Australian prosecutors have dropped a potential criminal case against American actor Amber Heard over allegations that she lied to a court about how her Yorkshire terriers came to be smuggled into Australia eight years ago

Special Counsel Jack Smith’s decision to indict Donald Trump in southern Florida puts the prosecution on the former

Italian lawmakers have marked the 80th anniversary of the Nazi roundup of more than 1,200 Roman Jews in the Holocaust with a debate on a measure to partially fund a long-delayed Holocaust Museum in the capital

Roberto De Zerbi’s inspired double substitution helped Brighton come from behind to sink Bournemouth 3-1. The Seagulls trailed to Dominic Solanke’s opportunist strike but went in level at half-time thanks to a Milos Kerkez own goal. Boss De Zerbi, who had made nine changes to his starting line-up from Thursday’s Europe League defeat by AEK Athens, sent on Ansu Fati and Kaoru Mitoma at half-time. And the pair had an instant impact, combining for an exquisite goal just 15 seconds into the second half, with Mitoma applying the finishing touch. Japan winger Mitoma then wrapped up the victory with a late header to leave the Cherries still winless from their first six league matches. De Zerbi also opted to rotate his goalkeepers, replacing Jason Steele with Bart Verbruggen, but that was a move which backfired after 25 minutes. The Dutchman hesitated on the edge of the area as he attempted to play the ball out. Ryan Christie charged down the clearance and the ball rolled to Solanke, who chipped the stranded keeper into an empty net from 20 yards. Brighton offered precious little for the majority of an uncharacteristically lacklustre first half until three minutes of stoppage time. A goalmouth scramble saw Lewis Dunk and Adam Webster have efforts cleared off the line before Billy Gilmour swung the ball back into the box. Kerkez climbed at the near post in a bid to clear the danger, only to glance the ball past goalkeeper Neto and into his own net. De Zerbi made his double change at the break, but not even the shrewd Italian could have foreseen quite the impact the pair would have. Bournemouth lost possession from the kick-off and Mitoma played the ball out to Barcelona loanee Fati on the left before continuing his run into the area. Fati’s ball back in was helped on by Mahmoud Dahoud into the path of Mitoma, who sidefooted it past Neto to cap a glorious Albion move. With Brighton now in firmly the ascendancy, Dunk headed narrowly wide from a corner before Fati failed to convert a cross from Simon Adingra. Bournemouth went in search of an equaliser and Antoine Semenyo had a low shot well kept out by Verbruggen. But Mitoma put Brighton further ahead when he nodded in Pervis Estupinan’s cross with 13 minutes left. Solanke almost scrambled one back for the Cherries from close range late on but his effort was cleared off the line by Albion skipper Dunk.

Microsoft has made a major change to its proposed takeover of the developer of Call of Duty, in yet another attempt to get it completed. The company is hoping to buy Activision Blizzard for $69 billion, or £54 billion, in what would be one of the biggest sales ever. But it has faced intense regulatory scrutiny, including by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, which has looked to block the deal. Now it has said that it has sent a fresh proposal for how the takeover would work in an attempt to convince the CMA that the deal should go ahead. But it has stressed that there is still no “green light” for the deal. It came as the regulator confirmed on Tuesday that Microsoft‘s original plan to buy the computer games company “cannot proceed”. Under the new proposal, Microsoft would sell off its rights to offer games via the cloud for new or existing Activision PC or console games for the next 15 years outside the European Economic Area (EEA). It will instead sell those rights to Ubisoft, a rival developer known for the Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry games series. This is designed to ensure that gamers have access to Activision Blizzard’s games, even on consoles and computers not made by Microsoft. The CMA will now launch a new probe into this deal, a so-called Phase 1 investigation. CMA chief executive Sarah Cardell said: “The CMA has today confirmed that Microsoft‘s acquisition of Activision, as originally proposed, cannot proceed. “Separately, Microsoft has notified a new and restructured deal, which is substantially different from what was put on the table previously “This is not a green light. We will carefully and objectively assess the details of the restructured deal and its impact on competition, including in light of third-party comments.” Microsoft president Brad Smith said: “Under the restructured transaction, Microsoft will not be in a position either to release Activision Blizzard games exclusively on its own cloud streaming service, Xbox Cloud Gaming, or to exclusively control the licensing terms of Activision Blizzard games for rival services.” It marks a new twist in the case, the biggest fight the CMA has taken on since gaining new post-Brexit powers. At one point the case looked like as though it would only end after a court battle. In January 2022 Microsoft announced that it planned to buy Activision Blizzard, the company behind the Call Of Duty and World Of Warcraft games, for an eye-watering sum. When the UK was still an EU member, a deal of that size would have been assessed by regulators in Brussels. But after Brexit the CMA now has the power to investigate such deals itself. Although both companies are American, both have significant businesses in the UK so their tie-up could have a significant impact on competition here. Activision Blizzard chief executive Bobby Kotick said: “For us, nothing substantially changes with the addition of this divestiture: our merger agreement with Microsoft, closing deadline, and the cash consideration to be paid for each Activision Blizzard share at closing remain the same. “We will continue to work closely with Microsoft and the CMA throughout the remaining review process, and we are committed to help Microsoft clear any final hurdles as quickly as possible. “This has been a longer journey than expected, and I am very proud of how focused everyone has remained on delivering great games.” Additional reporting by agencies Read More Meta could finally launch Threads feature everyone is waiting for Japanese scientists hoping for a message from alien life imminently iPhone 15 could bring two major changes to fix battery life Meta could finally launch Threads feature everyone is waiting for Japanese scientists hoping for a message from alien life imminently iPhone 15 could bring two major changes to fix battery life

Hundreds of Native Americans have been recruited to addiction treatment centers in Phoenix from states as far away as Montana in a widespread billing scheme that mostly targeted Medicaid’s American Indian Health Program

Oil advanced after President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy reached a tentative deal over the weekend

The Nebraska Legislature has passed a bill that combines a 12-week abortion ban with restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors

There are just 10 days before another potential government shutdown

Colton Cowser hit a sacrifice fly in the 10th inning, and the AL East-leading Baltimore Orioles beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3 in the opener of a four-game series between the American League’s top teams

Recently, Andrew Tate celebrated 8 million followers on X, all thanks to his controversial views

Pep Guardiola names the Manchester City players who made things "more difficult" in the 2-1 defeat to Wolves.