Latest news with #Northern Ireland
Associated Press
2 days ago
- Sport
- Associated Press
Ryder Cup training camp is shaping up for the first fall PGA Tour event in Napa
PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland (AP) — So much for all the PGA Tour fall events having weak fields. The Procore Championship in Napa, California, is shaping up to be training camp for the Ryder Cup for the American team to avoid getting rusty ahead of the Sept. 26-28 matches. 'I know I'll be there,' Scottie Scheffler said. Ditto for Xander Schauffele, who suggested the world's No. 1 player was a strong voice in urging whoever is on the U.S. team to be at Silverado Resort on Sept. 11-14. That was a big concern at the last Ryder Cup, held outside Rome in 2023. The PGA Tour season that year ended Aug. 27 with the Tour Championship at East Lake, and the majority of the team had a full month away from tournament golf before going to Marco Simone for the start of the Ryder Cup on Sept. 29. Justin Thomas and Max Homa were the only players in Napa, along with U.S. captain Zach Johnson. Europe had its players at the BMW PGA Championship in England. Team Europe got out to a fast start at Marco Simone and sailed to an easy victory to win back the cup. The Procore Championship is the only PGA Tour event on the schedule between the Tour Championship and the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in New York. It also is the same week as the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. Odds are against having all 12 of the Americans there — one of them is Bryson DeChambeau, who is banned from the PGA Tour because he's with LIV Golf. U.S. captain Keegan Bradley told Sports Illustrated he would use one of his six picks on DeChambeau, who finished in the top 10 at three of the four majors this year. 'Bryson is going to be a very important piece to us winning the Ryder Cup,' Bradley said in a text message to SI. 'He brings so much. He brings energy, passion but most importantly, he's one of the best players on the planet.' The LIV Golf League season ends Aug. 24 with its team championship in Michigan. The only other competition for DeChambeau would be a YouTube match or European tour stops in Switzerland, Ireland, England or France. Justin Leonard on the rise Justin Leonard played four rounds of competition last week for the first time in eight years, making the cut at the British Open and finishing in a tie for 59th. Leonard, 53, stayed largely away from golf while working as a TV analyst, and this is only his third year playing a full PGA Tour Champions schedule. He had not played in the British Open since 2016 at Royal Troon — where he won The Open in 1997 — and he was pleased to be among three players 50 and older to make the weekend at Royal Portrush. Lee Westwood and Phil Mickelson were the others. 'It's a different kind of pressure coming over here and playing as a PGA Tour Champions guy,' Leonard said. 'There aren't many expectations. But still, it's nice to come over and play well and justify coming over.' And then Leonard with his dry sense of humor found a perk to his performance. 'Plus, think of all the world ranking points I got this week,' he said 'We've done a hard reset on the ranking. It's rough thinking there are more than 4,000 golfers out there better than I am. But I proved them all wrong this week.' His world ranking going into Royal Portrush was No. 4,689. Leonard's tie for 59th moved him all the way to No. 1,436. So now there are only 1,435 players better than him. But he has one thing going for him. Leonard has a better world ranking than Tiger Woods (No. 1,626) for the first time since the first week of 1997. Hard reset, indeed. Senior European vacation The PGA Tour Champions is taking its show out of the country next year with the Portugal Invitational set for July 31 to Aug. 2. It's part of a five-year partnership and will be the first time a PGA Tour-sanctioned event for stroke play is in Portugal. That will give the PGA Tour Champions players the chance of a three-week stay in Europe if they choose. The Senior British Open is the week before, and the Senior PGA Championship on the Legends Tour will be the week after. The 78-man field will have players from the PGA Tour Champions and the Legends Tour in Europe, with a total purse of $3 million at The Els Club Vilamoura. Ernie Els redesigned the course, which previously hosted the Portugal Masters from 2007 through 2022. The World Cup of Golf was held in Portugal in 2005. 'The players are going to love it, not just the golf course but this whole destination,' Els said. 'It's such a beautiful part of the world.' Major cuts Xander Schauffele made it through a third consecutive year making the cut in every major, taking his total to 15 in a row dating to a weekend off in the 2022 Masters. The opposite end of that was Cameron Smith, who missed the cut in all of them. He nearly had some distinguished company. Two other major champions, Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson, missed the cut in three out of four. Schauffele was among 17 players to make the cut in all four majors. That includes Corey Conners, who made the cut in the U.S. Open but had to withdraw in the final round with injury. Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton were the only players from LIV Golf to make the cut in all four majors. That's a smaller sample size considering the goal for so many LIV players is to simply qualify or otherwise get into a major. Calamity Corner Scottie Scheffler had no such concerns at 'Calamity Corner,' the notorious par-3 16th hole at Royal Portrush for the British Open. He made birdie in the opening round and again on Friday. He began to build his lead with a third straight birdie on Saturday. And in the final round, he drilled his tee shot to 15 feet. He missed. 'It's just a hard hole, I guess,' Scheffler said with a laugh. Calamity Corner does not have quite the same familiarity as the 12th hole at Augusta National, so one more birdie might not have been as noteworthy as the time Scott Verplank made birdie all four rounds in the 2003 Masters. Scheffler thought back to the first time he played it in a practice round. 'It was raining and blowing in out of the left, and I smoked a 3-wood to 30 feet, and I thought it was a pretty amazing shot,' Scheffler said. 'And then I was playing against Sam Burns in a practice round, and he hit 3-wood to about 25 feet and made it.' Divots Even though Nelly Korda hasn't won this year, her seven-win season in 2024 gave her such a big lead that she's still No. 1 in women's golf. Korda has been No. 1 for 70 consecutive weeks, the fifth-largest streak since the women's world ranking began in 2006. ... Scottie Scheffler registered his fourth victory of at least four shots at the British Open, the most PGA Tour titles by four shots or more since Tiger Woods did it five times in 2000. ... Xander Schauffele tied for seventh in the British Open and earned $451,834, moving him past $60 million in career PGA Tour earnings. Scheffler became the fourth player to surpass $90 in career tour money. Stat of the week Scottie Scheffler, Harris English and Chris Gotterup gave Americans a 1-2-3 finish in the British Open for the first time since 1998, when it was Mark O'Meara, Brian Watts and Tiger Woods. Final word 'I've gotten everything I wanted out of this week apart from a claret jug, and that's just because one person was just a little bit better than the rest of us.' — Rory McIlroy on his return home to Northern Ireland for the British Open. ___ AP golf:
BreakingNews.ie
2 days ago
- Politics
- BreakingNews.ie
Views sought on plans to criminalise deepfake images of adults
Views are being sought on proposals to criminalise deepfake images of adults in Northern Ireland. Stormont Justice Minister Naomi Long described such images as 'abhorrent behaviour which can have devastating consequences'. Advertisement A public consultation has been launched on proposals to criminalise the creation and sharing of sexually explicit deepfake images of adults in an effort to protect the public from growing issues relating to the use of deepfake technology. Ms Long said it is an issue that can ruin lives. 'I am proposing to criminalise the increasingly prevalent and despicable behaviours of creating and sharing sexually explicit deepfake images, where somebody's image is inserted into sexually explicit content without their consent,' she said. 'It is abhorrent behaviour which can have devastating consequences for those whose identities are misused, the overwhelming majority of whom are women. Advertisement 'Victims report feeling embarrassed, humiliated, violated and unsafe, they can suffer from anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, and some people even consider suicide because of their experiences. 'In short, this is an issue which can ruin lives, which is why we are proposing to criminalise the creation and sharing of sexually explicit deepfake images.' The consultation includes consideration of the sentences that should be available to judges should the creation and sharing of a sexually explicit deepfake image become a criminal offence. Ms Long said deepfake images are another form of sexual abuse. 'The creation of these new offences will add to a suite of measures already in place to protect people from intolerable sexually motivated behaviours and eradicate violence against women and girls,' she said. 'In 2022, I introduced a number of offences to deal with downblousing, upskirting and cyberflashing. 'Sexually explicit deepfake images are another form of sexual abuse and exploitation. I will continue to react and respond to enhance legislation relating to those who misuse developments in technology in such a way.' The consultation will close on October 6 2025.
BBC News
2 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Almost a quarter of NI parents prefer child not go to integrated schools
Almost a quarter of parents would prefer their child was not educated in an integrated school, according to a survey by Northern Ireland's Education 24% figure compares to 31.2% who would prefer their child to be at an integrated school and 37.3% who said they did not remainder of the 9,700 respondents said they did not know or would prefer not to say, according to research by Stormont's Department of survey was conducted to help gather information on attitudes to integrated education. The survey was issued by the Education Authority (EA) to parents and guardians whose children were going through the school admission half (46%) of those parents who responded were making preferences for post-primary one question, parents were asked what was the "most important" factor in the selection of their first-preference those who had an integrated school as their first preference, 32.5% said that "quality of education" was the most important was followed by "proximity to home" (14.6%) and wanting an integrated education (12.9%).For those whose first preference was a non-integrated school, 39.6% said "quality of education", 15.8% said "proximity to home" and 14.1% said "family or friends at school". The vast majority, 85.3%, of those who selected an integrated school as their first preference said it was "important" or "very important" that their child attends an integrated who selected a non-integrated school were also asked if they would want their choice to transform to become an integrated response, 37.5% said they "don't mind", while 37% responded "no" and 16.9% said "yes". The remainder said they did not know or would prefer not to survey follows the Integrated Education Act which was passed in 2022 by the Northern Ireland requires the Department of Education to facilitate and support integrated education as well as measure legislation was the result of a private member's bill brought by the Alliance Party assembly member Kellie Armstrong.
Irish Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Irish Times
US government offered to use spy satellites to verify IRA arms dumps were decommissioned
The US government offered to use its satellite surveillance systems to verify whether IRA arms dumps had been concreted over during discussions about decommissioning. According to new government files released by the national archives in London, a White House official put forward the idea to the British in 2000 when the issue of putting arms beyond use was one of the most contentious topics between all sides. In a phone call with Bill Jeffrey, the political director of the Northern Ireland Office, the idea was put forward by Dick Norland, a senior US diplomat. 'Norland said that he had raised with [Irish civil servant] Dermot Gallagher whether US satellite surveillance could conceivably have a part to play in verifying that IRA weapons dumps had been sealed, eg by concreting over,' said Mr Jeffrey in a memo of the call. READ MORE 'This might be a bit off the wall, but seems worth exploring.' At the time, Mr Gallagher had also raised the idea of using satellites to replace surveillance from security towers in south Armagh. 'We were pretty clear that would not work. Norland agreed,' wrote Mr Jeffrey. 'When Gallagher had raised the idea with [deputy national security adviser Jim] Steinberg, 'Jim laughed it out of the room'.' The newly released documents contain substantial correspondence about decommissioning and illustrate how the British became increasingly frustrated at the slow pace of the process. About 14 months after the Norland call, the British ambassador to Ireland, Ivor Roberts, said he was sceptical of decommissioning and 'wish we had never got into the game'. 'As Sinn Féin have reminded Fianna Fáil, the latter never decommissioned, they merely buried their arms and stood down their army,' he wrote in a memo. Republican graffiti in east Belfast referring to IRA decommissioning. Photograph: Paul Faith/PA 'I actually believe that it would be more productive if we had been on that tack and if we, the Irish government and the US had been at one in getting the IRA to transmogrify themselves into a retired serviceman's league.' His note came in February 2002 when there were worries that a failure of the IRA to make a move on decommissioning would prompt another crisis in the peace process. 'We do indeed seem to be drifting towards the shoals without a clear idea of how to keep ourselves afloat,' wrote Mr Roberts. British civil servants had argued that they needed to see a significant move towards decommissioning by the IRA in response to demilitarisation in Northern Ireland. John Sawers, prime minister Tony Blair's foreign affairs adviser, wrote in another memo the British had to retain the ability to crack down on racketeering and smuggling, and highlighted the role that prominent republican Thomas 'Slab' Murphy played in it. 'The Irish are better placed to pursue the Al Capone route against PIRA and RIRA on their side of the border (though whether they would ever put Slab Murphy in the dock on smuggling charges is doubtful),' he wrote. Murphy, whose farm at Ballybinaby, Hackballscross, Co Louth, straddles the Border with Northern Ireland, was found guilty in 2016 of nine charges of failing to comply with tax laws in the Irish Republic for the years 1996-1997 to 2004. He was sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment.
The Independent
3 days ago
- Climate
- The Independent
Mapped: Where thunderstorms are set to hit the UK today under Met Office weather warnings
Large swathes of the country are expected to be hit by thunderstorms on Monday as a number of weather warnings remain in place. People in almost all of the country have been told to prepare for heavy downpours at the beginning of the week, as the Met Office issues yellow weather warnings. There are now three weather warnings in place on Monday for either rain or thunderstorms. An amber weather warning for rain was in place overnight for the east of Northern Ireland brining 'impactful' downpours until 8am. The region remains under a yellow warning for rain until 6pm on Monday evening. Meanwhile, parts of England and Scotland could see 20-40mm of rain in just two hours on Monday. From 3am until 9pm on Monday, the south and east of England are covered by a yellow thunderstorm warning. By 11am the same warning will be in place for the Midlands, northern England and Scotland. Met Office forecasters warn that spray and flooding could lead to difficulties for drivers, possible road closures, and the risk that some communities may become cut off as a result. Damage to homes and businesses is also possible from adverse weather conditions. 'We could see some locally heavy downpours, 20 to 40mm of rain is possible in a couple of hours,' Simon Partridge, a forecaster at the Met Office, said. 'That is potentially up to around half a month's worth of rain in a couple of hours in some places. 'You will see quite a lot of water on the roads and difficult driving conditions. 'Hopefully nothing more significant than that, it certainly won't be an issue for any of the rivers because they are quite low.' It comes after the weekend brought multiple weather warnings, including two amber ones, to the UK. There were six weather warnings in place on Sunday for either rain or thunderstorms. An amber 'danger to life' alert came into force for London, parts of the south and south east of England on Saturday. Downpours were seen across the capital in what was the first amber warning issued for London since January 2 2024. The rest of the week is set to be changeable, with showers likely on Tuesday and thundery downpours possible in the south-east of England on Wednesday. Temperatures this week will be around average for the time of year, the national weather service said.
