Enter the world of wagging tails and microphones.

Howie Rose, the mythical voice of the New York Mets, has not only captivated fans from the broadcast booth for four decades but now leaves a living, breathing legacy on four paws. The iconic sportscaster is honored through a courageous little golden retriever, ready to serve a higher purpose.

At Citi Field, this aspiring service dog is honing his skills, carrying the distinguished name of the veteran radio announcer—a tribute that Rose considers more meaningful than any collectible or award.

“This tops my list!” Rose shared with The Post, glancing down at the serene puppy named Howie seated by his side.

Rose expressed, “It is truly a tremendous honor. Our veterans give so much of themselves. For those who have sacrificed limbs or other capabilities, receiving assistance from a devoted, gentle creature is a heavenly gift. Dogs embody love and loyalty—just like our veterans, don’t they?”

The 4-month-old yellow Lab is the fourth being raised in partnership between America’s VetDogs and the Amazin’ Mets Foundation, following in the pawprints of Shea, Seaver and Buddy.

Ironically, Rose is allergic to his furry namesake and joked that the only other thing they have in common is that they both “like meat.”

But John Miller, CEO of America’s VetDogs, said the pair of Metsies both share an overwhelming sense of loyalty.

“It’s a tribute to Howie Rose’s career and his lifelong commitment to the Mets and the Mets fans. It was a natural thing,” said Miller, who runs the Long Island-based nonprofit.

Rose will officially hang up his microphone in September, but his namesake will continue to patrol Citi Field for the next year — using the chaos of the crowds to eliminate any fears of noise, lights, smells and swarming so that he will be ready for his future veteran.

Little Howie will also receive three months of specialized training for 30 different tasks, ranging from medical episode detection to waking his owner up from a nightmare.

“He’s a very confident dog — Mr. Brave,” said Sarah Zagaja, who is Howie’s official “puppy handler” alongside her husband, Bob.

“Some of the fans can be a little over the top — stopping us, yelling, ‘We need a picture!’ But it’s all fun.”

The couple — who had previously helped to raise Buddy — patrol Howie throughout Citi Field at least two times per week when the Mets are playing.

The tiny, furry critter typically starts his exposure shift on the field during batting practice — unsurprisingly pulling attention from both the fans and the players themselves.

Franscisco Lindor frequently comes over to give Howie a pet on the head, Sarah Zagaja said.

Howie Junior is often stationed at the stadium’s promenade to meet the mob of fans as they swarm inside and seems almost indifferent to the constant “Oos” and “Aws.”

The tiny pup then spends the rest of the game expertly weaving through the crowds of fans dashing from their seats to the bar cart.

For now, fans are allowed to pet and take pictures with the pup — and can even take home a Howie playing card — but the Zagajas warn that come next season, little Howie will be as untouchable as Juan Soto.

“We want every interaction to be positive, and as we interact with the fans, we get to tell the story of what his purpose is and get the message out about what America’s VetDogs does and what the Amazin’ Mets Foundation does,” said Bob Zagaja.

“It’s really a win-win for us, Howie, the fans, the players, and then ultimately the veteran who gets him.”

As Europe faces yet another scorching heatwave, the ongoing drought has brought the mighty River Danube into the spotlight, uncovering hidden treasures and secrets long submerged beneath its waters.

The Danube, weaving its way through ten diverse countries in central and southeastern Europe, has been a lifeline for trade and a backdrop for historic conflicts throughout the centuries.

Legend has it that in the sixth century BCE, Alexander the Great chased his adversaries, tribes in opposition to his Macedonian empire, to the banks of the mighty Danube.

Now, as relentless droughts leave Europe parched and struggling, the river’s rich and complex past emerges with every inch the waters recede.

One of the most astonishing revelations from the Danube’s shrinking banks is the discovery of ancient woolly mammoth remains, offering a glimpse into a distant prehistoric world.

Scientists were seen gathered around a large bone that was spotted in the banks of the river near the Bulgarian town of Ryahovo. 

So far they have identified a jaw bone, fragments of tusks, part of a shoulder blade and a femur with its articular head among the stash found at the end of July. 

The bones were remarkably well-preserved. Photos appear to show teeth still lining the jaw bone that was found. 

The ancient beasts co-existed with early humans, who hunted them for food and used their tusks and bones as tools. 

A Nazi-era motorcycle was also found after the water levels of the Danube sank to record lows, this time in Hungary’s capital, Budapest. 

The vehicle, which was spotted on the shores of the river opposite the country’s parliament building, was hauled out and cleaned up by military personnel. 

Despite it being thoroughly rusted, the motorcycle had retained its form after decades under the water. 

It has since been put on display at the depot of the Military History Institute and Museum of the Defence Ministry in Budapest. 

Several Nazi-era warships were also found across the Danube. 

One was spotted in front of Djerdap II, a large dam on the Danube River, between Romania and Serbia, near Prahovo, Serbia. 

This was all but destroyed, though large parts of it still remained intact.  

Another, meanwhile, was seen on the riverbed in Baja, Hungary. Large parts of the hull remained together, as well as what appeared to be a motor. 

And in Bulgaria’s Gigen, the foundations of the ancient Constantine Bridge, commissioned by Roman emperor Constantine I and inaugurated in 328AD, were spotted as the water level reached record lows. 

Though the lowered water levels of the twisting river may have provided historians with revelatory new material to investigate, it has also presented a huge problem for Europe’s infrastructure. 

Hungary was forced to switch off its only nuclear plant earlier this month as the water from the Danube that cools it could not reach the reactor.

The river fell to record lows in recent weeks amid a prolonged heatwave and drought across much of Europe, forcing the plant to operate at only around 10 per cent of its capacity with only one of its eight turbines left running.

Droughts this summer have wreaked havoc in European power production, shipping and public health systems, and the hit to the region’s economy can already be measured in the hundreds of billions of euros.

Similar problems in Romania for instance have forced the declaration of a state of energy emergency throughout August, and the flow of the Danube has been redirected to allow its sole nuclear plant to continue operating for the next few days.

Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar said on Monday that work to restart a second turbine at Paks began after the Danube rose 19 centimetres above last week’s low.

The second turbine was expected to start generating electricity on Monday evening, he said on Facebook.

Mr Magyar flagged the possibility of increasing output last week, saying that expected rainfall in Austria could raise Danube levels, but cautioned that the rise would be temporary.

Mr Magyar also said last week that the government was working on longer-term solutions, including reviewing the planned Paks 2 expansion of the plant as current designs also make the planned new plant dependent on cooling water from the Danube.

It was key to keep the nuclear plant working, Mr Magyar said last week, as ‘the Hungarian economy cannot work without the plant for months’.

The government has also decided to diversify its energy supply, with Mr Magyar saying the government will tender 700 megawatts of wind power generation capacity by August 31 and develop four gigawatts of wind capacity by 2030.

Western Europe experienced its hottest June-July on record as climate change fuels an historic summer of heat, drought and wildfires across the region, the EU’s global warming monitor said Monday.

Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent and the first two months of summer have been marked by successive heatwaves, scorching temperatures and bone-dry conditions.

The Copernicus Climate Change Service said the combined average temperature in western Europe for June-July was 21.62C – beating the 2022 record for the same period.

This reflected ‘the exceptional persistence of heat’ so far this summer, Copernicus said.

Levels of soil moisture were ‘significantly lower’ than in July 2022 when the last severe drought gripped western Europe, Copernicus added.

‘This is a clear example of how climate change is intensifying heat extremes, with heat and drought increasingly reinforcing one another,’ said Samantha Burgess from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, which operates Copernicus.

Spain’s national weather agency AEMET said today that July was the country’s joint-hottest month since records began in 1961. 

The average temperature of 25.7C was 2.6C higher than the 1991-2020 reference period and tied with July 2022 as the warmest month, AEMET said in a statement.

Last month was also mainland Spain’s driest July on record as 4.3 millimetres of rain fell, which represented just 26 per cent of the normal precipitation for the time of year.

Scientists have long warned that human-driven climate change, caused by the burning of fossil fuels, is increasing the length, frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as heatwaves.

Of the ten warmest months of July recorded in Spain, eight have occurred in the 21st century, AEMET said.

The southeastern region of Murcia reached the highest temperature in AEMET’s main network last month, reaching 44.2C on July 23.

The relentless heat and scarce rainfall created ideal conditions for wildfires that scarred swathes of Spain, including a huge blaze just dozens of kilometres west of the capital Madrid.

The largest wildfire in Spain’s recent history burned more than 50,000 hectares (123,500 acres), forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of people and sparked a national emergency. 

France’s national weather agency, Météo-France, is warning about temperatures approaching 40C from Tuesday onward in southeastern France. 

Heatwave alerts were issued for the first time on record in May, when more than half the country recorded new monthly temperature highs. 

The heat intensified in June, a period during which at least 5,700 more deaths than usual were recorded, according to France’s public health agency.

Météo-France said June 23 was the hottest day ever recorded in the country. Temperatures climbed as high as 44.3C in the southwest.

Two other heatwave episodes were recorded in July, amplifying a historic wildfire in southwestern France that forced 220,000 people to flee their homes in one of the continent’s biggest evacuation efforts since the Second World War. 

Very dry conditions were observed in July across western and central European nations including France, Spain, Austria and Hungary but also the United Kingdom, Ireland and part of Iceland.

River flows were unusually low with the Seine, Rhine and Danube particularly affected. Transport, irrigation and energy production has been affected in several European countries.

These hot and dry conditions were also ideal for fires and scientists say the frequency of extreme fire-prone weather in Europe is increasing with climate change.

Copernicus also said the world’s oceans hit record-high temperatures for a second straight month in July, driven by marine heatwaves around Europe and a powerful El Nino taking shape in the Pacific.

Global average sea surface temperatures in July were 20.96C, beating the previous record of 2023.

Copernicus director Carlo Buontempo said parts of the Mediterranean and Atlantic were unusually warm but the developing El Nino ‘is probably the driving force’ behind the record sea temperatures.

‘We are now facing a very large El Nino – possibly unprecedented in terms of amplitude. It is clear that the contribution coming from the tropical Pacific becomes quite important,’ the climate scientist told reporters on August 5.

El Nino is the warm phase of a natural climate cycle that temporarily raises ocean temperatures in the tropical Pacific and can influence weather extremes like drought and floods around the world.

It also adds heat to a planet already warmed from burning fossil fuels.

El Nino events typically peak at the end of a year before heat is released from the ocean into the atmosphere, pushing up global temperatures.

The last El Nino helped make 2023 and 2024 the second- and first-hottest years on record, respectively.

Mr Buontempo said scientists expect a new record for global average temperatures later this year or early 2027.

Globally, last month was the joint second-warmest July on record with an average surface air temperature 1.47C above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial benchmark, Copernicus said.

The last 11 years have been the hottest on record and ‘we have not seen a climate that warm during our lifetime, and very possibly our civilisation,’ Buontempo said.

‘And the main driver for this warming – as we know – are the greenhouse gases,’ he said.

Oceans absorb most of the excess heat caused by humanity’s carbon emissions and therefore play a key role in regulating the climate.

Hotter seas can have damaging knock-on effects on the planet, fuelling stronger storms and rainfall and bleaching coral reefs.

Copernicus takes measurements using billions of satellite and weather readings, both on land and at sea, and its data extends back to 1940.

Almost three decades have passed since the tragic shooting of iconic rapper Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas, and now, the solitary individual ever charged in connection with his death is preparing to face trial.

Duane “Keffe D” Davis, aged 63, is slated to begin his trial for murder on Monday. The charge stems from the 1996 drive-by incident that claimed the life of Shakur, a titan in the world of hip-hop.

Davis maintains his innocence with a plea of not guilty. While he is not accused of pulling the trigger, prosecutors assert he played a critical role in orchestrating the attack and supplying the weapon used in the fatal shooting.

On September 7, 1996, Shakur was struck by gunfire while riding in a BMW chauffeured by Marion “Suge” Knight, the founder of Death Row Records, adjacent to the Las Vegas Strip. The rapper succumbed to his injuries six days later at the age of 25.

LAWYERS FOR SUSPECTED TUPAC SHAKUR KILLER CLAIM HIS WORDS WERE TWISTED, WANT HIM RELEASED FROM JAIL

Hours before the shooting, Shakur, Knight and others were involved in a fight at the MGM Grand with Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, Davis’ nephew and a member of the South Side Compton Crips.

Prosecutors say Davis, Anderson, Deandrae “Freaky” Smith and Terry “Bubble Up” Brown were later riding in a white Cadillac that pulled alongside Shakur’s car and opened fire.

Davis is the only one of the four still alive.

Authorities long suspected Anderson was the gunman, although evidence presented in the case has also raised the possibility that Smith fired the shots.

No murder weapon was recovered.

According to the Associated Press, prosecutors hope to prove that Davis called the shots in and provided the gun used in the crime. Gunfire came from the Cadillac that Davis was in, and he’s one of the only people there that night who is still alive.

Davis has acknowledged being in the Cadillac and discussed the killing in interviews and in his 2019 memoir, “Compton Street Legend.” Prosecutors say those statements help establish his role in the attack.

His attorneys, meanwhile, have argued that some of Davis’ public statements were exaggerated and have challenged whether statements he made during a 2008 police interview could be used against him.

A Nevada judge ruled that Davis’ police interview, as well as portions of his memoir, will be allowed during the trial.

The trial is expected to last about four weeks. In November, Davis’ attorneys unsuccessfully sought to dismiss the charges.

“Think of it this way: Shakur’s murder was essentially the entertainment world’s JFK assassination — endlessly dissected, mythologized, monetized — so it’s not hard to see why someone in Davis’s position might falsely place himself at the center of it all for personal gain,” his attorneys said in a petition to the Nevada Supreme Court that was denied.

Shakur’s legendary rap career was highlighted by more than 75 million records worldwide with hits including “California Love,” “Changes” and “Dear Mama.”

News Media has reached out to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department for comment.