Piers Morgan has praised Arsenal’s heart, desire and character after they came from behind to beat Aston Villa in the Premier League this afternoon.

Unai Emery had hoped he would earn a win against his former club and Arsenal’s form before the game would have encouraged him.

Villa even went into the break 2-1 up, which made some Arsenal fans panic, but the Gunners took over in the second half and scored thrice to show they still have the desire to win the league.

After the victory, Morgan tweeted:

“FT: 4-2. 

On Saturday, Vice President Kamala Harris told an international security gathering that the United States has formally determined that Russian forces have committed “crimes against humanity” during their invasion of Ukraine.

“Let us be clear: Russian forces have pursued a widespread and systemic attack against a civilian population,” she told an audience gathered in Germany for the Munich Security Conference. “Gruesome acts of murder, torture, rape and deportation. Executions, killings, beatings and electrocution. Russian authorities have forcibly deported hundreds of thousands of people from Ukraine to Russia, including children.”

“In the case of Russia’s actions in Ukraine, we have examined the evidence, we know the legal standards, and there is no doubt: These are crimes against humanity,” Harris said, according to the Washington Post.

While President Biden labeled Russian President Vladimir Putin was a “war criminal” in March, shortly after he ordered troops to assault his neighbor, US officials moved to downplay the statement, saying that experts were still collecting evidence and weighing it against international law. While Harris’ statement did not specifically mention the Russian leader’s culpability, she committed the US to press consequences for those responsible.

“I say to all those who have perpetrated these crimes and to their superiors who are complicit in these crimes: You will be held to account,” she said, according to the New York Times.

On Friday, a federal judge in Washington, DC sentenced a veteran GOP operative to 18 months in prison for funneling $25,000 from a Russian businessman to Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign.

Jesse Benton, a longtime aide to both Ron and Rand Paul, was convicted in November on six related charges. The court found that he and another GOP operative accepted $100,000 from Roman Vasilenko, a St. Petersburg-based influencer who wanted photos with Trump to display on his social media accounts. Benton kept most of the money for himself but donated $25,000 to the Republican National Committee as part of a plan to secure two tickets to a fundraising event for Trump in Philadelphia. At the event, Vasilenko was allowed to sit close to Trump at a roundtable discussion and later took a photo with him. Foreign nationals, like Vasilenko, are not allowed to donate to US political campaigns or committees, and it is illegal to make a donation on behalf of someone else. 

Benton, who is married to Ron Paul’s grandaughter, was previously convicted in 2016 of a scheme to pay an Iowa state senator to switch his endorsement from Michele Bachmann to Ron Paul ahead of the state’s 2012 republican presidential caucus. In that case, Benton, after pleading that he had reformed and had a family to support, was sentenced to home confinement. Just six days later, the Trump fundraiser at which Vasilenko met Trump took place. A few weeks after that, Benton was caught in an undercover sting orchestrated by the British newspaper The Telegraph, whose reporters posed as representatives of a Chinese businessman who wanted to donate $2 million to Trump’s campaign. Benton told them he could arrange it. He apparently violated the terms of his home confinement in the Iowa case to meet with the undercover reporters.

In a letter submitted to the judge before his sentencing this week, Benton said he had suffered enormously in the face of federal investigations over the last eight years, which he said had nearly bankrupted him and ruined his good name. Benton wrote that he currently delivers for DoorDash to make ends meet, and, in asking for more home confinement instead of prison time, argued that being separated from his family would be painful for them, including his young daughter. In pleading for leniency, Benton cited his Christianity and claimed he was no longer involved with politics. (In 2016, he had also pointed to his faith and claimed to be out of the business.)

At Benton’s sentencing hearing Friday, U.S. District Court judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump-appointee whose light sentences of January 6 defendants have been controversial, was not in the mood for Benton’s argument. 

The Torah tells its followers to “be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth,” so that’s what Lisa Sobel, a devout Jewish woman from Louisville, Kentucky, set out to do.

It wasn’t easy. First, she endured three years of infertility. Then, she and her husband embarked on a $50,000 in vitro fertilization (IVF) journey, during which they had to discard four embryos before implantation because of genetic abnormalities. Finally, in April 2019, Sobel delivered a healthy baby girl. Immediately after, she began hemorrhaging and almost died.

Now 38, Sobel wants to have another child. It’s not the IVF process or her birth trauma that’s holding her back. Instead, she says the anti-abortion laws Kentucky enacted in the wake of the US Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision prevent her from getting pregnant in a manner that complies with her religious views. It’s why she and two other Jewish women—both of whom also depend on IVF to conceive—are suing the state of Kentucky on the grounds that its laws are vague, difficult to understand, and that they violate their religious freedoms under Kentucky’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which stipulates that the “government shall not substantially burden a person’s freedom of religion.”

Kentucky’s abortion laws are so unclear, Sobel’s lawyers say, that it would be reasonable to infer it is a crime to discard unneeded or genetically imperfect embryos, a common outcome in IVF. The laws allow no exceptions for situations in which a fetus has a fatal medical condition yet still has a heartbeat, which would go against the plaintiffs’ religious belief that an abortion to prevent the physical suffering of a child or the mental anguish of a mother is justified. The laws are also somewhat contradictory when it comes to what steps a physician can take if a pregnant person’s life is in danger. One statute says abortion would be permitted only if a mother faces a serious risk of “substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function” or death; another requires physicians to “make reasonable medical efforts under the circumstances to preserve both the life of the mother and the life of the unborn.”

Doctors who fail to abide by these convoluted statutes risk monetary fines, the loss of their medical licenses, and prison time; pregnant people whose doctors are confused by the statutes risk death. Multiple pregnant women have almost died as a result of having incomplete miscarriages in several other states with similarly confusing abortion laws that prompted medical professionals to delay their care. Sobel, who bled during her first pregnancy and required emergency blood transfusions after delivering her daughter, fears she could face a similar fate. Even though her faith clearly prescribes that a mother’s life takes precedence over her fetus, Kentucky’s laws are more ambiguous.

Marcus, Pete and Andy have stumbled their way to the weekend once more! And what a treat we have waiting for us: the return of Neil Warnock, baby!

The lads also discuss a humdinger at Camp Nou, give our official backing for Elon Musk’s takeover of Manchester United, and try to settle on Sam Allardyce or Harry Redknapp for the Leeds United job. Yeah, we’re not convinced either.

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Tesla just realized that testing “self-driving” vehicle technology on public roads isn’t such a good idea, after all.

Today, the automaker recalled nearly 363,000 cars equipped with its “Full Self-Driving” technology after a report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that the Autosteer feature “led to an unreasonable risk to motor vehicle safety based on insufficient adherence to traffic safety laws,” the Associated Press reports.

According to NHTSA, it sounds like FSD is bad at many of the crucial elements of driving, such as stopping, turning, and changing speeds:

The FSD Beta system may allow the vehicle to act unsafe around intersections, such as traveling straight through an intersection while in a turn-only lane, entering a stop sign-controlled intersection without coming to a complete stop, or proceeding into an intersection during a steady yellow traffic signal without due caution. In addition, the system may respond insufficiently to changes in posted speed limits or not adequately account for the driver’s adjustment of the vehicle’s speed to exceed posted speed limits.

As I’ve written previously, FSD has been linked to multiple deaths. While Elon Musk has claimed that the software operates “better than a person,” Tesla’s website clarifies that the vehicles are not fully autonomous.

Wednesday’s confirmation hearing for Daniel Werfel, President Biden’s nominee for IRS commissioner, though not nearly so contentious as it might have been, hinted at partisan battles to come over America’s most beloved federal agency. 

Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden commenced the hearing by calling out America’s “two-tiered” tax system—one set of rules for most of us, another for big companies, superwealthy folks, and their complex and seldom-audited business partnerships.

Werfel pledged to tackle the agency’s audit imbalance, wherein a kneecapped IRS came to over-rely on “correspondence audits” of low and moderate earners and less on very high-earners whose tax filings tend to be exceedingly complex—often deliberately so. In 2018, for example, the IRS audited virtually zero partnerships—which include law and accounting firms, real-estate partnerships, hedge funds, private equity firms, and the like.

As I wrote in my 2021 book, Jackpot, the gutting of the agency’s enforcement budget by Republican lawmakers during the 2010s “resulted in an exodus of experienced auditors, people with the expertise required to decode the financial voodoo of the wealthiest taxpayers and their deliberately opaque partnerships. (It can ‘take months to identify the person who rep­resents the partnership,’ IRS auditors told the Government Account­ability Office in 2014.)”

The need for more IRS scrutiny of super-rich tax avoiders was among the primary reasons that the Democrats included close to $80 billion in new funding for the agency (over 10 years) in the Inflation Reduction Act. House Republicans have already voted to repeal most of that funding, more than half of which is slated for tougher tax enforcement, with the rest going to things like oversight, improved customer service, and an overhaul of the IRS’s seriously outdated tech capabilities.

President Biden on Thursday, in his most detailed remarks addressing the recent spate of aerial objects that were shot down over North American skies, said that there is no evidence tying the three unidentified objects to foreign surveillance programs. Officials, however, are still working on confirming the exact details of the objects and their provenance.

“The Intelligence agency’s current assessment is that these three objects were balloons tied to private companies, recreational groups, or research institutions,” Biden said in a brief televised address. The president also defended shooting down a suspected Chinese spy balloon earlier this month, a dramatic action that has since inflamed tensions between the two countries.

“We seek competition, not conflict with China. We’re not looking for a new Cold War,” Biden said. “But I make no apologies and we will compete.”

Since taking down the objects, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have demanded answers. But in recent days, there has been growing consensus that they were likely benign in origin, almost certainly not evidence of aliens, and perhaps even belonging to hobby groups simply enthusiastic for “pico balloons.”

“We acted out of an abundance of caution and with an opportunity that allowed us to take down these objects safely,” Biden said on Thursday.

Three defeats on the spin have got the vultures circling in Paris. But who’s under threat?

Dotun and Andy are joined by Jonathan Johnson to answer that question, as PSG suffer yet another disappointing night in the Champions League and look increasingly dependent on a striker who could leave at any moment. But the club that could pinch him don’t look ready to part with their striker either - we discuss Real’s own dependence on Karim Benzema as contract talks stall. Plus, how have Dortmund become less… Dortmund-y?!

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A humdinger at the Emirates between Arsenal and Man City! Marcus, Pete and Andy relive it all.

We also recast the title race as Star Wars characters, Pete humbly addresses the Arsenal fans who gave him stick on Monday, and Andy sides with Richard Keys. Just another day at the office.

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It’s been a week of crisis for Manchester City after their Premier league charges. Marcus, Jim and Andy ask the question that needs to be asked: is it Kevin Keegan’s fault?

From the retired managerial legend to one of our new ‘favourites’, we then check in on Nathan Jones’ latest bizarre press conference. Elsewhere, Penaldo’s stat-padding is more legitimate than ever and we also hear why Patrick Vieira might not be too happy with our dear Andy. Join us!

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The impact of Manchester City’s alleged financial breaches are being felt across Europe. Today, Miguel Delaney joins Dotun and Andy to explain how Europe’s top clubs have reacted to the charges against Man City and react to the new European Super League proposals - which Miguel believes could leave UEFA no more influential than the EFL.

Elsewhere, we question Antonio Conte’s future - even if Spurs are huge favourites in their upcoming Champions League clash with Milan - and we celebrate the English revolution in Nice!

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Remember the name: Wayne Rooney.

Marcus and Luke look back over the international career of one of England’s greatest ever footballers, twenty years on from his bizarre debut as one of eleven substitutes (thank Sven for that one). We track his iconic rise to the very top at Euro 2004 and the erratic mix of injuries, ill-tempered spats and undeniable magic that followed - as well as that time he called David Beckham a flash git.

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Today’s guest is perhaps the voice of football.

Peter Drury has commentated on some of the sport’s greatest moments in recent years. Kate sits down with him to ask about his favourite, which player has the most shoutable name, his relationship with Messi, and what - exactly - is the point of a commentator at all.

Plus, how a mistake led to Peter’s most legendary commentary one night in Rome…

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What’s that saying? You can take the man out of Burnley, but you can’t take aggressively upsetting the big boys out of Sean Dyche. Told ya!

Marcus, Pete, Jim and David get stuck into that and loads of other big results, as Spurs did Arsenal a favour and Liverpool slip further into trouble. On more familiar ground, Pete’s glad that Newcastle dropped some points - some things never change.

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A taste of some of our favourite moments from last month on the show!

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Arsenal fans who watched Chelsea vs. Fulham last night must have concluded that not paying a high price for Mudryk’s services was the right decision.

Although Mudryk gave Liverpool a run for their money for 35 minutes when Chelsea played last week, Liverpool haven’t been at their best. Many expected him to continue where he left off in his full debut Friday night against Fulham, but Fulham completely shut him down.

If Arsenal had been playing Fulham and Mudryk was an Arsenal player, he would have been the wrong player to look at for something spectacular. The Ukrainian Sensation received a 3 out of 10 from Ryan Walker of the Daily Mail for his poor 45 minutes on the field before being replaced at halftime.

“Chelsea supporters expect a lot from the Ukrainian winger, and rightfully so after his £88 million January arrival. Against Fulham, however, the pace merchant struggled to demonstrate just why the club paid so much for his services and was hooked off at halftime by Graham Potter,” Walker wrote on the Daily Mail.
“It hasn’t yet been revealed whether his untimely departure was injury or performance related, but judging by his first-half outing, the latter is more likely.

“Mudryk caused Liverpool’s defence all sorts of problems last time out, against Fulham he was suffocated of space and was easily managed out of the game. A real welcome to Premier League football if ever there was one.”

Arsenal’s January transfer window can only be praised; Arteta and Edu went shopping and returned with what they wanted.

Leandro Trossard, Jakub Kiwior, and Jorginho are all excellent title-charge acquisitions. Alan Hutton has singled out Jorginho for praise among the three January signings. Hutton believes the Italian’s ability with the ball at his feet, as well as his experience, will be beneficial to what is going on at Arsenal.

“So I think it is a good move for Arsenal; I think it is an intelligent one. Even though at first glance he might not fit into their way of playing, I think there will come a time where he will be needed,” said Hutton to Football Insider about Jorginho’s Arsenal switch.

“Later on in the season, he is cool with the ball and that could be something that they could need later on because he has got that experience.”

Meanwhile, Paul Brown tells Give Me Sport why he feels Jorginho will easily guide Arsenal to the PL title. “I honestly feel like people are underestimating just how brilliant a signing this is going to be for Arsenal; I genuinely think this could be the signing that wins them the title,” Brown said.

The Gooners don’t brag about it, but signing Leandro Trossard was a brilliant move. The Belgian international is versatile, and he may be having his best season in the Premier League since his debut.

Trossard has been in the Premier League for three seasons and scored eight goals last season. Prior to that, he had scored five league goals in a row. Trossard is on pace to set a personal goal record this season with 7 goals in 17 games.

Stan Collymore believes Arsenal’s signing of Trossard alone is a better deal than Tottenham’s determined pursuit of Sporting Lisbon’s Pedro Porro. Tottenham’s major winter signing was Pedro Porro, who was signed on a £5 million loan deal with a £39 million option to buy clause.

“Pedro Porro came in from Sporting Lisbon. It’s a great move for him, but he’s an average player that’ll be told to do a job. When you compare that kind of signing to the ones Chelsea are making, sure, it may be unfair to compare any club to them because they’re blowing everyone out of the water at the moment, but even Arsenal’s signing of Trossard, Spurs fans must be pulling their hair out thinking, “Why couldn’t we have got him?” Stan Collymore said on Caught Offside.

It’s amusing to hear Spurs being teased about why they couldn’t muster the courage to beat Arsenal to Leandro Trossard’s deal. Nevertheless, for all the brilliant moves Arsenal made last month, Arteta and Edu deserve all the credit.