LUY-Development

Blog

  • Brayan Rocchio hits 2-run homer in 9th to lift Guardians over White Sox 6-5 in AL Central showdown


    CLEVELAND (AP) — Brayan Rocchio hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning that gave the Cleveland Guardians a 6-5 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Thursday night in the opener of a four-game series between the top two teams in the AL Central.

    Cleveland (46-42) rallied from a three-run deficit and trails Chicago (45-41) by less than a full percentage point atop the division standings.

    Pinch-hitter David Fry launched a solo homer in the seventh that trimmed the Guardians’ deficit to 5-4.

    White Sox reliever Grant Taylor (4-2) walked Rhys Hoskins leading off the ninth. Kahlil Watson flied out to center before Rocchio pulled a 99 mph fastball down the right-field line for his sixth home run this season.

    Tim Herrin (1-3) pitched a perfect inning for the win.

    Travis Bazzana hit an RBI double and Rocchio drew a bases-loaded walk in the third to give Cleveland a 2-0 lead.

    Sam Antonacci delivered an RBI double and scored on Kyle Teel’s two-run double to put Chicago ahead 3-2 in the fifth.

    Braden Montgomery doubled leading off the sixth and Chase Meidroth’s two-run homer made it 5-2, chasing Guardians starter Slade Cecconi.

    Daniel Espino, Shawn Armstrong and Herrin combined to allow one hit in four innings of scoreless relief.

    Cleveland loaded the bases against reliever Sean Newcomb in the sixth and cut it to 5-3 on an RBI groundout by Chase DeLauter.

    Fry connected off Brandon Eisert in the seventh for his second pinch-hit homer this year.

    White Sox starter Davis Martin gave up two runs and six hits in 3 1/3 innings without striking out a batter. He walked five and threw only 37 of his 73 pitches for strikes.

    Up next

    White Sox LHP Anthony Kay (6-3, 4.50 ERA) faces Guardians RHP Gavin Williams (9-4, 3.81) on Friday night.

    ___

    AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb


  • Canada advances Alberta pipeline to Pacific Coast to expand oil exports beyond the US


    TORONTO (AP) — Canada took a step Thursday toward opening a new route for its vast oil reserves to Asian markets as Prime Minister Mark Carney advanced a Pacific Coast pipeline from Alberta, seeking to reduce the country’s dependence on the U.S. while easing separatist tensions and preserving environmental protections.

    Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith unveiled a proposed route through southern British Columbia, saying the project would open more Canadian oil to Asian markets while preserving a ban on oil tankers off northern British Columbia.

    “The best route for a new pipeline is one that goes through one that already exists south through the Trans Mountain corridor, to our Pacific Coast, the gateway to the world’s fastest growing markets,” Carney said in Calgary.

    Carney has set a goal for Canada to double its non-U.S. exports in the next decade and has said a pipeline can reduce the price discount on current oil sales to U.S. markets.

    The line would follow closely along a route already traversed by the Trans Mountain pipeline.

    It would run from Bruderheim, northeast of Edmonton, Alberta, to the southern British Columbia coast, delivering more than one million barrels per day to tankers and then to Asian markets.

    Smith said the Alberta government is partnering with the federally owned Trans Mountain Corporation and Calgary-based Pembina Pipeline on what it calls the West Coast oil pipeline. She said what the share of the private sector stake will be remains to be seen.

    “The world is asking Canada to step up and provide stable, democratic and reliable energy supply that countries around the world are looking for,” Smith said.

    “This is not just another energy project. It’s a nation-building project that will unlock wealth and opportunity.”

    Smith wants Alberta to double oil production to eight million barrels per day over the next 10 to 15 years.

    Smith has long complained that Carney’s predecessor, Justin Trudeau, hindered the province’s energy industry and fueled separatist sentiment.

    Alberta is holding a public vote in the fall on whether to hold a referendum on leaving Canada.

    British Columbia and some First Nations are against a pipeline through northern British Columbia.

    “The tanker ban will remain in place. We will be protecting the northern coast of British Columbia,” Carney said earlier in Vancouver.

    Carney also said Thursday he will compensate British Columbia for environmental risks if a pipeline is built in the southern part of the province.

    A previous memorandum of understanding Ottawa and Alberta included an adjustment of an oil tanker ban off parts of the British Columbia coast, but British Columbia Premier David Eby also said Thursday he secured a commitment to keep the northern tanker ban in place, protecting the province’s pristine northern coast.

    “It ensures that the northern tanker ban remains in place,” Eby said.

    Trudeau opposed a pipeline that could cross northern British Columbia and the Great Bear Rainforest. He approved one pipeline from Alberta to the British Columbia southern coast, the Trans Mountain pipeline, but rejected the Northern Gateway project amid opposition from environmentalists and Indigenous communities.

    Since the Trans Mountain expansion opened through the B.C. southern coast in 2024, roughly two-thirds to three-quarters of the crude shipped from Canada’s Pacific Coast has gone to Asia, helping Canada reduce its dependence on the U.S. market.

    The U.S. still buys most of Canada’s crude.

    Alberta holds one of the world’s largest proven oil reserves, and Canada is seeking greater access to Asian markets.


  • Rare copy of Declaration of Independence found by UK National Archives in papers of captured US ship


    LONDON (AP) — Michael Scurr has been volunteering at Britain’s National Archives for the last 11 years, spending his Thursday mornings painstakingly cataloging documents for the benefit of future researchers.

    Then one day last May the retired insurance executive made a discovery of his own while sifting through the letters of an 18th-century Royal Navy captain.

    There, attached to a report on the capture of the American privateer Dalton on Christmas Eve 1776, was an enclosure identified only as “another paper.” Carefully unfolding the document, Scurr stopped when he saw the word “Declaration” printed across the top.

    “I thought, oh, right, OK, this is definitely a Declaration of Independence,” he told The Associated Press. “How exciting is this?’’

    The document spreads the news of independence

    Researchers at the National Archives have since identified the document as a rare early copy of America’s founding document, printed just days after the original was signed on July 4, 1776, to spread the news that 13 rebellious North American colonies had severed ties with Britain.

    It is one of just 11 original copies of the so-called Exeter printing of the declaration that are known to exist, and the only one identified outside the United States, the National Archives said on Thursday as it unveiled the find ahead of this weekend’s 250th anniversary of American independence. This version was printed in Exeter, New Hampshire, July 16 to 19, 1776.

    But it isn’t just the age of t he document that makes it important. It is also the fact that it was captured from a ship under the direction of the recently formed Continental Congress, with orders signed by its president, John Hancock, said Amanda Bevan, head of the National Archives’ project to catalog the correspondence of Royal Navy captains during the American Revolution.

    While the public has heard about the dreadful conditions faced by the Continental Army at places like Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, little attention has been given to the Americans who went to sea to disrupt British trade and battle the mighty Royal Navy, Bevan said.

    Discovery offers a nod to what was at stake

    Finding a copy of the Declaration of Independence on board ship also suggests how it might have been used, Bevan said. She believes the Dalton’s captain would have read out his orders, as was customary, and also the declaration itself.

    “They know why they’re fighting, but this puts it in a language which makes it greater than them,’’ Bevan said. “They’re not fighting because they’re aggrieved in particular. They’re fighting for an ideal. And I think that just to find the declaration in a theater of war where people are committing themselves to fight for their country on the wide ocean is really something special.”

    As a privateer, the 18-gun Dalton was a privately owned vessel that fought under the auspices of the Continental Congress to supplement the tiny navy of the new nation.

    Captain Thomas Fitzherbert, commander of the 64-gun HMS Raisonnable, chased the Dalton for seven hours on Christmas Eve 1776 before capturing her off the coast of Portugal. The Dalton’s 120-man crew was imprisoned in Plymouth, England, under harsh conditions.

    Charles Hebert, who was just 19 when he was captured, described hunger, illness and repeated punishment in the journals he kept during more than two years of captivity before his release in a prisoner exchange.

    Despite it all, many survived.

    The joy of discovery is shared by Americans

    Historians in the United States are also excited about the National Archives’ discovery.

    This copy of the Declaration of Independence provides a direct link to the Dalton’s captain, who carried news of American independence to the world, said Matthew Skic, director of collections and exhibitions at the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia.

    “It’s not just a document, it’s an artifact,” he said. “It’s a tangible connection to the past, because holding that piece of paper in the archivist’s hand today is a way to transport us back to 1776. The baton being passed, in a way.”

    The discovery is also proof that there’s still more for historians to uncover, Skic said.

    “Even though 250 years has gone by, we still do not know everything about the American Revolution, and there are still finds left to be discovered.”


  • Carney and Marcos deepen Canada-Philippines ties as Ottawa looks beyond US trade


    VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. pledged Thursday to strengthen trade, energy and security ties as Canada works to diversify its economy beyond the United States and deepen its engagement in the Indo-Pacific.

    Carney said Filipino-Canadians are “at the very heart” of Canada, and both countries can benefit in energy security and critical minerals through a strategic partnership.

    “We share the same aspirations, in terms of what we would want to achieve in the world,” Marcos said.

    The two leaders pledged to pursue a Canada-Philippines free trade agreement, deepen defense and maritime cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, and strengthen economic ties supported by Canada’s one million-strong Filipino community.

    Canada is currently negotiating a trade deal with both the Philippines and a broader bloc of southeast Asian nations. Carney hopes to conclude those talks ahead of his visit to Manila in November, when Marcos will be chairing the summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

    Carney has set a goal for Canada to double its non-U.S. exports in the next decade, saying American tariffs are causing a chill in investment.


  • Spain goalkeeper Unai Simón sets World Cup record with 519 straight scoreless minutes in net


    INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Spain goalkeeper Unai Simón has the longest shutout streak in World Cup history, breaking a 36-year-old record while blanking Austria in a 3-0 victory Thursday for his fourth consecutive clean sheet in this World Cup.

    Simón hasn’t allowed a goal in 519 consecutive minutes across the past two World Cups. He broke the record set in 1990 by famed Italy goalkeeper Walter Zenga, who recorded 517 straight scoreless minutes and five consecutive clean sheets in his home World Cup.

    The 29-year-old Athletic Bilbao mainstay isn’t the most famous goalkeeper in this competition — or even on his own team — but Simón’s outstanding play at the back of Spain’s superb defense has launched him into the World Cup record books.

    Spain has yet to allow a goal at this World Cup, and its Basque backstop has only had to make four saves — none against Austria, which got none of its five shots on target.

    “I feel proud of him,” Spain coach Luis De La Fuente said. “I feel like he is a member of my family. I’m very happy for him.”

    Simón has been Spain’s first choice in net for most of the past half-decade, keeping the job despite roster competition from David Raya and Joan Garcia, the championship-winning goalkeepers in two of Europe’s four biggest leagues. Simón has spent his club career on smaller stages with Bilbao, which only reached the Champions League for the first time in his career last season.

    Simón owes his international success to his stellar results and to his tight bond with De La Fuente, who has largely resisted calls to give more playing time to his goalkeeping options with more accomplished club careers.

    Simón and De La Fuente have been bonded since 2015, when the coach and his 18-year-old keeper won the European Under-19 championship in Greece. They stayed together in Spain’s youth system and then reunited in early 2023, when De La Fuente took over the senior national team and promptly embarked on one of the most successful stretches in Spain’s proud history.

    Under De La Fuente, Spain has just one loss in 37 competitive matches, going unbeaten in its last 35 straight — a streak which includes a loss on penalties to Portugal in the 2025 Nations League. Spain has won the 2023 Nations League and the 2024 European Championship with Simón in net, and now it has won a World Cup knockout match for the first time in 16 years.

    Simón and Spain allowed just three goals in four matches at the 2022 Qatar World Cup, but still went home early. Simón’s shutout streak started during Spain’s 2-1 loss to Japan, and it continued through a scoreless draw with Morocco, which ultimately knocked out Spain by converting three of its four penalties against Simón.

    In North America, nobody has been able to beat Simón — and only Uruguay has managed more than one shot on goal among Spain’s four opponents.

    “(Simón) played a very big role in the victory, but it’s not just about individuals,” De La Fuente said after beating Austria. “It’s about the whole group coming together for that defensive effort.”

    Early in the second half against Austria, Simón also surpassed the Spanish record scoreless streak posted by Iker Casillas across the 2010 and 2014 World Cups.

    His play has been more than enough to hold off two accomplished challengers as Spain moves forward to the round of 16.

    Raya is widely considered one of the world’s best goalkeepers after winning three consecutive Golden Glove awards at Arsenal for leading the Premier League in clean sheets. He also backstopped the Gunners to their first Premier League title since 2004 and the Champions League final this year — only to go back to a reserve role for Spain.

    García is one of the world’s top young talents at the position after seizing Barca’s starting job last season, but he’s also likely to spend this World Cup as a spectator.

    ___

    See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here


  • US win over Bosnia-Herzegovina most-watched soccer telecast in English language history


    The United States has World Cup fever.

    The U.S. match against Bosnia-Herzegovina on Wednesday night was the most-watched soccer telecast in English language history with more than 24.4 million viewers, according to Fox Sports.

    The peak audience was 31.8 million.

    The United States won the game 2-0 in Santa Clara, California, to advance to the round of 16, marking its first knockout win since 2002.

    The match topped the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup Final telecast in which 22.3 million viewers on English-language TV tuned in.

    By comparison, the most-watched Super Bowl of all time came in 2025 when an average of 127.7 million viewers watched the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs across FOX, FOX Deportes, Telemundo, and Tubi. The peak average audience of 137.7 million viewers during the second quarter.

    The most-watched combined U.S. audience during the World Cup so far was Mexico-Ecuador game with 29.3 million viewers overall.

    ___

    See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here


  • Stewart Cink, Charlie Wi share US Senior Open lead after opening 67s


    COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Stewart Cink got off to a great start in a bid to win his third straight senior major.

    Cink was the only player to make five birdies on the back nine at Scioto Country Club on Thursday, shooting a 3-under 67 for a share of the first-round lead in the U.S. Senior Open with Charlie Wi.

    Cink struggled on the front nine, shooting a 2-over 37, but found momentum once he made the turn.

    “I’ve been off for a little while, and I started like I’ve been off for a little while. I had to prove it to myself again that I could play decent golf a certain way,” Cink said. “The back nine was really nice. I actually could have shot quite a bit lower on the back nine. I missed three very reasonably like inside — right around 10 feet or less birdie putts.”

    The 53-year-old Cink has four wins in nine PGA Tour Champions starts this year, including the Senior PGA Championship and the Tradition. The last player to win the Senior PGA, Tradition and U.S. Senior Open in the same year was Jack Nicklaus in 1991. Scioto, the Donald Ross course hosting its third U.S. Senior Open, is where Nicklaus learned to play the game.

    Simon Griffiths, Freddie Jacobson and George McNeill were tied for third at 68. Defending champion Padraig Harrington was among a group of 10 players at 69.

    “Of course it’s tough, we know that, so once you get through that, the golf course itself is playing nicely,” Harrington said.

    Cink is also attempting to become the fifth player to win the event after being runner-up the previous year. Fred Funk was the last to do it in 2009.

    Cink was part of the seventh afternoon group to tee off from the first hole and played in the toughest conditions of the day, when the temperature reached 95 degrees midway through his round and a heat index of 103 according to the National Weather Service.

    “The heat is a factor for sure. It affects your focus and your energy level. Sometimes even the simplest shots just kind of — it’s easy to fall asleep at the wheel when the conditions are like that,” he said.

    Cink tied Wi with a birdie on the par-4 18th. Cink’s tee shot found one of the bunkers on the left hand side, but he got a great lie. His second shot landed within 2 feet near the front of the hole, and made for an easy putt.

    Wi was at even par through his first 11 holes before his string of birdies on holes three through seven holes. Wi made a double bogey on the par-4 eighth before ending his round with a par.

    Wi thought his best shot came on the par-3 fourth, when he hit his tee shot within a couple feet with a 5-iron on the 205-yard hole.

    “I hit the ball pretty solid today, made a couple of putts. It was a hot day. I just made sure that I stayed in the ballgame, meaning like mentally, because you could easily lose it out there,” he said.

    Wi’s run of bridies ended on the eighth hole when his second shot went left and into the water near the green. He is the 14th player in the 46-year history of the Senior Open to have at least five straight birdies in a round. The last time it happened was in 2022 when Thongchai Jaidee birdied Nos. 5-9 at the Saucon Valley Country Club’s Old Course in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, during the third round.

    The 54-year old South Korean player has nine worldwide professional victories — including five on the Korean Tour — but none on the PGA Tour or Champions circuit.

    ___

    AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf


  • Madison Square Garden is abuzz with eager Swifties ahead of Swift-Kelce wedding


    NEW YORK (AP) — Amanda Powell flew a thousand miles from Little Rock, Arkansas, to the heart of New York City for just one reason: Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding. She and two friends came “just to celebrate Taylor’s wedding and congratulate her on her big day,” she said.

    Powell was one of scores of Taylor Swift fans and inquisitive passersby who braved the New York City heat Thursday to satiate their curiosity about what many are calling the wedding of the century and the American equivalent of royal nuptials.

    The couple are “literally the king and queen of America,” said Kristen Donohue, who stopped by the area surrounding Madison Square Garden Thursday with a fellow Swiftie co-worker on their lunch break.

    A law enforcement official briefed on the security plans confirmed to The Associated Press Wednesday that Swift and Kelce will have their wedding at Madison Square Garden on Friday night with a smaller rehearsal dinner planned for Thursday night.

    The couple themselves have been mum on the wedding details. Neither has confirmed the festivities will happen on the bustling and hot weekend that coincides with World Cup matches and Fourth of July celebrations. A representative for Swift has not responded to multiple inquiries, including on Thursday.

    About 100 guests began arriving at the famed venue at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday — when temperatures were still near the triple digits. The event was for a “pre party celebration,” according to a copy of a city permit obtained by The AP. Heavy security was in place as black sport utility vehicles drove into a large tent to drop off passengers, who then walked through a tented area into the arena.

    Several fans stopped by in passing or even made trips to midtown Manhattan expressly to scope out the scene hours before those expected arrivals.

    Crews have been seen unloading equipment from trucks this week — much of it covered or obscured — and barricades have been placed near the perimeter of the arena. The aesthetic details of what will happen beyond the loading docks have been shrouded in mystery.

    Madison Square Garden sits next to New York Penn Station, one of the nation’s busiest transportation hubs, so it is naturally a lively area on any day. But Thursday afternoon, people lingered longer than usual as they passed through, and there was an increased police presence in the area.

    Rachel Latchford and Linda Solano, nurses in a hospital in central Pennsylvania, made the trip to New York to see a Broadway show this weekend, but they said they had to go “see what all the buzz is about,” Latchford said. “We’re going to the wedding, baby,” Solano joked on a FaceTime call with a friend.

    Latchford acknowledged the heavy police presence, but she said she felt “very protected” and added that “there’s been police all over the city this week with Fourth of July.”

    A large tent was erected Thursday on 31st Street outside of an entrance to the arena. Tarps were hung to cover the walkway, so the couple and their guests will presumably be blocked from view as they enter and exit. In one spot where glass windows offered a peak inside, pink curtains were hung around 5 p.m., completely obscuring any of the exclusive happenings indoors.

    By 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, 31st Street was completely closed off to pedestrians between 7th and 8th avenues. Some disappointed fans lingered near the barricades and boundaries police had set up and were enforcing. They were still hoping to see anything from their limited vantage point.

    While many there earlier on Thursday were keeping their eyes peeled for any decor, florals or anything that could give them a sense of what and who might be inside the arena this weekend, much of the motivation to be there for fans was purely out of excitement for Swift herself.

    “She’s just so important in everyone’s life,” said Alyssa Heinen, who was outside the arena Thursday afternoon. “We grew up with Taylor Swift, and just seeing her now find love — I feel like it’s inspiring to so many women. It’s so nice to see her so happy.”

    “When they started dating, it was super exciting and cute and adorable,” said Brittany McCusker, who was with her colleague Donohue on their scouting mission. “It’s really amazing that they don’t have to broadcast anything, they can have it super private. I really respect that, but it’s a bummer that we don’t get to see it too.”

    ___

    Associated Press journalist Ted Shaffrey contributed.


  • How ‘Country Roads’ became the soundtrack of the US team’s World Cup run


    It’s become one of the enduring scenes of the U.S. team during this World Cup: jubilant U.S. players joining tens of thousands of fans in singing John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” at the end of their matches.

    Even coach Mauricio Pochettino, who was born in Argentina and lives in Spain, got in on the act after Wednesday’s 2-0 victory over Bosnia-Herzegovina, belting out the words to Denver’s anthem as he hugged his players and staff members.

    “Country Roads” cowriter Bill Danoff told The Associated Press that he’s honored that the U.S. team has embraced the song, and that Denver, who died in a plane crash in 1997, would have relished watching the most recent match.

    “It was such an exciting game — they were down a player with a red card, but they still won,” said Danoff, who has started to become more of a soccer fan in recent weeks, partially due to the “Country Roads” connection. “I thought, ‘Gee, I wish John was still here.’ John got super excited about stuff like that, and it would have been fun to watch that game with him.”

    The John Denver estate told the AP that it is “thrilled” by the song’s latest revival at the World Cup, saying “Country Roads” has endured because its message transcends geography, and that its “simple, clear, and relatable” lyrics make it perfect for a sing-along.

    “Everyone knows what ‘Take me home to the place I belong’ is about,” the estate said Thursday. “It’s not limited to West Virginia.”

    Here’s how a song inspired by a Maryland drive became a World Cup anthem.

    The song has its origins in Maryland, not West Virginia

    Despite the lyrics’ heartfelt embrace of West Virginia, Danoff has said the inspiration for the song came from a drive he and his then-wife, cowriter Taffy Nivert, took along Maryland’s winding Clopper Road to attend a family reunion in Gaithersburg, some 25 miles (40 kilometers) east of the West Virginia border.

    “I just started thinking, country roads, I started thinking of me growing up in western New England and going on all these small roads,” Danoff told Washington’s WRC-TV in 2020. “It didn’t have anything to do with Maryland or anyplace.”

    At the time, Danoff hadn’t spent considerable time in West Virginia. He was familiar, though, with Appalachian music broadcast from Wheeling, West Virginia’s famous WWVA radio station, which he listened to while growing up in Springfield, Massachusetts. Danoff said he was also inspired by the West Virginia-born actor Chris Sarandon, as well as the West Virginian members of a commune who would frequently attend his gigs.

    Danoff said he and Nivert were planning to try to sell the song to Johnny Cash, but when they played an unfinished version one night in their apartment for their friend John Denver, the singer-songwriter convinced them to let him record it instead. The song, released in 1971, turned into Denver’s biggest hit and has been a mainstay for decades.

    “I don’t know all of the ways that song must have touched people, but I’m grateful that I have somehow been able to say something that has meaning for others,” Denver wrote years later.

    ‘Country Roads’ finds a new stage at the World Cup

    According to The Athletic, FIFA officials added “Country Roads” to its postgame playlist options in hopes of creating a shared moment between the U.S. team and its supporters.

    It made its debut at the end of the U.S.’s second match as the players celebrated their 2-0 win over Australia in Seattle. The song was an immediate hit both inside the stadium and on social media, as fans embraced the scenes of U.S. players waving to fans as they sang the lyrics.

    “You could feel the connection with the fans,” midfielder Weston McKennie told reporters after the match.

    John Denver’s song didn’t get quite the same reception on June 25 at Los Angeles Stadium, as it came after a deflating, though insignificant, last-minute U.S. loss to Turkey.

    But it came back in force Wednesday evening in Santa Clara, California, as the U.S. defeated Bosnia-Herzegovina to advance to the round of 16. Perhaps none were more enthusiastic than midfielders McKennie and Sebastian Berhalter, who swung their arms wildly as they wandered around the field while singing to the fans.

    During matches not involving the U.S. team, the song has frequently been played during hydration breaks and has also been met with roaring approval from fans who, moments previously, had been booing the start of each hydration break.

    ‘Country Roads’ has long been a sports staple

    It’s hardly the first time that “Country Roads,” has been used by sports fans. It has long been a mainstay at West Virginia University football games, where Mountaineer fans serenade the team after its home victories.

    It’s even found a home in Europe, where fans have been singing it during the NFL’s annual visit to Germany since the first game in Munich in 2022. Fans there were used to singing the song during Oktoberfest celebrations.

    And, in the English Premier League, Manchester United supporters years ago tweaked the words to sing about their own “home” — Old Trafford stadium.

    England’s players have their own sing-along

    While “Country Roads” is the U.S.’s unofficial anthem, the England national team during this tournament has similarly adopted Oasis’ “Wonderwall.”

    Standing in a line, arms around each other’s shoulders, the English players sang the 1995 hit after their 4-2 opening victory against Croatia, something that captain Harry Kane said was “one of my favorite ever moments in an England shirt.”

    The team has been repeating the post-match tradition after each match since.

    ___

    See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here


  • Video in case against Pooh Shiesty shows him pressing for record label release, prosecutors say


    DALLAS (AP) — Prosecutors say a video shows rapper Pooh Shiesty pressing for his release from fellow rapper Gucci Mane’s record label while an armed man blocks a door during an alleged robbery at a Texas music studio in January.

    A court record shows the video was submitted as evidence in federal court in Dallas, where Pooh Shiesty and eight others have been indicted on kidnapping and extortion charges. Prosecutors say the victims were robbed at gunpoint after traveling to the city to discuss Pooh Shiesty’s recording contract with Mane’s 1017 Records.

    The victims have only been referred to by their initials in court documents. One, R.D., is described as the owner of 1017 Records. Mane’s legal name is Radric Delantic Davis. The song “Crash Dummy,” which Gucci Mane released this spring, includes the lyrics: “I thought it was a business meeting, but it was a set up.”

    The court document was filed by prosecutors in response to a motion Pooh Shiesty filed last month proposing home confinement, arguing that the evidence against him did not warrant keeping him in custody pending trial, as was ordered by a judge in April.

    But prosecutors said in their filing that the motion from Pooh Shiesty, whose legal name is Lontrell Williams Jr., should be denied and that evidence against him was “extraordinarily strong.”

    Prosecutors said they have the cooperation of all five victims and witnesses in the case and cellphone location data. There is also surveillance video placing the defendants at the scene, according to prosecutors, in addition to the video of the owner of 1017 Records being forced to declare that Pooh Shiesty was “dropped” from his label.

    Prosecutors said in the filing that just before that video was made, Pooh Shiesty produced a printed contractual release for the record label owner to sign. The man initially refused but signed after Pooh Shiesty allegedly pointed an AK-style pistol his head.

    Prosecutors also said BIG30, whose legal name is Rodney Wright, recorded the video with his cellphone while another defendant blocked the door holding a firearm that resembled an AK-47 style rifle.

    According to prosecutors, Pooh Shiesty robbed the record label owner of about $450,000 worth of items including his wedding band, a watch, a pair of earrings and cash.

    Prosecutors have said that at the time of the alleged confrontation, Pooh Shiesty was on home confinement for a prior firearms conspiracy conviction out of Florida and was required to wear an electronic monitoring device.

    Attorneys for Pooh Shiesty and BIG30 did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment Thursday.

    Gucci Mane is widely regarded as one of the pioneers of trap music alongside fellow Atlanta rappers T.I. and Jeezy. He emerged in the mid-2000s with his breakout single “Icy” and went on to build a vast catalog.