Atlanta Braves fans threw trash on the field after a Game 1 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies.

By Jonathan Landay WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Qatari prime minister held secret talks with the supreme leader of the Taliban this

By Wayne Cole SYDNEY Australian business investment climbed to its highest since late 2015 in the June quarter

West Ham have confirmed captain Declan Rice will leave the club for a “British record fee” – with the midfielder expected to sign for Arsenal imminently. The Hammers are understood to have been involved in discussions with the Gunners over the structure of a deal for the 24-year-old with the fee expected to be £105million. “I am sorry to see Declan leave us but I believe that everyone at West Ham United should be very proud of the part we have played in his journey from the Academy of Football at Chadwell Heath to becoming the most valuable young player in English football,” joint-chair David Sullivan said in a statement. “I would like to make it clear to our supporters that we did not want to sell Declan. We wanted to build our team around him and made a series of improved, long-term contract offers to secure his future. “However, once Declan made it clear that he wished to move on and seek a new challenge, the club felt it would not be right to stand in his way, acting in the best interests of West Ham United.” Rice’s last act as a West Ham player was to lift the Europa Conference League trophy last month to secure the club’s first piece of silverware since the 1980 FA Cup and a first European trophy since 1965. The England international made 245 appearances for the club and manager David Moyes was understandably sad to see him leave. “I’d like to personally thank Declan for everything he has done during his time at West Ham United,” he said. “Obviously it is sad when we say goodbye to someone who has been with us for so long but we must now look forward. “As history shows, no player is ever bigger than the club. Our entire focus now is on building upon the success we enjoyed last season, adding to our talented Europa Conference League title-winning squad as we enter our third consecutive season in Europe, and continuing to develop the best young talent through our successful academy.” In a letter to fans Rice said his goodbyes after “an absolute whirlwind of emotion” over the last few weeks. “I want you to know how tough a decision it has been for me to leave an environment that I have loved and cherished so much,” he said. “This club and its supporters will always be in my heart, and forever a part of who I am. “Ultimately, though, it has only ever been about my ambition to play at the very highest level of the game. “Playing on the opposite team to West Ham for the first time will be an unusual experience. I’m not sure yet exactly how I will feel, but I also know you will all understand and respect that my professional loyalties have to now lie with my new club.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Alex Greenwood happy with ‘humble’ England’s chances at Women’s World Cup Ireland’s Niamh Fahey says nothing can truly prepare team for World Cup opener On this day in 2014: World Cup winner Mike Tindall retires

Next Plc, the British clothing and homeware chain, raised profit guidance for the fourth time in recent months

Congressional leaders have unveiled a new stamp that commemorates former Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights icon who died in 2020 after serving more than three decades in Congress

A Texas couple who sold an exotic South American cat to an undercover agent was arrested while trying to sell a jaguar cub to the same agent a month later, according to court documents.

Mystery travel involves setting off on a trip where you only know the destination once you board the plane

Infertility is a problem that afflicts more than a billion people across the world, which is why treatments such as IVF are so important. The procedure (in vitro fertilisation, to use it’s full name) involves the extraction of an egg from the woman's ovaries to be fertilised with sperm in a laboratory and returned to the woman’s womb. The goal is that the resulting embryo will then grow and develop into a foetus, blessing the parent or parents with a baby. However, success rates for IVF – as in, the percentage of treatments that result in a live birth – remain somewhat unencouraging: 32 per cent for women aged under 35; 25 per cent for women aged 35 to 37, with the numbers continuing to drop the older you get, according to the NHS. Nevertheless, a major new study has revealed a striking new finding which could help boost the hopes of countless aspiring mums and dads across the world. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter After analysing 3,657 frozen embryos over a period of eight years, researchers in Western Australia found that IVF was much more likely to work when eggs had been harvested in the summer. The team clarified that it didn’t seem to matter when the embryos were transferred to the mother’s womb, just when the eggs were collected. Indeed, the likelihood of babies being born when the eggs had been retrieved in the summer was 30 per cent higher than when they had been retrieved in the autumn, according to the scientists. The team also found that the temperature on the day of egg collection didn’t seem to have an impact on success rates, but the number of sunny hours did. Of the embryos they tested, those harvested on days that had the most sunshine were 28 per cent more likely to result in a live birth compared to the darkest and most overcast days. “Our study suggests that the best conditions for live births appear to be associated with summer and increased sunshine hours on the day of egg retrieval,” the study’s lead, Dr Sebastian Leathersich, of Perth’s King Edward Memorial Hospital, said about the paper, which was published in the journal Human Reproduction. Still, he noted: “There are many factors that influence fertility treatment success, age being among the most important. “However, this study adds further weight to the importance of environmental factors and their influence on egg quality and embryonic development." He further explained: “We effectively separated the conditions at the time of egg collection from the conditions at the time of transfer, demonstrating that environmental factors when the eggs are developing are as, if not more, important than environmental factors during implantation and early pregnancy.” The expert obstetrician and gynaecologist added: “Optimising factors such as avoiding smoking, alcohol and other toxins and maintaining healthy activity levels and weight should be paramount. However, clinicians and patients could also consider external factors such as environmental conditions.” Despite Dr Leathersich and his colleagues concluding that the temperature on the day of egg collection had little bearing on the success of the process, they also found that the temperature on the day of embryo implantation did make a difference. The chances of a live birth rate decreased by 18 per cent when the embryos were transferred on the hottest days (when average temperatures measured between 14.5C and 27.8C) compared to the coolest days (0.1C to 9.8C), and there was a small increase in miscarriage rates, from 5.5 per cent to 7.6. The finding that miscarriage rates were highest when embryo transfer took place on the hottest days is consistent with other studies showing higher rates of miscarriage in the summer months. “This suggests that the negative effects of high temperature are more likely related to early pregnancy rather than egg development,” Dr Leathersich concluded. When it comes to the disparity in success rates between eggs retrieved in summer and autumn, he and his team pointed out that melatonin levels could be at play. Differences in lifestyles between the winter and summer months may also play a role, he and his colleagues acknowledged. "It is possible that there are differences in activity, diet, and lifestyle in different seasons which could underlie the observed differences in live birth rates, though such data were not collected in this study," they wrote. "It is also possible that other environmental factors, including pollutants, may impact clinical outcomes." Whilst the study’s findings are compelling, Dr Leathersich and his team admitted that it did have its limitations. The research was done in hindsight, using eggs that had been frozen, then thawed, so it could not draw watertight conclusions. “Ideally, these findings should be replicated in other sites with different conditions and different treatment protocols to confirm the findings,” Dr Leathersich said. “It would also be interesting to look at the impact of season and environmental factors on sperm parameters, as this could have contributed to our observations.” He added: “We are now planning to analyse this same group of patients using air quality data, as there may be seasonal changes in exposure to harmful pollutants which could negatively affect reproductive outcomes. “Finally, given the huge increase in so-called 'social egg freezing' for fertility preservation and the fact that this group generally have flexibility about when they choose to undergo treatment, it would be very interesting to see if these observations hold true with frozen eggs that are thawed and fertilised years later. “Any improved outcomes in this group could have big impacts for women making decisions about their future fertility, but the long-term follow-up required means it is likely to be some time before we can draw any conclusions for this population.” Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Trains will be suspended from next June because of renovation work at Amsterdam's central station.

According to FutSheriff on Twitter, Abedi Pelé's FUT Hero Captains card is coming to FIFA 22, and it will likely arrive in packs on Friday.

The former teen idol Zac Efron is riding a skateboard, and then he’s dressed for some reason in