The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has also rewritten rules on international film eligibility

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced a number of major changes for the Oscars on Friday, including a new policy allowing multiple nominations for a single actor in one category, as well as barring acting and writing awards for work done by AI.

According to new statutes decreed by the group’s board of governors, only performances “demonstrably performed” by humans with their consent will be eligible for acting Oscars, while only human-authored screenplays can be up for any writing awards.

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• European nations wanted more merit-based prize money

• High costs of travel and hotels will exceed Fifa payouts

A number of leading European countries still expect to lose money at the World Cup despite Fifa increasing the prize and participation fund by $112m (£82m) this week.

The main host federation, US Soccer, is also understood to be forecasting an operational loss on the tournament, although that will be more than offset by a projected $100m windfall from a revenue-sharing agreement from ticket sales with Fifa that will also benefit the two other co-hosts, Canada and Mexico.

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Police say New IRA may have been behind attack on Dunmurry station as suspect due in court

A 66-year-old man has been charged with several offences, including attempted murder, after a car bombing that targeted a Northern Irish police station.

The attack took place on the night of 25 April outside Dunmurry police station, located to the south-west of Belfast. Police have said they believe the New IRA may have been responsible.

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State’s governor has ordered congressional primary halted until state can redraw districts and dilute Black vote

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a suit on behalf of Louisiana voting rights groups Friday, asking a state court to block Louisiana governor Jeff Landry and secretary of state Nancy Landry from suspending congressional elections .

Jeff Landry suspended the state’s congressional primary election on Thursday – even after early voting had begun – to enact new districts for the 2026 election. The move came after the supreme court’s 6-3 decision in the Louisiana v Callais case on Wednesday, which invalidated swaths of the Voting Rights Act and declared that a Louisiana congressional district with a majority-nonwhite voting population violated equal protection provisions of the US constitution.

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Green leader apologises for sharing post that said officers were ‘repeatedly and violently kicking a mentally ill man in the head’ and says he had did so ‘in haste’

Keir Starmer has condemned Zack Polanski as “disgraceful” and unfit to head a political party after the Greens’ leader shared a social media post critical of the way police tackled the suspect in the Golders Green stabbings.

The prime minister said any criticism of the police involved in the arrest was unfair on officers having to make split-second decisions in a moment of potentially grave danger.

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With their last title a decade ago, young players moving on and coach churn, Middlesex are no longer even the most famous team that call Lord’s home

Middlesex is unlike every other English county in at least one very important way. It doesn’t actually exist. It was abolished by the London Government Act of 1963, persisted, in dotage, as a postal subdivision, until Royal Mail put it to sleep in 1996. Today, you’ll find it on the tiles of Swiss Cottage Tube station – which are embossed with its badge of three seaxes – the pediment of the Sessions House in Clerkenwell, the mailing addresses of people who just won’t let go, the minutes of Spelthorne council, the titles of three hospitals, a university, assorted sports teams and tournaments, and the cricket club.

Those who don’t know any better will tell you English cricket is a country pursuit. It’s not. Sport England’s latest data showed 250,000 Londoners played at least once last year. That’s around 20% of the adult playing population in England and Wales. Walk from Lord’s into the playing fields in Regent’s Park and you will find five, six, seven games going on all at once on the public pitches. Over the road at Fab’s Food & Wine they always have the Indian Premier League on in the afternoons, streaming on a mobile phone. The guy who runs it tells me he is a Royal Challengers Bengaluru fan; I ask if he knows which county plays at the ground around the corner. “No idea.”

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The Washington Hilton shooting, the crisis in the Middle East, a funeral in Kyiv and the London Marathon – the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists

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Evening. Last season, Leeds and Burnley were separated only by goal difference. They both picked up exactly 100 points in the Championship, with automatic promotion to the Premier League their reward. This season – as is so often the case with promoted clubs, and please don’t ask me why – their paths have diverged.

Leeds have 40 points, twice as many as relegated Burnley, and are almost safe. It’s 23 years since a team was relegated from the Premier League after reaching 40 points – but that may happen this year, so Leeds still have a bit of work to do, especially as two of their last three games are away to Spurs and West Ham.

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Company accepts it failed to prevent bribery in public sector contracts in Algeria and Oman, sought through use of agents

The British defence company Ultra Electronics has accepted responsibility for failure to prevent bribery and agreed to pay £15m after an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office .

The penalties are part of a deferred prosecution approved by the high court on Friday, after an investigation opened in 2018, when the company referred itself to the UK law enforcement agency a month after corruption allegations were published by Algerian media.

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