MLS’s affiliate developmental program MLS NEXT paves the way for players to reach a professional football team by the age 20.

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Ron DeSantis has made clear what he believes the purpose of his 2024 candidacy to be: The utter destruction of the Democratic Party and its ideology. The Florida governor spoke on Fox & Friends on Monday and made the bold claim that not only would he win the general election should Republican voters nominate him in the primary, but added that he would “destroy leftism in this country” if allowed to serve in the White House. It was a claim that outlined exactly how far to the right the GOP continues to slide; while Democrats such as Nancy Pelosi have made headlines for asserting that they want a “strong” Republican Party that is reclaimed from Trumpism, Mr DeSantis and his fellow lawmakers on the right have embraced a desire for the total destruction of their political foes and the effective establishment of a one-party system. “I will be able to destroy leftism in this country and leave woke ideology on the dustbin of history. At the end of the day, I’ve shown in Florida an ability to win huge swaths of voters that Republicans typically can’t win — while also delivering the boldest agenda anywhere in the country,” said Mr DeSantis. “I pledge to Republican voters if you nominate me, I will be taking the oath of office on January 20, 2025, on the west side of the Capitol. No excuses, no more excuses about why we can’t get it done. We need to get it done, and I will get it done,” he continued. The Florida governor is currently polling in second place in surveys of the 2024 Republican field; he has consistently been the only Republican other than former President Donald Trump, the undisputed leader of the pack, to register double-digit percentages in polls of voters’ choice for the party’s nominee. His claim to have pursued the “boldest agenda” in the nation holds water thanks to the hard-right conservative agenda he has pursued in Florida. His administration banned so-called “critical race theory” — or any lessons that infer that racism is deeply embedded in American history or society — from classrooms, and has signed a host of other bills into law that have thrilled conservatives while drawing intense criticism from organisations like the NAACP and Human Rights Watch. The governor has also leaned heavily into a growing backlash on the right against any visibility of LGBT+ Americans in society, with Pride-themed items in stores and in media facing the most intense vitriol. In that vein, he has all but declared war on the Disney corporation, accusing it of pushing “woke” ideologies on children. That battle has now cost Florida millions in a cancelled business development in Orlando once planned by the company, which is also suing Mr DeSantis’s administration for his campaign against it. Read More Donald Trump Jr shares doctored Office clip showing Ron DeSantis wearing a woman’s suit Queer parents need everyone’s support, not people calling us ‘breeders’ LGBTQ people are fleeing Florida in ‘mass migration’ with some fundraising via GoFundMe Member of Ron DeSantis’ Disney governing board quits role Ted Cruz faces bipartisan fire for criticising Uganda’s new anti-LGBT+ law Trump loyalist floats ‘gross’ theory that Casey DeSantis is ‘exaggerating’ cancer story

A lucky youngster got the birthday gift of a lifetime when she discovered a 2.95-carat golden brown diamond in Arkansas.

Once a low-profile businessman who benefited from having President Vladimir Putin as a powerful patron, Yevgeny Prigozhin moved into the global spotlight with Russia’s war in Ukraine. As the leader of a mercenary force who depicts himself as fighting many of the Russian military’s toughest battles in Ukraine, the 62-year-old Prigozhin has now moved into his most dangerous role yet: preaching open rebellion against his country’s military leadership. Prigozhin, owner of the Kremlin-allied Wagner Group, has escalated what have been months of scathing criticism of Russia’s conduct of the war by calling Friday for an armed uprising to oust the defense minister. Russian security services reacted immediately, opening a criminal investigation and urging Prigozhin’s arrest. In a sign of how seriously the Kremlin took Prigozhin’s threat, riot police and the National Guard scrambled to tighten security at key facilities in Moscow, including government agencies and transport infrastructure, Tass reported. Prigozhin, a onetime felon, hot-dog vendor and longtime associate of Putin, urged Russians to join his “march to justice.” ‘PUTIN’S CHEF’ Prigozhin and Putin go way back, with both born in Leningrad, what is now known as St. Petersburg. During the final years of the Soviet Union, Prigozhin served time in prison — 10 years by his own admission — although he does not say what it was for. Afterward, he owned a hot dog stand and then fancy restaurants that drew interest from Putin. In his first term, the Russian leader took then-French President Jacques Chirac to dine at one of them. “Vladimir Putin saw how I built a business out of a kiosk, he saw that I don’t mind serving to the esteemed guests because they were my guests,” Prigozhin recalled in an interview published in 2011. His businesses expanded significantly to catering and providing school lunches. In 2010, Putin helped open Prigozhin’s factory that was built on generous loans by a state bank. In Moscow alone, his company Concord won millions of dollars in contracts to provide meals at public schools. He also organized catering for Kremlin events for several years — earning him the nickname “Putin’s chef” — and has provided catering and utility services to the Russian military. In 2017, opposition figure and corruption fighter Alexei Navalny accused Prigozhin’s companies of breaking antitrust laws by bidding for some $387 million in Defense Ministry contracts. MILITARY CONNECTION Prigozhin also owns the Wagner Group, a Kremlin-allied mercenary force that has come to play a central role in Putin’s projection of Russian influence in trouble spots around the world. The United States, European Union, United Nations and others say the mercenary force has involved itself in conflicts in countries across Africa in particular. Wagner fighters allegedly provide security for national leaders or warlords in exchange for lucrative payments, often including a share of gold or other natural resources. U.S. officials say Russia may also be using Wagner’s work in Africa to support its war in Ukraine. In Ukraine, Prigozhin’s mercenaries have become a major force in the war, fighting as counterparts to the Russian army in battles with Ukrainian forces. That includes Wagner fighters taking Bakhmut, the city where the bloodiest and longest battles have taken place. By last month, Wagner Group and Russian forces appeared to have largely won Bakhmut, a victory with strategically slight importance for Russia despite the cost in lives. The U.S. estimates that nearly half of the 20,000 Russian troops killed in Ukraine since December were Wagner fighters in Bakhmut. His soldiers-for-hire included inmates recruited from Russia’s prisons. RAGING AGAINST RUSSIA’S GENERALS As his forces fought and died en masse in Ukraine, Prigozhin raged against Russia’s military brass. In a video released by his team last month, Prigozhin stood next to rows bodies he said were those of Wagner fighters. He accused Russia’s regular military of incompetence and of starving his troops of the weapons and ammunition they needed to fight. “These are someone’s fathers and someone’s sons,” Prigozhin said then. “The scum that doesn’t give us ammunition will eat their guts in hell.” A ‘BAD ACTOR’ IN THE US Prigozhin earlier gained more limited attention in the U.S., when he and a dozen other Russian nationals and three Russian companies were charged in the U.S. with operating a covert social media campaign aimed at fomenting discord ahead of Donald Trump’s 2016 election victory. They were indicted as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference. The U.S. Treasury Department has sanctioned Prigozhin and associates repeatedly in connection with both his alleged election interference and his leadership of the Wagner Group. After the 2018 indictment, the RIA Novosti news agency quoted Prigozhin as saying, in a clearly sarcastic remark: “Americans are very impressionable people; they see what they want to see. I treat them with great respect. I’m not at all upset that I’m on this list. If they want to see the devil, let them see him.” The Biden White House in that episode called him “a known bad actor,” and State Department spokesman Ned Price said Prigozhin’s “bold confession, if anything, appears to be just a manifestation of the impunity that crooks and cronies enjoy under President Putin and the Kremlin.” AVOIDING CHALLENGES TO PUTIN As Prigozhin grew more outspoken against the way Russia’s conventional military conducted fighting in Ukraine, he continued to play a seemingly indispensable role for the Russian offensive, and appeared to suffer no retaliation from Putin for his criticism of Putin’s generals. Media reports at times suggested Prigozhin’s influence on Putin was growing and he was after a prominent political post. But analysts warned against overestimating his influence with Putin. “He’s not one of Putin’s close figures or a confidant,” said Mark Galeotti of University College, London, who specializes in Russian security affairs, speaking on his podcast “In Moscow’s Shadows.” “Prigozhin does what the Kremlin wants and does very well for himself in the process. But that’s the thing — he is part of the staff rather than part of the family,” Galeotti said. Read More The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary Who is the head of the mercenary group calling for an armed rebellion in Russia? Who are Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Wagner mercenary group Russia opens criminal case against Wagner chief over ‘call for armed mutiny’

Adam Yates has pulled away from his twin brother Simon Yates to win the first stage of the Tour de France, with race favorites Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard finishing not far behind