the race. Verstappen’s back-and-forth with Lambiase, known as GP, came 48 hours after they squabbled over the radio in qualifying. But Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said: “GP and Max have been together since the first race that Max stepped into the car. Max is a demanding customer. And you’ve got to be a strong character to deal with that. “GP is our Jason Statham equivalent, certainly a lookalike, and he deals with him firmly but fairly. “There’s a great respect between the two of them and that comes out of a mutual trust, which you must have between an engineer and a driver. There’s no counselling required.” The sport will now head for a four-week shutdown before Verstappen’s home race in the Netherlands on August 27.

House Republicans have released testimony from two IRS whistleblowers who allege that the Justice Department interfered with their yearslong investigation into President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter