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Vikings ‘seriously exploring’ veteran WR trade, per report

The Minnesota Vikings have seen their receiving corps thinned ahead of the 2025 NFL season by Jordan Addison’s three-game suspension and Rondale Moore’s season-ending knee injury.

That may inspire general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah to add to the position ahead of Week 1.

The Vikings are ‘seriously exploring veteran receivers in the trade market’ given the absences in their receiving corps, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reports. The goal would be to pair the veteran with Justin Jefferson – who is expected to play in Week 1 after missing several weeks of training camp with a hamstring injury – until Addison returns to the field in Week 4.

Minnesota is armed with a respectable $26.4 million in salary cap space, per OverTheCap.com. That will enable to the team to easily absorb salary in any trade involving a wide receiver.

The question is whether the Vikings will be looking for a stopgap to help replace Addison or whether they will consider swinging bigger as they look to surround first-year starting quarterback J.J. McCarthy with as much talent as possible.

Here are some options the Vikings could consider pursuing.

Vikings WR trade targets

Terry McLaurin, Washington Commanders

If the Vikings want to swing big at receiver, they could consider trying to pry McLaurin away from Washington. The 29-year-old requested a trade amid a contract dispute with the Commanders, and the team could eventually capitulate to his demand if it can’t bridge the gap on a long-term extension.

McLaurin has posted five consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons and logged a career-best 13 touchdowns in his first season with Jayden Daniels. He is a consistent separator and a sharp route runner who would create a top-tier receiving trio alongside Jefferson and Addison.

Add in that McLaurin overlapped with Kevin O’Connell for two years in Washington and he should be able to quickly ingratiate himself into Minnesota’s offense.

K.J. Osborn, Washington Commanders

If the Vikings don’t target McLaurin, they could still swing a deal with Washington. Osborn is firmly on the Commanders’ roster bubble, so they could consider shipping the 28-year-old back to Minnesota, where he enjoyed the best seasons of his career.

The Vikings selected Osborn in the fifth round of the 2020 NFL Draft and he recorded 158 catches for 1,845 yards and 15 touchdowns across four seasons with the team. He served as the team’s No. 3 receiver in 2023, Addison’s rookie season, and could reprise that role with the Vikings for this campaign.

Kendrick Bourne, New England Patriots

The Patriots have some difficult roster decisions to make at receiver. Bourne, Ja’Lynn Polk and Javon Baker are all on the roster bubble, so the Vikings could pursue any to add depth to their receiver room.

Bourne – a nine-year veteran who has played 111 games and made 292 catches during his career – is the most experienced of the bunch. That may make him the best option fro the Vikings, who could use him as an early-season No. 2 receiver across from Jefferson before shifting him into the No. 3 role upon Addison’s return.

Allen Lazard, New York Jets

Lazard spent five years with the Green Bay Packers, giving the Vikings plenty of opportunities to watch him play. He disappointed during his two seasons with the New York Jets, but his 83 career games played and his 6-5, 227-pound frame would add needed experience and size to Minnesota’s receiver room.

Brandin Cooks, Saints

Cooks has been traded four times during his career. Could the Saints make it a fifth? New Orleans signed the 2014 first-round pick to a two-year deal in the offseason, but the soon-to-be 32-year-old may not fit the timeline of their rebuild.

If the Vikings come calling, the Saints could be comfortable rolling with Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed as their top receivers while elevating some of their young talent at receiver. Cooks has notched 1,000-yard receiving seasons with four different teams but is coming off a career-low 29 catches for 259 yards and three touchdowns across 10 games with the Dallas Cowboys in 2024.

Diontae Johnson, Cleveland Browns

Johnson has been on four different teams in the last year, and was infamously released by the Baltimore Ravens after refusing to play in a game because he was cold. He signed with the Browns during the offseason to try to rebuild his value, but the 29-year-old may not make Cleveland’s final roster.

Johnson was a capable starter for five years with the Pittsburgh Steelers before his trying 2024 season. O’Connell may smell an opportunity to buy low on the Toledo product and see if he can coach the 2021 Pro Bowler back into his top form while Addison is suspended.

Vikings WR depth chart

Below is the pecking order of Minnesota’s top-six receivers according to the Vikings’ most recent depth chart:

Justin Jefferson*
Jordan Addison*
Jalen Nailor
Lucky Jackson
Tai Felton
Jeshaun Jones

* Denotes starter.

Any receiver the Vikings acquire would likely join the top-six group. However, it isn’t clear if he would immediately catapult into the top three or have to work his way up the depth chart.

If Minnesota doesn’t land a veteran wide-out, one of the other receivers on its roster – Silas Bolden, Dontae Fleming, Tim Jones, Robert Lewis, Myles Price and Thayer Thomas – would potentially have a chance to make the 53-man roster during Addison’s suspension.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY
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Yankees set MLB record with second 9-HR game this season

The New York Yankees hit nine home runs in a single game for the second time this season, defeating the Tampa Bay Rays 13-3.
Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, and Giancarlo Stanton hit consecutive home runs in the first inning.
Bellinger, Stanton and Jose Caballero each hit two home runs apiece.

For the second time in franchise history – and also the second time this season – the New York Yankees have hit nine home runs in one game.

After blasting the Brewers for nine dingers on March 29, the Bronx Bombers did it again Tuesday night, Aug. 19, when they connected for nine more in a 13-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays.

After the first pitch was delayed nearly two hours by rain, Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger and Giancarlo Stanton hit back-to-back-to-back home runs in the first inning off Rays starter Shane Baz as the Yankees became the first MLB team ever to have two nine-homer games in the same season.

The Yankees looked extremely comfortable playing at George Steinbrenner Field – their spring training home in Tampa. The ballpark, whose dimensions mirror Yankee Stadium, is being used as the Rays’ temporary home this season while Tropicana Field is undergoing repairs from hurricane damage last fall.

Bellinger, Stanton and former Ray Jose Caballero each hit a pair of home runs, and were joined by Judge, catcher Ben Rice and second baseman Jazz Chisholm in the historic power-hitting display.

‘It was awesome to see,’ Stanton said during his postgame interview on the YES Network. ‘It was incredible across the board.’

This post appeared first on USA TODAY
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Duffy’s DOT accuses Biden, Buttigieg of inflating air traffic controller pipeline: ‘Juiced the numbers’

The Trump administration’s Department of Transportation is raising standards for applicants seeking to become air traffic controllers, a move officials say will reduce the profession’s high washout rate.

Meanwhile, the department argued that the Biden administration’s decision during his first term to lower standards for applicants contributed to the higher attrition rate, while inflating the numbers of candidates entering the profession.

‘By eliminating the Best Qualified category and lowering the standard for how top scorers were defined, Biden and Buttigieg juiced the numbers to make it seem like they were making a dent in the air traffic controller shortage,’ a Department of Transportation spokesperson told Fox News Digital. 

According to the DOT source, the Biden administration scrapped the ‘Best Qualified’ tier for candidates who scored 85% or better on their Air Traffic Skills Assessment (ATSA) exam. That standard was replaced with a broader ‘Well Qualified’ category that included candidates who scored at least 80%, according to an internal agency PowerPoint from 2023, shared with Fox News Digital.

‘They lowered the standard from 85% to 80% to be best qualified … to get these young people into the academy,’ Trump Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told the New York Post’s Miranda Devine, referring to the Federal Aviation Training Center located in Oklahoma City. 

Under the second Trump administration, air traffic controller academy standards reverted to the four-tier system that includes ‘Best Qualified’ for scores of 90% or above, ‘Well-Qualified’ for scores between 85% and 89%, ‘Qualified’ for scores between 70% and 84% and ‘Not Referred’ for scores below 70%.

 

A DOT official said distinguishing top performers and allowing those with the highest scores to get first pick at training assignments makes it more likely candidates will complete the academy. Different airspaces require different training regimens, the source noted.

The official cited a Transportation Department report from before Trump’s return to office that warned, ‘Although the lower score selection may assist with increasing the number of applicable candidates to support the FAA’s hiring goals, there is a possibility that it may not contribute to better graduation and program success rates.

‘[The Biden administration] made it harder to identify the best and brightest and exacerbated the washout rate,’ the spokesperson said. ‘Secretary Duffy’s No. 1 priority is safety, which is why he’s restored the proper standards and prioritized the best and brightest for placement at the academy as part of his supercharge initiative.’

Earlier this year, Pete Buttigieg, the former transportation secretary under Biden, said on social media that ‘we did not change the rigorous standard for becoming a certified air traffic controller,’ calling those who were saying as much ‘mistaken or lying.’ 

‘We did increase funding & training, and grew the ATC workforce after years of declining numbers, including under Trump,’ Buttigieg added.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Buttigieg said in response to criticism about weaker standards that the pre-admission Air Traffic Skills Assessment (ATSA) exam ‘has nothing to do with the standards of becoming a certified ATC.’

‘There is still a minimum standard of qualification, and that line hasn’t changed. And you still have to take a test. And that test hasn’t changed,’ the spokesperson said. 

Buttigieg’s spokesperson also described the accusations from the Trump administration as ‘a desperate attempt to deflect’ questions about whether the air traffic controller shortage is getting worse under Trump.  

‘The fact is, certified controller staffing fell during Trump’s first term,’ the spokesperson said. ‘But under Secretary Buttigieg’s watch, the FAA reversed years of staffing declines, meeting an aggressive hiring goal last year and creating the momentum to meet an even more aggressive hiring goal for this year.’

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS
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FBI arrests woman on ‘Ten Most Wanted Fugitives’ hiding in India, transports to US for prosecution

The FBI captured and arrested an individual on the FBI’s ‘Ten Most Wanted Fugitives’ list, Cindy Rodriguez Singh, in India, for a warrant for the murder of her 6-year-old son, Fox News Digital has learned.

Fox News Digital has learned that Rodriguez Singh had an active federal warrant for ‘unlawful flight to avoid prosecution,’ and an active Texas state warrant for ‘capital murder of a person under 10 years of age.’

Rodriguez Singh allegedly fled the United States to avoid prosecution on charges related to the murder of her child, Noel Rodriguez Alvarez.

On Oct. 3, 2024, an INTERPOL Red Notice was published for Rodriguez Singh and submitted to all member countries, including India. At that time, an extradition packet for Singh was also submitted.

The FBI, in coordination with Indian authorities and INTERPOL, arrested Rodriguez Singh in India. She has been transported to the United States and the FBI will turn her over to Texas authorities.

‘The FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list exists for cases just like this — where a dangerous fugitive thought she could run, hide overseas, and escape justice,’ FBI Director Kash Patel told Fox News Digital. ‘Thanks to relentless FBI work and our international partnerships, Cindy Rodriguez-Singh is back on American soil to face accountability for the horrific murder of her own child.’

Patel added: ‘Justice has no borders, and today the American people can see that we will never stop pursuing those who prey on the most innocent among us.’

On March 20, 2023, the Everman, Texas, Police Department was asked by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services to conduct a welfare check on the 6-year-old son of Rodriguez Singh after the child had not been seen since October 2022, according to the FBI. 

Singh’s son had numerous health and developmental issues, including a severe developmental disorder, social disorder, bone density issues, chronic lung disease, pulmonary edema and estropia, according to officials.

During the welfare check, officials claim Rodriguez Singh lied to investigators and indicated that the child was in Mexico with his biological father and had been there since November 2022.

On March 22, 2023, Rodriguez Singh, her husband and six other juvenile children boarded an international flight to India, the FBI said, adding that investigators confirmed that the missing child was not present and never boarded that flight.

On Oct. 31, 2023, Rodriguez Singh was charged with capital murder in the District Court of Tarrant County, Fort Worth, Texas.

On Nov. 2, 2023, a federal arrest warrant was issued for Rodriguez Singh in the United States District Court, Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth, Texas, after she was charged with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.

Rodriguez Singh was added to the ‘most wanted’ list in July.

Rodriguez Singh is the fourth person arrested on the ‘most wanted’ list under Patel’s leadership. 

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Vance, White House blast ‘crazy communists’ protesting DC clean-up, terrorizing locals: ‘Stupid White hippies’

A throng of protesters chanted slogans as Vice President JD Vance thanked National Guard and police at Union Station in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday.

Vance praised law enforcement and said that violent crime had dropped by 35% in the nine days since President Donald Trump ordered the crackdown. The vice president appeared alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, each of whom remarked on the shouting protesters.

Over the past several years, Vance described Union Station as having vagrants, drug addicts, ‘chronically homeless’ people and the mentally ill threatening violence and attacking families in the public transportation hub. 

‘I think you hear these guys outside here screaming at us. Of course, these are a bunch of crazy protesters. But I’ll tell you, a couple of years ago, when I brought my kids here, they were screamed at by violent vagrants. And it scared the hell out of my kids,’ Vance said. 

‘I know that we’ve traded now, some violent, crazy people who are screaming at kids with a few crazy liberals who are screaming at the vice president. But I think that’s a very worthwhile trade to make, because we want our people to be able to enjoy our beautiful cities,’ Vance continued. ‘This is your city. You should feel free to come and visit here.’ 

Vance also clashed with a reporter who asked if he had evidence of Washington’s crime problem. 

‘You just have to look around – obviously D.C. has a terrible crime problem,’ he said, pointing to how Department of Justice and FBI statistics ‘back it up.’ 

‘Just talk to a resident of this city, this beautiful, great American city,’ Vance said. ‘We hear these people outside screaming ‘Free D.C.’ Let’s free D.C. from lawlessness.’

‘It is kind of bizarre we have a bunch of old, primarily White people who are out there protesting the policies that keep people safe when they have never felt danger in their entire lives,’ the vice president added. 

Miller was even more blunt, describing many of the protesters as ‘elderly’ and ‘over 90 years old.’

‘We’re not going to let communists destroy a great American city, let alone the nation’s capital,’ Miller said, deriding the protesters as ‘stupid White hippies.’

‘For too long, 99% of this city has been terrorized by 1% of this city,’ Miller said. ‘And the voices that you hear out there, these crazy communists, they have no connection to the city. They have no families. They weren’t raised in this city. They have no one that they’re sending to school in this city. They have no jobs in this city. They have no connections to this community at all. They’re the ones who’ve been advocating for the 1%. The criminals, the killers, the rapists, the drug dealers.’

The Trump administration’s crackdown on violent crime in D.C. has already netted hundreds of arrests. The show of force has swept up gang members, robbery suspects and immigration violators. On Friday alone, 52 people were arrested, including 28 illegal immigrants, while three guns were seized.

Federal teams have also cleared dozens of homeless encampments, and officials said those removals were carried out without confrontations or arrests.

The operation began quietly on Aug. 7 with the launch of the ‘Making D.C. Safe and Beautiful’ task force created by Trump in March through an executive order. 

He escalated it on Aug. 11 by temporarily seizing federal control of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) under emergency powers in the Home Rule Act, the first such move in U.S. history.

Fox News’ Michael Dorgan contributed to this report

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS
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Big Ten torches credibility with absurd College Football Playoff ideas

The Big Ten, led by Tony Petitti, spent the offseason concocting absurd College Football Playoff proposals.
A 28-team playoff would increase television inventory, but devalue college football’s regular season.
Imagine unranked teams making the playoff. That’s the Big Ten’s latest idea.

The conference that once held itself aloft as a beacon of all things good and honorable about college athletics is now considering making a mockery of the College Football Playoff.

The Big Ten, led commissioner Tony Petitti, has jumped the shark.

Instead of capitalizing on the momentum of back-to-back national championships, the Big Ten spent the offseason concocting absurd College Football Playoff plans, with its latest idea even zanier than the last.

PATH TO PLAYOFF: Sign up for our college football newsletter

Petitti just will not rest until he gets every 8-4 Big Ten team into the playoff. His latest playoff idea, according to multiple reports, would expand the playoff to as many as 28 teams and include as many as seven automatic bids apiece for the Big Ten and SEC, with additional automatic bids for other leagues.

We’ve now zoomed past 8-4 Iowa toward an even lower rung on the totem pole for playoff mediocrity. Welcome to the playoff hunt, 7-5 Rutgers!

This idea doesn’t count as radical. It’s ridiculous.

Big Ten damages credibility in offseason of bad ideas

They say you are the company you keep. Well, Petitti spent the past few months keeping company with – and breathing life into – stupid ideas. He previously failed to gain support for his attempt to rig the playoff with a 16-team format that would have reserved four automatic bids for his conference and four more for the SEC. When that plan failed to gain traction, the Big Ten upped the ante by socializing this idea to shoehorn unranked teams into the playoff.

Petitti’s expanded playoff plans would increase television inventory, but at what cost? Growing the playoff to 28 teams would cheapen the regular season. That cannot be the end game.

A 28-team playoff does nothing for the Big Ten’s upper crust, either. Ohio State doesn’t need this. Neither does Michigan, not when it can cheat its way to glory. Oregon couldn’t win one playoff game, so now the solution is to shove the Big Ten’s champion into a 28-team maze?

When Petitti arrived on the college sports scene in 2023, he brought with him a Harvard law degree and a background as a television executive. He began his tenure overseeing the additions of Oregon and Washington to solidify the Big Ten’s western flank. A fine start. Since then, he’s moved to the back of the class and tarnished his credibility while raising his hand with goofy playoff suggestions, while his SEC counterpart, Greg Sankey, retains his grip on the king’s scepter.

Can Big Ten and SEC find a compromise to expand playoff?

Let’s assume there’s something behind this latest plan for playoff gluttony other than a desire to make the Big Ten a magnet for criticism.

What other motivation might the Big Ten have? Well, by floating a plan more ludicrous the last, the Big Ten might hope to reignite conversations toward a compromise.

Oh, so you don’t like a 28-team playoff that invites 7-5 Big Ten teams? OK, let’s make a deal!

Just one problem with that. Petitti remains intent on reducing the playoff selection committee’s role, in favor of a preassigning a bundle of automatic bids, but the SEC doesn’t seem too interested in making a deal toward playoff plans bloated with multiple automatic bids for conferences it believes are inferior.

The SEC backpedaled from Petitti’s past plan to rig a 16-team playoff with a stacked deck of automatic bids. The SEC’s coaches turned their eye toward a 5+11 playoff model that would add four additional at-large bids to the 12-team current playoff format. The Big 12 and ACC support the 5+11 plan.

The Big Ten stands in objection to the 5+11 model, in part because the ACC and SEC play one fewer conference game than the Big Ten. The Big Ten’s pushback on conference scheduling is not without merit, but it lacks the power to bring the SEC and ACC to heel on its scheduling.

Expanding the playoff would require the SEC and Big Ten to align behind a model. If they cannot agree on a new format, that would prolong the runway for the current model.

“The Big Ten has a different view (of what’s good for playoff expansion),’ Sankey said in July. ‘That’s fine. We have a 12-team playoff. … That could stay if we can’t agree.’

If you think Sankey’s bluffing about persisting with the current model, consider he was one of the architects of the 12-team playoff. He dubbed the first year of the expanded playoff “a success,” even though the SEC did not advance a team to the national championship game. The offseason tweak to introduce straight seeding benefits the SEC. There’s no reason for the SEC to rush to abandon this format.

The selection committee historically values the SEC. The more at-large bids, the better, for the SEC.

Maybe, Petitti believes flooding the zone with zany ideas will spur the SEC toward a suitable compromise. There’s another possibility, though. With each half-baked playoff idea, the Big Ten and its leader further diminish their credibility, and the opportunity for playoff expansion absorbs a gut punch.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.

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2025 Little League World Series: Schedule and results

As the 2025 Little League World Series enters its crucial final four days of play, the anticipation and excitement are at an all-time high. Day 8 promises to be a thrilling spectacle with four high-stakes games taking center stage.

The international bracket games will kick off with a bang as Chinese Taipei and Venezuela go head-to-head in a double elimination game, setting the stage for a fierce battle. This will be followed by another intense match featuring Connecticut and Nevada, both determined to secure a victory.

In the afternoon, Aruba and Japan, both coming off wins yesterday, will return in a quick turnaround for a elimination game. Similarly, South Dakota and South Carolina take the field in the final game of the day, all battling to keep their Little League World Series dreams alive.

Here is how the bracket is shaping out as the Little League World Series heads into Day 8 of action.

Little League World Series schedule and results

*All times listed are Eastern

United States bracket

Wednesday, Aug. 13

Game 2: Las Vegas, Nevada (Mountain) 16, Clarendon Hill, Illinois (Great Lakes) 1
Game 4: Fairfield, Connecticut (Metro) 1, Richmond, Texas (Southwest) 0

Thursday, Aug. 14

Game 6: Irmo, South Carolina (Southeast) 13, Braintree, Massachusetts (New England) 0
Game 8: Sioux Falls, South Dakota (Midwest) 2, Upper Uwchlan Township, Pennsylvania (Mid-Atlantic) 0

Friday, Aug. 15

Game 10: Las Vegas, Nevada (Mountain) 5, Bonney Lake, Washington (Northwest) 3
Game 12: Fairfield, Connecticut (Metro) 5, Honolulu, Hawaii (West) 1

Saturday, Aug. 16

Game 14: Richmond, Texas (Southwest) 3, Braintree, Massachusetts (New England) 7
Game 16: Clarendon Hill, Illinois (Great Lakes) 3, Upper Uwchlan Township, Pennsylvania (Mid-Atlantic) 2

Sunday, Aug. 17

Game 17: Massachusetts (New England) 2, Washington (Northwest) 3
Game 19: Illinois (Great Lakes) 1, Hawai’i (West) 9

Monday, Aug. 18

Game 22: Nevada (Southeast) 1, South Carolina (Mountain) 0
Game 24: Connecticut (Metro) 13, South Dakota (Midwest) 1

Tuesday, Aug. 19

Game 26: South Carolina (Southeast) 3, Hawai’i (West) 0
Game 28: South Dakota (Midwest) 9, Washington (Northwest) 0

Wednesday, Aug. 20

Game 30: Connecticut (Metro) vs. Nevada (Moutain): 3 p.m. @ Lamade
Game 32: South Carolina (Southeast) vs. South Dakota (Midwest): 7 p.m. @ Lamade

Thursday, Aug. 21

Game 34: L30 v. W32: 7 p.m. @ Lamade

Saturday, Aug. 23

Game 36: W30 v. W34: 3:30 p.m. @ Lamade

International Bracket

Wednesday, Aug. 13

Game 1: Venezuela 5, Puerto Rico 1
Game 3: Panama 7, Australia 2

Thursday, Aug. 14

Game 5: Japan 12, Czechia 0
Game 7: Chinese Taipei 3, Mexico 0

Friday, Aug. 15

Game 9: Venezuela 4, Canada 0
Game 11: Aruba 8, Panama 2

Saturday, Aug. 16

Game 13: Australia 5, Czechia 3
Game 15: Puerto Rico 11, Mexico 5

Sunday, Aug. 17

Game 18: Canada 12, Australia 0
Game 20: Mexico 2, Panama 1

Monday, Aug. 18

Game 21: Venezuela 4, Japan 0
Game 23: Chinese Taipei 4, Aruba 0

Tuesday, Aug. 19

Game 25: Japan 6, Mexico 0
Game 27: Aruba 6, Canada 1

Wednesday, Aug. 20

Game 29: Chinese Taipei vs. Venezuela: 1 p.m. @ Volunteer
Game 31: Japan v. Aruba: 5 p.m. @ Volunteer

Thursday, Aug. 21

Game 33: L29 v. W31: 3 p.m. @ Lamade

Saturday, Aug. 23

Game 35: W29 v. W33: 12:30 p.m. @ Lamade

Championship/Consolation Games

Sunday, Aug. 24

Game 37 (Third-Place Game): L35 v. L36: 10 a.m. @ Lamade
Game 38 (Championship): W35 v. W36: 3 p.m. @ Lamade

How to watch 2025 Little League World Series

The Little League World Series will be broadcast across ABC, ESPN and ESPN2, with some games being available to stream via ESPN+.

Stream the 2025 Little League World Series with ESPN+

This post appeared first on USA TODAY
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Ukraine’s stolen children crisis looms large as NATO meets on Russia’s war

The thousands of Ukrainian children abducted since Russia’s invasion began three-and-a-half-years-ago are once again at the forefront of international discussions as NATO leaders convened to discuss the war.

Following Russia’s deadly 2022 invasion, Ukrainian children have been among the war’s chief victims, with Kyiv confirming that there have been at least 19,546 cases of unlawful deportation and forced transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia, Belarus, or Russian-occupied territory, by Russian authorities.

Some reports have suggested the number of forcibly transported Ukrainian children could be significantly higher, ranging closer to 35,000 abductions – many of whom are feared to have been illegally adopted. 

Fox News Digital could not confirm if NATO leaders, who convened on Wednesday for a debrief by U.S. military leaders, will include how to remedy the immense human rights violations targeting Ukrainian children as they look to establish security guarantees, possibly as soon as this week.

But President Donald Trump, who met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday followed by a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and NATO leaders on Monday, said the issue of forcibly deported Ukrainian children ‘is a subject at the top of all lists.’

The issue was reignited after First Lady Melania Trump sent a letter to Putin, which Trump hand-delivered during his meeting on Friday, in which she said, ‘it is time’ to restore children’s ‘dream of love, possibility, and safety from danger.’

‘A simple yet profound concept, Mr. Putin, as I am sure you agree, is that each generation’s descendants begin their lives with a purity—an innocence which stands above geography, government, and ideology,’ she wrote. 

The first lady did not specifically mention the war in Ukraine, though her letter, first obtained by Fox News Digital, was championed by Kyiv. 

Zelenskyy appeared to surprise Trump by in turn handing him a letter written by his wife, Olena Zelenska, intended for the first lady. 

The contents of the second letter have not been disclosed, but Trump noted his wife’s compassion when it comes to the issue of children – a topic Zelenska has also worked to address. 

‘She sees the heartbreak, the parents, the funerals that you see on television, always funerals,’ Trump said. 

Some children have been returned to Ukraine incrementally through the help of third-party mediators, like Qatar and the Vatican, though reporting suggests only some 1,500 have been released by Russian authorities. 

Ukrainian negotiators have been pushing for the return of the Ukrainian children for months as they meet with Russian counterparts in Turkey.

While prisoner-of-war swaps have been agreed to, Zelenskyy said Russian officials have refused to hand over any Ukrainian children directly to Kyiv. 

‘We cannot reach an agreement with them on the return of the children,’ Zelenskyy told reporters last week, adding that despite attempts it remains ‘impossible’ without the help of other parties involved. 

‘That is why we wanted to get certain matters settled in this trilateral track: ceasefire, an all-for-all exchange, and the return of children,’ he added. ‘This is something everyone benefits from: President Trump benefits, the Russians lose nothing, the Ukrainians lose nothing. It’s a fair compromise.’

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Mets’ high-priced fight for playoff life hinges on this one group

Mets have struggled since June, currently clinging to a wild-card spot.
Pitcher Nolan McLean dazzled in his MLB debut, giving NY hope for the final six weeks.

WASHINGTON — Anointing Nolan McLean the savior of their season is the last thing the New York Mets want to do.

After all, for as much energy and magic McLean provided in winning his major league debut at Citi Field on Aug. 16, he’s just a 24-year-old barely a year removed from putting the bat down for good and focusing full-time on pitching.

“We want him to be himself. We don’t want to add any extra pressure,” says manager Carlos Mendoza of McLean, who struck out eight in 5 ⅔ scoreless innings against the Seattle Mariners. “We want him to continue to go out there and give us a chance to win.”

Yet McLean’s assimilation will take on a heavier tone if the Mets’ veteran arms aren’t able to turn around a second half where hitting a collective wall has dented their NL East title hopes and imperiled their playoff outlook.

McLean’s gem stopped a slide in which the Mets lost 14 of 17 games, part of a two-month pattern in which their starting pitchers’ fortunes have virtually flipped.

Oh, Mets starters rank seventh in the majors in ERA (3.71), but due to a variety of factors, are just 27th in innings pitched. And their slide in output and quality coincided with the Mets’ struggle.

They held a 5 ½-game lead in the East on June 12 yet thereafter began the first of two seven-game losing streaks. And then Griffin Canning, a fill-in turned savior who posted a 3.77 ERA in 16 starts, tore his left Achilles June 26.

Clay Holmes, returning to a starting role after six years in the bullpen, was brilliant in his first 16 starts, the Mets winning 11 of them as he averaged nearly six innings a start with a 2.97 ERA.

But finishing this marathon has proven challenging: Holmes is averaging less than five innings in his last nine starts, the Mets losing five of them, as he’s posted a 5.02 ERA and his strikeout-walk ratio has shriveled to 1.66.

Sean Manaea? An oblique strain and loose bodies in his elbow delayed his debut until July 13, but the Mets have lost six of his seven starts as he’s thrown no more than 86 pitches. Frankie Montas has been relegated to long relief. Kodai Senga hasn’t made it past five innings in eight of his 19 outings.

And yet here the Mets are, 67-58, a discouraging 5½ games behind the Phillies yet holding a tenuous grip on a wild card spot, a fate they learned last year could lead to the NL Championship Series.

Hanging on may depend on a kid or two bailing them out.

From three-way player to one

McLean’s 6-2, 214-pound frame is straight from central casting for a pitcher it belies the fact he’s an absolute freak athlete.

Forget two-way player: McLean was a three-way guy when he reported to Oklahoma State, with designs on pitching, hitting and playing quarterback for the Cowboys. Yet it was apparent after his freshman year that he had a surefire future on the diamond.

He hit 19 homers as a sophomore and had OPS marks of .936, .992 and .911 in three seasons as a Cowboy. On the mound, he pitched just 57 innings but was selected in the third round by Baltimore as a draft-eligible sophomore.

The Mets bested that, drafting him in the second round in 2023 as a two-way player, figuring nature would take its course.

Come last summer at Class AA Binghamton, McLean was averaging a strikeout an inning as a pitcher – and a punchout in 52% of his plate appearances as a hitter.

For the Mets, nature was healing and McLean’s decision was easy.

“I’ve always been able to throw the ball. It’s just that last year, when I was hitting still, I was getting tired pretty early,” McLean tells USA TODAY Sports. “And as a starting pitcher, you want to get deep into ballgames. That was something I really wanted to get better at.

“I felt like the only way for me to do that was to have my legs and my full body underneath me which, luckily, once I set the bat down, I was able to get that second wind later in the year last year and carry it into this year.”

Indeed, McLean was a different cat when he returned to Binghamton, acing AA ball with a 1.37 ERA in five starts and getting summoned upstate to Syracuse, one stop shy of Queens.

He was even a little more dominant at Syracuse, punching out 10 batters an inning and posting a 1.10 WHIP, maintaining his stuff through 16 appearances. Blessed from a young age with the ability to spin the baseball, McLean threw a curveball that registered 3,511 rpm, more revolutions than any curve measured at the big league level this year.

Meanwhile, the Mets were taking on water, their staff incessantly dogged by injuries and poor performance. Veteran Paul Blackburn was designated for assignment, making room for McLean along with 15 friends and family who converged on Queens from North Carolina for his debut.

“It was special, just getting to see them after the game, they’d known how hard I worked to get to that point in my life,” says McLean, “Being able to see them at a pretty emotional point was pretty awesome to be a part of.”

It seemed almost equally emotional for Mets fans. They roared in approval when the video board caught McLean in the dugout on a couple of occasions, after his work was completed.

Their hunger for help has probably not been sated. Mets fans are keeping a close eye on the progress of Jonah Tong, who was promoted from Class AA to AAA last week and, pitching at Syracuse the same day McLean threw in Queens, posted an almost identical line: 5 ⅔ shutout innings, with eight strikeouts.

While it would certainly be a rush job to summon Tong before season’s end, the club also has invested around $420 million in payroll this season, including projected luxury tax penalties. There will be no shorts taken to ensure a playoff berth in this, the first year of Juan Soto’s 15-year, $765 million contract.

‘The team’s ready for it’

Of course, the best way to ensure October baseball would be for the Mets’ current starters to turn it around. To that end, All-Star lefty David Peterson, coming off the worst start of his season, dominated the Washington Nationals on Aug. 19.

After blowing a big lead and giving up six runs in 3 ⅓ innings to Atlanta, Peterson took a shutout into the eighth inning and dominated the Nationals in an 8-1 victory.

With 37 games left, they’re still up on Cincinnati for the last wild-card berth. Peterson’s gem kicked off a stretch of 16 games in 16 days where it behooves the starters to get deep – not just to preserve a bullpen stretched beyond belief but stabilize this season.

“The team’s ready for it. We know how to handle it,” says Peterson, who completed at least seven innings for the sixth time this season. “It’s really important where every guy goes out there and we’re trying to give the team a chance to win and go as deep as they can.

“Guys work their butt off and I’m confident we’ll keep the momentum rolling.”

Mendoza couldn’t suppress a grin pondering what Peterson’s eight innings and a blowout win meant to a side that saw 10 of its past 15 games decided by three runs or less.

“For him to go eight, it was really good. Solid, in complete control, and it was good to see, after his last outing, to see him bounce back that way,” says Mendoza. “Haven’t played a game like that in a while.

“We’re going to need those guys. Especially in this stretch.”

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No one needs the season to start more than Texas QB Arch Manning

The immense hype and expectations surrounding Arch Manning are amplified by his family legacy and the pressure to succeed at Texas.
Arch Manning’s grandfather, Archie Manning, publicly stated that Arch will likely enter the NFL draft after two more years at Texas.
Arch Manning refuted his grandfather’s claim, stating he is focused on the present season and hasn’t made any decisions about his future.

If you think you’re already tired of all things Arch Manning, imagine actually being Arch Manning. 

Just do normal, man. Play football, go to class, hang out on Fifth Street. 

The next thing you know, grandpa has the next two years of your life mapped out, and he’s using the Texas Monthly magazine bullhorn so the planet knows it.

It’s bad enough that Arch has to deal with expectations of (in this order) an unbeaten season, an SEC championship, a Heisman Trophy, a national title, and the first pick in the NFL draft — or bust. 

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It’s bad enough that one uncle is an NFL Hall of Fame quarterback, and another uncle is on his way to Canton. And that’s all Arch has to live up to. 

It’s worse that grandpa, of all people – Archie Manning, the first true college football megastar of decades gone by and a fantastic NFL star who played on some truly lousy New Orleans Saints teams – joined Team Expectation and Speculation in July to declare Arch will spend two more years at Texas before leaving for the NFL. Book it.

Only there’s one teeny-weeny problem: Arch is only worried about the here and now. 

“I don’t know where he got that from,” Manning said Monday, in his first meeting with the media since last month’s SEC media days. “He texted me to apologize about that.”

Let me be the first to apologize to Arch for all of this nonsense. For the hype and the hyperbole, for Las Vegas and the Heisman odds, for failure is not an option, for putting the horse before winning a road game as an SEC starting quarterback. 

You know, that used to be a big deal. 

To be fair to Manning, he doesn’t want this circus. He said in July that he doesn’t deserve any of it. 

He can’t control what a talk radio host in Miami says anymore than a television bobblehead in Los Angeles. He knows Finebaum is chumming the waters, and the SEC Network is looking for the next soundbite, and everyone – I mean, everyone – is just waiting for him to fail. 

Because that’s what we’ve become in this twisted wash machine of gotta have it, gotta get it. Build ‘em up, tear ‘em down. 

He just probably never expected grandpa to join the party.

No one needs the season to begin quicker than Manning, whose first test out of the gate next week is on the road against defending national champion Ohio State. And that may as well be a welcome respite from this offseason of buffoonery.

Let’s not forget that Arch purposely avoided any connection to the past when, as the nation’s No.1 quarterback recruit, he chose a different college path. Avoid the spotlight, embrace the normal. 

Didn’t go to Ole Miss (where Archie and uncle Eli Manning played) or Tennessee (Peyton Manning), and didn’t choose Alabama or Georgia and their recent history of college football domination. 

Manning chose the one school where he’d blend in like any other student on an urban campus, and where he could lift a program back to championship glory. Texas hasn’t won a national title since Mack Brown’s team shocked Southern California in 2005.

That’s 20 long years for the hardcore Burnt Orange, two excruciatingly painful decades of underachieving ugly. Texas has changed everything – coaches, athletic directors, presidents, conferences – in those 20 years, and nothing has worked. 

Now it has a genuine difference-maker at quarterback for the first time since Colt McCoy got the Longhorns back to the national title game in 2009, but was knocked out of the game on the first drive. That eventual loss to Alabama still haunts Brown, who swears Texas had the better team and the perfect game plan to beat the Tide.

Now here we are in 2025, and the entire college football world hangs on all things Arch. We can’t get enough of it. 

Some because of tantalizing thoughts of what could be with all of that talent, and others just waiting for him to throw two picks in a loss to Ohio State. Because I told you so is such an attractive look. 

Here’s a novel idea: just let the kid play. 

Forget about his bloated NIL deals, or his famous last name or that he has started all of two games in two seasons at Texas. If he goes out and beats Ohio State, don’t start screaming about multiple Heismans or the first pick in the NFL draft. 

Stay in the moment and enjoy the ride. 

Even if Texas gets on a roll, and there’s no one stopping the train. Even if Arch looks like all the best parts of Archie, Peyton and Eli. 

Even if Nick Saban admits at some point this season – during one of ESPN’s many GameDay shows featuring Texas – that he’d have stayed at Alabama if he could’ve signed Arch.

Grandpa has already done enough damage.

Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.

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