In a dynamic trade on Wednesday, the Los Angeles Clippers successfully acquired small forward Max Strus from the Cleveland Cavaliers as part of a complex three-team deal.

As part of this trade, the Denver Nuggets’ small forward Peyton Watson finds himself heading to Cleveland. In return, the Sacramento Kings are sending a 2031 first-round pick and a 2032 second-round pick to the Nuggets, further complicating this multifaceted transaction.

Watson, previously a restricted free agent under the Nuggets’ banner, has secured a new contract. He is set to join the Cavaliers under the terms of a lucrative four-year deal worth $88 million.

Strus, known for his standout moments in the NBA playoffs—earning playful compliments from “Inside the NBA” broadcaster Charles Barkley who once remarked on his striking appearance—now finds himself part of the Clippers. The organization is currently navigating through the murky waters of an ongoing investigation.

The spotlight remains on the Clippers as the NBA’s extensive inquiry into potential salary cap violations by the team and owner Steve Ballmer stretches into its 11th month. Allegations suggest that funds may have been funneled through sponsors to ensure superstar Kawhi Leonard received proper compensation.

The Clipper agreed to trade Leonard to the Toronto Raptors on June 30 for Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, two unprotected first-round picks, a pick swap and two second-round picks.

However, the blockbuster deal remains on hold pending the completion of the NBA’s investigation into Ballmer, Leonard and the Clippers.

The Cavaliers coveted a reunion with LeBron James in the offseason, but the NBA’s all-time leading scorer chose to sign with the Philadelphia 76ers on a two-year, $8 million deal. By acquiring Watson, the Cavaliers remain competitive in a top-heavy Eastern Conference.

Watson was considered one of the best players still available, and coveted by several teams, including the Los Angeles Lakers.

However, as a restricted free agent, the Denver Nuggets had the ability to match any offer sheet, and in this case it seems like they’d rather trade him to Cleveland in exchange for a future first-round pick than match the Cavaliers offer.

Because of their salary-cap situation, the Cavaliers had to shed salary in order to acquire Watson. That made Strus expendable with Cleveland building around their Big Four of Evan Mobley, Donovan Mitchell, Jarrett Allen and James Harden.

The Nuggets reportedly were not interested in taking on Strus’ $16.6 million salary for the upcoming season, but the Clippers were.

In a surprising turn of events, King Charles seems to have been caught off guard by the announcement of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s imminent return to the United Kingdom.

Reports indicate that the monarch was only briefed on Sunday about the Sussexes’ plans to return to British soil this month.

Sources reveal that Prince Harry, 41, and Meghan, 45, are set for an ‘extended period’ in the UK later this month. Their children, Archie and Lilibet, are reportedly poised to enroll in a British school.

During their stay, the family intends to reside in a non-royal setting and will not engage in any official royal duties.

Nevertheless, it is believed that King Charles is eager to see his youngest son and his family in a personal capacity, welcoming the opportunity to reconnect.

However, the King is clear that there will be ‘no alteration’ to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s role and status, as sources stressed there is ‘no half in, half out option’.

Harry and Meghan will remain private individuals and non-working members of the Royal Family in keeping with their ‘clearly expressed wishes and agreement over past years’.  

Despite clarity over their status, no questions have been addressed on whether the duo will return to the royal fold on a full-time basis should they be willing to give up their commercial endeavours.

Meanwhile, sources have insisted it is not within the couple’s ‘plan’ to return to the royal fold. 

The recent announcement comes just a month after the Duke saw his father in July following his High Court loss against Associated Newspapers. 

He is understood to have visited his father at his Highgrove House residence in Gloucestershire, following an Invictus one-year-to-go event in nearby Birmingham. 

Harry was joined by his wife and two children, in an occasion that would have been the first time Lilibet and Archie had seen the monarch since Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June 2022. 

And just mere weeks ago, sources close to Harry said he wanted to visit Britain ‘every few months’ over the next year after his reunion with King Charles last month.

Before opting for a more long-term return, the Duke of Sussex, 41, said his most recent visit with his father and to the UK left him feeling ‘buoyed’, ‘very happy’ and ‘really energised’.

Harry was set to return to Britain in September for around a week, for a series of engagements including Invictus Games, which will be held in Birmingham next summer, as well as WellChild, the charity supporting seriously ill children. 

A source previously told The Sunday Times: ‘He wants more of a foothold here, more trips back, less courtroom drama. And he always loves seeing his family.’

Meanwhile, just weeks ago it was believed the Duke wanted his father to stand alongside him at next Summer’s Invictus Games.

A source told the Mirror: ‘Next year is a big deal for Harry. He is determined the Birmingham Games will be the best ever. It would mean the world to him to have his father there.’

Harry and Meghan, who quit as senior royals in 2020 and moved to California, have also recently spoken about their wish to introduce their children to their British roots.

During a visit to Warwickshire, Harry said: ‘I love being here, this is the highlight of my month.

‘Actually probably the last few months. It’s very easy to sit in your grief, to sit in your stress but, guys, if you are feeling it, share it.’

As it stands, the Duke and Duchess no longer require accommodation for their patronages, with the whole family believed to be returning within the next two weeks.

Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five, are thought to have already enrolled at a British school – and the family are reportedly planning to stay for an ‘extended period’ until the children finish education.

It is not yet know, however, whether the move will be a permanent one. The location of Harry and Meghan’s new home has remained unknown for privacy reasons.

Harry and Meghan are set to retain their £11million home in Montecito, California, which they have lived in since moving across the pond in 2020. They also still own a residence in Portugal.

Governor Gavin Newsom has remained neutral in the ongoing debate about the role of standardized testing in University of California admissions, brushing aside alarming accounts from professors regarding students’ lack of basic math skills as mere “anecdotes.”

During a Wednesday press conference in Hayward, Newsom was questioned about an open letter signed by over 1,200 UC professors, including celebrated Nobel laureates and eminent scientists. This letter highlighted a “severe” crisis, noting that incoming freshmen struggled with tasks as simple as fractions, necessitating a simplified approach to teaching Calculus and other advanced subjects.

“Show me the data,” Newsom remarked in response to the concerning reports.

Expressing his stance, he added, “I have feelings about this, there’s anecdotes about this, but I want to see the data.”

In a troubling revelation last year, the UC San Diego Senate-Administration Working Group reported a staggering 30-fold rise in students entering college without fundamental math skills.

In 2020, only 30 incoming freshmen at the school had math skills below high school level. In 2025, that number rose to 900, according to the UC San Diego panel.

Professors have blamed the elimination of SAT and ACT testing in 2020 as a requirement for university admissions, as critics argue the tweak has merely rewarded rampant grade inflation.

“Some students are five to eight years behind in mathematics. Office hours that should be spent discussing integrals instead become lessons on fractions and basic algebra you would expect students to learn in middle school,” wrote Zvezdelina Stankova, a math professor at UC Berkeley, in an op-ed piece for the San Francisco Standard.

The University of California Board of Regents is expected to take up the issue next year.

“There are some different options for testing if they choose to bring it back, and [University of California Regents] are looking at that now,” added Linda Darling-Hammond, president of the California Board of Education.

The governor made the comments at Schafer Park Elementary School, where he highlighted the state’s “jaw-dropping” investments in childhood education.

Newsom and wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom touted an expansion in “community schools” that can include everything from healthy food provided for free to laundry and eye care services to families.

California has ratcheted up its per-pupil spending to more than $28,000 annually, including a 43% increase in special education spending to a staggering $2.4 billion in this year’s state budget.

The governor’s office claims its universal transitional kindergarten program, first rolled out in the 2022-2023 school year, has saved families $14,000 per year.

Less than half of California students are “proficient” or “advanced” in math and reading, according to state data.

Just 37% of students passed muster in math in 2025, compared to 48% in reading.

Newsom said he was “confident” that this year’s results, set to be released in October, would show an improvement.

In an emotional revelation, Sandra Bullock has addressed the passing of Bryan Randall, her longtime partner, who succumbed to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in 2023.

Randall bravely battled ALS in secret for three years, finally losing his fight against the debilitating disease on August 5, at the age of 57. Bullock, now 62, shared an enduring eight-year relationship with him, during which they raised two adopted children together.

ALS, often referred to as motor neurone disease in some parts of the world, is a rare and incurable ailment that progressively damages the nervous system, leading to muscle paralysis over time.

During this week’s Smartless podcast with hosts Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett, a heartfelt Bullock shared Randall’s wish to keep his ‘traumatic diagnosis’ under wraps.

Reflecting on his decision, she explained, “He asked me not to share. I know why he asked me not to.”

‘My sister was the only one who knew for a while,’ Bullock said. 

‘At first I go, “Oh, I can handle that. I can be quiet. I don’t wanna harm others because of what I do. So I think not talking for a while was good.”’

The Oscar winner said Randall’s desire to not share his diagnosis ‘isolated [her] in the process’ and that she went through ‘a trifecta that was pretty dark’ as she organized Randall’s care while raising her children during the pandemic. 

She said: ‘The entire world was locked in with a pandemic. It was literally like the final diagnosis, even though he was ill for half of our relationship. 

‘The diagnosis came almost at the same time with the cloak of the pandemic. So as the pandemic came down, and I have a child with severe asthma, I was panicking. 

‘I had two young kids, that were navigating it, especially a little girl who saw him as a father figure… I wasn’t allowed to tell anybody. My sister was the only one who knew for, for a while. It’s a huge weight.’

Bullock said she eventually confided in close friend Jennifer Aniston and Smartless host Jason Bateman’s wife Amanda Anka about Randall’s condition. 

Due to the fast-progressing condition, Bullock said she was ‘grieving Bryan four years before he passed.’ 

‘There was something that had shifted’ she said.

She added Randall had been sober for 14 years but she instructed the doctors to give him ‘what he needs’ due to his suffering. 

‘My person left a lot earlier than the body left. I don’t think I ever dealt with that until after he passed, because you’re just on this treadmill,’ she said,

‘I had to release a film at the same time and talk about gray. I saw myself on the red carpet and I was like, you just look at my face. And I am, I’m a woodblock.’

The Daily Mail has contacted representatives for Bullock for further comment. 

About half of ALS patients have a life expectancy of three years after the initial onset of symptoms, though some can survive for decades. 

ALS has been colloquially known in America as Lou Gehrig’s disease ever since it claimed the life of the beloved baseball player in 1941 when he was just 37.

Other notable patients have included Stephen Hawking, Grey’s Anatomy star Eric Dane, SpongeBob Squarepants creator Stephen Hillenburg, English actor David Niven and Killing Me Softly with His Song singer Roberta Flack.

In 2021, when Randall was already privately suffering from the condition, Bullock hailed him as ‘the love of my life’ on Red Table Talk. 

In a statement announcing his death in 2023, his family said: ‘Bryan chose early to keep his journey with ALS private, and those of us who cared for him did our best to honor his request.

‘We are immensely grateful to the tireless doctors who navigated the landscape of this illness with us and to the astounding nurses who became our roommates, often sacrificing their own families to be with ours.

‘At this time we ask for privacy to grieve and to come to terms with the impossibility of saying goodbye to Bryan.’

The couple first met when Randall was hired to take photographs at a birthday party for Bullock’s oldest child, Louis, in 2015.

He was the first serious relationship for the actress since her split from ex-husband James, who cheated on her.

Bullock and Randall went public in October 2015 when he was on the actress’s arm at the premiere of her movie ‘Our Brand is Crisis.’

According to those within the couple’s circle, they were all but inseparable from there on in, with Randall accompanying Bullock to press junkets, movie premieres and becoming a firm fixture on set when she was on location filming.

On their last public sighting together, in July, 2020, the former model was pictured gazing adoringly at his love as they arrived to an intimate gathering in studio city with her two children.

The couple did not have any children together, but Bullock has two adopted children, son Louis, 16, and daughter Laila, 12, and Bryan has an adult daughter named Skylar from a previous relationship.

The Daily Mail previously revealed that while the pair never officially married, they exchanged ‘vows’ on the beach in the Bahamas in an intimate ceremony witnessed by friends and family in December 2017.

Federal prosecutors have charged a Bronx man with hate crimes after a troubling incident at a Midtown Manhattan synagogue. During a recorded interview, the suspect confessed that his actions were driven purely by racial and religious animosity.

The suspect, identified as 46-year-old Larry Montes, reportedly made several offensive remarks during his post-arrest questioning. Among these were inflammatory statements such as “F— the Jews … It’s racial,” and a clear aversion to synagogues whether in New York or Israel.

Montes is facing serious charges, including two counts of committing hate crimes and one count related to the destruction of religious property leading to physical harm. If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to 30 years in prison, according to the Justice Department’s guidelines.

Prosecutors claim Montes brazenly assaulted two people and shouted obscenities at parishioners during the Jewish Sabbath service at the Central Synagogue in Midtown, which was attended by 375 people.

During the Shabbat service, Montes stood up, began shouting, and physically struck and damaged two ceremonial silver candlesticks with gold accents, authorities said. As the head of security attempted to remove him from the sanctuary, Montes screamed, “F— you people” and “I don’t f— with you people,” according to prosecutors.

Montes then punched a female congregant with a closed fist and assaulted a security guard who was attempting to handcuff him, authorities said.

He allegedly directed a racial slur at the guard, who is Black, before spitting in his face and headbutting his left eye socket, prosecutors said. Montes also threatened to return to the synagogue at a later date.

In addition to the federal charges, he faces state charges related to the incident. New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the woman and the security guard who were assaulted are doing well.

Following the attack, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani expressed shock over the violence.

“I can only imagine the pain and fear an attack like this, during Shabbat services, causes for the congregation and for Jewish New Yorkers across our city,” he wrote on X. “Every New Yorker must be able to observe their religion without fear of violence.”

Montes remains in custody.

A homeless man found sleeping inside a church escalated a disturbance into a violent encounter by allegedly wielding a 5-foot metal pipe against three workers who had roused him, according to police reports.

Identified as 28-year-old Donald Malone, the individual was apprehended following the Saturday morning incident at Trinity United Methodist Church, situated near the intersection of Bancroft Way and Dana Street in Berkeley. Contractors on site around 10:45 a.m., who were engaged in renovations of the long-shuttered church, discovered Malone within the premises.

A verbal exchange quickly deteriorated into a heated confrontation.

Video footage captured on a cellphone depicts Malone grasping the metal pipe, displaying aggressive behavior while shouting at the trio of workers, as one of them contacted the authorities.

In the video, Malone can be heard shouting, “Hey! You’re acting like you’re innocent!” showcasing the intense nature of the stand-off.

“He’s approaching us,” one victim told the dispatcher.

“Get away from me!” Malone yelled, according to the video, which cuts off shortly afterward.

Malone then attacked the three contractors with the pipe, police said.

Cops allegedly found extensive damage in the building worth an estimated $20,000.

A UC Berkeley police officer happened to be driving nearby and was flagged down by the victims, Malone was then arrested.

Alameda County prosecutors charged Malone with three felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon and one felony count of vandalism.

Electrical equipment had been damaged, speakers were knocked over and a drum set was smashed, Berkeley police spokesman Officer Byron White said.

The alleged attack happened across from UC Berkeley’s Recreational Sports Facility, the university’s main gym, during a busy move-in weekend for Cal students.

Malone has a prior assault conviction, according to court records.

The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office filed a petition Tuesday to revoke his probation.

In a surprising twist of events, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are set to make their return to the United Kingdom this month, marking six years since they ventured across the Atlantic to the United States.

The couple, famously known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, are planning an extended stay in the UK. This time, it seems their children, Archie and Lilibet, will be settling into a British educational experience as they enroll in local schools.

The family will reside in a private home, distancing themselves from royal duties as non-working royals.

It was only over the weekend that King Charles learned from Harry himself about the plans to return later this month.

Welcoming the reunion, King Charles expressed eagerness to see Harry and his family under personal and private circumstances. However, he emphasized that there would be no change to Harry and Meghan’s status, honoring their long-standing desire to remain non-working members of the royal family.

Sources insist, however, it is not in the Sussexes’ ‘plan’ to return to the royal fold. The Mail also understands that no mention of the family’s return was raised or discussed when Harry, Meghan and their children met with the King at Highgrove earlier this summer.

This suggests that Charles may have been blindsided by their latest announcement.

Harry, 41, was already scheduled to visit the United Kingdom to attend a WellChild Awards bash next month and was set to stay in a room at Buckingham Palace.

But the Duke and Duchess no longer require accommodation for their patronages with the whole family believed to be returning within the next two weeks. 

Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five, are thought to have already enrolled at a British school – and the family are reportedly planning to stay fir an ‘extended period’ until the children finish education. 

It is not yet know, however, whether the move will be a permanent one. The location of Harry and Meghan’s new home has remained unknown for privacy reasons.

Harry and Meghan are set to retain their £11million home in Montecito, California, which they have lived in since moving across the pond in 2020. They also still own a residence in Portugal.  

The surprise news comes six years after the couple left Britons in disbelief when they stepped down as working royals.

In a statement released at the time, following a 12-month review, Elizabeth II announced they would not ‘continue with the responsibilities and duties that come with a life of public service’.

The former monarch added that they would not be maintaining a ‘half-in, half-out’ approach to their duties. Harry was later stripped of his honorary military titles.

The pair, who wed in 2018, were blasted at the time for failing to consult Charles, Camilla or Prince William before announcing their exit. 

They were accused of ‘press[ing] the nuclear button’ and made the bombshell announcement just days after returning from a six-week break in Canada. They later permanently moved to California in March, 2020 in a move that was widely dubbed ‘Megxit’. 

Royal aides who accused Meghan of bullying them said they were frightened of ‘what she would do to them’ after they spoke out, it was claimed.

The Duchess of Sussex’s staff were left ‘in a psychologically delicate state’ and ‘viewed her capacity for revenge as infinite’, an expert has alleged.

Meghan has always denied the allegations of bullying while she was working as a royal, which she described as an orchestrated smear campaign against her.

Veteran royal correspondent Valentine Low broke the bullying story in May 2021, just before Harry and Meghan were to appear on screen with Oprah Winfrey to discuss Megxit.

He claims that some of the royal staff who had worked with the Sussexes were still in a ‘very fragile state’ more than two years later – and despite the royal couple having emigrated 5,000 miles away to the US.

‘They were very worried about what Meghan would do to them. They viewed her capacity for revenge as infinite’, Mr Low said.

‘They’d left the employ of the Royal Family and they still were in a psychologically delicate state as a result of what happened to them at that time’.

The couple famously appeared in public together for the first time at the Toronto Invictus Games in 2017, pictured hand-in-hand at a wheelchair tennis event.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex moved to Vancouver Island in 2020 after quitting the royal family in what became known as ‘Megxit’.

Meghan, 43, also lived in Toronto for several years where the Netflix series Suits was filmed and famously made their first appearance together as a couple at the 2017 Invictus Games held in the city. 

Since the couple’s shock exit, Prince Harry’s relationship is said to have been strained not only with his father but with his older brother and future monarch, Prince William.

The siblings are not thought to have spoken for years, with William and Kate Middleton understood to have been ‘deeply hurt’ by allegations made in Harry’s memoir, Spare. 

It was thought that the brothers promised to put aside their differences in honour of their late mother Princess Diana. However, according to royal author Phil Dampier, who wrote Royally Suited: Harry And Meghan in their own words, the promise is broken.

Mr Dampier told the Daily Mail: ‘William and Harry put aside their differences for the unveiling of the statue of their mother Princess Diana [five years ago], but things are much worse now.

‘I think William would find it very hard to meet Harry, even to honour Diana’s memory. Next year marks the 30th anniversary of her death, so that would be an obvious time for them to try and heal their rift and at least be seen together, but I don’t think William’s heart is in it.

‘Friends tell me that, as far as he is concerned, Harry is the past, and he is only concerned about the future for his wife Catherine and their children George, Charlotte and Louis.

‘He will never forgive Harry, in my opinion, not just for leaving the Royal Family, but for the dirt he dished out in his book Spare, the Netflix show, and the Oprah Winfrey interview.

‘It led to Catherine being smeared as a racist, and he will never forget that.’

It is thought that Harry has long missed life in the UK – and has been ‘desperate’ for Archie and Lilibet to experience life where he grew up. 

With the Invictus Games set to be held in Birmingham next summer, Harry hopes that the King will join him to open the games. It is, nevertheless, currently unknown whether that will materialise.  

‘Charles may use Queen Camilla’s 80th birthday as an excuse not to be present. But one thing is certain – William won’t be there. He will make sure he is far away so there is no doubt he could make it.

‘Obviously the dates are known, but William won’t want to be anywhere near his brother. He will feel he is being used by Harry, just to benefit himself and his image.

‘Of course, William wants to support veterans and the military – after all, he will one day be King and head of the armed forces – but I just can’t see him dancing to Harry’s tune.

‘Too much has been said, it’s gone on so long, and the feelings of hurt and betrayal are too deep.’

Harry and Charles enjoyed a private reunion with Harry, Meghan and their children last month – four years after the monarch last saw Lilibet and Archie. 

The Duke and Duchess were welcomed by Charles and Camilla to the King’s private residence, Highgrove House in Gloucestershire, in a move which marked a step towards healing Harry’s relationship with his father. 

Charles, as well as Camilla, had also been subject to criticism from the 41-year-old in his 2023 memoir.

But a year later, Harry made a dash across the Atlantic Ocean to see Charles after news of his pancreatic cancer diagnosis was released.