Ruben Amorim and Kobbie Mainoo have both been in the news regarding Manchester United as Michael Carrick looks ahead to his next game as boss

Manchester United will turn their attention to Tottenham at Old Trafford on Saturday as Michael Carrick bids to maintain his 100% record. United ended the winter transfer window quietly, allowing several squad players to depart on loan whilst maintaining their core group.

Carrick has provided a welcome change since returning to the club, winning all three matches so far. Tough encounters against rivals Manchester City and Arsenal both delivered three points, and a stoppage-time winner against Fulham ensured the interim manager kept his unblemished start.

Up next is Tottenham at home as Thomas Frank’s team seek to capitalise on their own impressive result against City last weekend. Victory over Spurs would see United further strengthen their top-four ambitions and narrow the deficit on Aston Villa, who face Bournemouth later in the day.

With the weekend fixtures fast approaching, Manchester Evening News has shared the latest developments emerging from the Theatre of Dreams.

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Ruben Amorim decision

Ruben Amorim has indirectly shown serious respect for Carrick by delaying any explanation of his United tenure until the season ends. After a 1-1 draw with Leeds United in January, the Portuguese boss was sacked following 14 months at the helm.

Carrick was appointed as interim manager, with many demanding to hear Amorim’s version of events straight after his exit. Now, a source has revealed to the Daily Mail that the 41-year-old intends to hold off until the summer before speaking publicly.

The report also indicates that this choice was made to avoid disrupting the remainder of Carrick’s spell with the club. The temporary manager will likely welcome this approach as he seeks to maintain United’s excellent run of results.

Kobbie Mainoo called out

Fulham’s Alex Iwobi has singled out Kobbie Mainoo after sustaining a hand injury during an intense encounter on Sunday. The midfielder has experienced a revival in form under Carrick, featuring in all three Premier League matches and covering more distance than any other player.

This stands in sharp contrast to his time under Amorim, as he was kept on the substitutes’ bench for most of his reign. And it appears that Iwobi is still experiencing the consequences of his battle with the England international from their meeting last weekend.

In his recent YouTube video, the midfielder said: “Shout out Kobbie Mainoo but Kobbie man.. you absolutely finished my hand. This guy has Ghanaian strength!”

Iwobi displayed his right hand during his praise of Mainoo, which had his ring and little finger taped together. It remains unclear how this injury occurred, but the Fulham star’s remarks suggest the pair engaged in a physical contest in which Iwobi evidently came off worse.

Just last month, a loan move away from United appeared the most probable next step for Mainoo after Amorim had given him just over 200 minutes of Premier League football this season. But that has all changed with the return of Carrick, who has demonstrated clear confidence in the England star from the outset – with a contract extension now seemingly on offer as well.

Cats can sometimes surprise their owners by doing something completely unexpected with their determination. This particular video captured a cute rescue tripod cat named Pixie Peanut doing parkour on a tree in the most adorable way.

On February 2, the owner of the furbaby took to Instagram to share the heartwarming clip through the account @pixie_the3legfairy. Since then, the Reel has started to receive a lot of attention and love from people on the internet. It currently has more than 2K likes.

Cat attempts parkour on a tree in heartwarming video

CALGARY – Rookie Matvei Gridin had a goal and an assist for his first multi-point NHL game to lead the Calgary Flames to a 4-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday.

Jonathan Huberdeau and Ryan Lomberg, with the game-winner, also scored for Calgary (23-27-6). Nazem Kadri, MacKenzie Weegar and Zach Whitecloud had two assists apiece.

The Flames took the season series against their provincial rival winning of three of four meetings.

Leon Draisaitl, with two goals, and Kasperi Kapanen scored for Edmonton (28-22-8) as the Oilers limp into the Olympic Break on a three-game losing skid.

Flames goaltender Devin Cooley had 36 stops to record the win and improve to 7-6-3.

Suffering the loss was Tristan Jarry, who had 21 saves to fall to 15-7-2.

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The Flames never trailed with Huberdeau opening the scoring 3:12 into the game and after Draisaitl tied it, Gridin restored Calgary’s lead at 14:44 of the first period.

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With the lead up to 3-1, Draisaitl’s second of the game on the power play got the Oilers back within one at 18:26 of the second period.

Kapanen tied it 4:17 into the third.

Both teams now hit the Olympic break where they’ll be off for three weeks before returning to action in California where both will begin three-game road trips.

Takeaways

Oilers: Edmonton has now surrendered goals on five consecutive penalty kills thanks to Calgary converting each of its first two power plays in the first period. Edmonton lost on the road in regulation for the first time since the Flames beat them 3-2 on Dec. 27. They had been 4-0-1 since.

Flames: Gridin’s third career goal was his second in three games as the 19-year-old continues to impress on a line with Huberdeau and Morgan Frost. Joel Farabee has also played well of late with goals in each of the past two games, but he wasn’t able to extend the streak to three.

Key moment

A bouncing puck in front of the Oilers net went on net off the skate of Lomberg, forcing Jarry to kick out his pad, and Lomberg buried the rebound 6:44 into the third.

Key stat

Draisaitl (1,036) moved past Mark Messier (1,034) into fourth on the Oilers’ all-time points list. Draisaitl is seven back of Jari Kurri for third. Wayne Gretzky (1,669) leads, followed by Connor McDavid (1,178).

Up next

Oilers: Head to Anaheim to face the Ducks on Feb. 25.

Flames: Visit the San Jose Sharks on Feb. 26.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 4, 2026.

&copy 2026 The Canadian Press

Newswise — Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have co-developed a new way to precisely control the internal structure of common plastics during 3D printing, allowing a single printed object to seamlessly shift from rigid to flexible using only light.

In a paper published today in Science, the researchers describe a technique called crystallinity regulation in additive fabrication of thermoplastics (CRAFT) that enables microscopic control over how plastic molecules arrange themselves as an object is printed. The work opens new possibilities for advanced manufacturing, soft robotics, national defense, energy damping and information storage, according to the researchers. The team includes collaborators from Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), the University of Texas at Austin, Oregon State University, Arizona State University and Savannah River National Laboratory.

The team demonstrated that by carefully tuning light intensity during printing, they could dictate how crystalline or amorphous a thermoplastic becomes at specific locations within a part. That molecular arrangement determines whether a material behaves more stiff and rigid, or as a softer, more flexible plastic — without changing the base material. CRAFT builds on that principle by allowing researchers to control crystallinity spatially during printing, rather than uniformly throughout a part.

“A classic example of crystallinity is the difference between high-density polyethylene —picture a milk jug — and low-density polyethylene, like squeeze bottles and plastic bags. The bulk property difference in these two forms of polyethylene stems largely from differences in crystallinity,” said LLNL staff scientist Johanna Schwartz. “Our CRAFT effort is exciting in that we are controlling the crystallinity within a thermoplastic spatially with variations in light intensity, making areas of increased and decreased crystallinity to produce parts with control over material properties throughout the whole geometry.”

A key challenge, however, was translating this new materials capability into practical manufacturing instructions that could be used on real 3D printers, according to LLNL engineer Hernán Villanueva. Villanueva joined the project after early discussions with Schwartz and former SNL scientists Samuel Leguizamon and Alex Commisso identified a missing link: a way to convert any three-dimensional computer-aided design (CAD) into the detailed light patterns needed to print parts using the CRAFT method.

Villanueva said he drew on prior work in a multi-institutional team focused on lattice structures and advanced manufacturing workflows. In that effort, he developed software that rapidly converted complex, topology-optimized designs into printing instructions by parallelizing the process on LLNL’s high-performance computing (HPC) systems — reducing turnaround times from days to hours or minutes.

Applying that same computational approach to CRAFT, Villanueva adapted the workflow to encode “changes in light” rather than changes in material. He was soon able to convert 3D CAD geometries directly into CRAFT printing instructions, cutting instruction-generation time from hours — or even a full day — down to seconds, making rapid design iteration and demonstration of the method practical.

“This work is a natural extension of the Lab’s strengths in advanced manufacturing and materials by design,” Villanueva said. “As part of the CRAFT effort, we have evolved a tool that connects materials science with computational workflows and advanced printing, enabling us to move directly from a 3D design to a part with spatially varying properties.”

The team’s method relies on a light-activated polymerization process in which exposure level governs the stereochemistry of growing polymer chains, researchers said. Lower light intensities favor more ordered crystalline regions, while higher intensities suppress crystallization, yielding softer, more transparent material. By projecting grayscale patterns during printing, the team produced parts with smoothly varying mechanical and optical properties.

The demonstrated ability to tune properties by changing a light’s intensity rather than swapping materials could significantly simplify additive manufacturing (3D printing), Schwartz explained.

“If you can get many different properties from one vat of material, printing complex multi-material or multi-modulus structures becomes much easier,” she said.

The researchers demonstrated the CRAFT technique on commercial 3D printers, fabricating objects that combine multiple mechanical behaviors in a single print. Examples included bio-inspired structures that mimic bones, tendons and soft tissue, reproductions of famous paintings, as well as materials designed to absorb or redirect vibrational energy without adding weight or complexity. Among the most striking demonstrations was the ability to encode crystallinity through transparency differences, according to Schwartz.

“Being able to visualize the differences easily spatially, to the point of generating the Mona Lisa out of only one material, was incredibly cool,” Schwartz said.

LLNL’s Villanueva said the work reflects the Lab’s long-standing investments in HPC and in integrating modeling, design tools and novel manufacturing processes. He added that future work could integrate topology optimization directly into the CRAFT framework, enabling researchers to optimize light patterns themselves — rather than material layouts — to achieve desired performance.

Because the process works with thermoplastics — materials that can be melted and reshaped — printed parts remain recyclable and reprocessable, an important advantage for manufacturing sustainability. The findings suggest a future where 3D-printed plastic components can be tailored at the molecular level for specific functions, bridging the gap between material science and digital manufacturing.

From an applications standpoint, Schwartz said the technology could have broad and near-term impact.

“Energy dampening and metamaterial design are the most exciting use cases to me,” she said. “From space to fusion to electronics, there are so many industries that rely on energy and vibrational dampening control. This CRAFT printing process can access all of them.”

Ashley Salmen is reeling after a recent theft from her vehicle outside her Kelowna, B.C., townhouse.

“I want the uniform back. I want it off the street,” Salmen said.

Salmen is a paramedic and among the items recently stolen was her uniform and paramedic ID.

“It has the patches, the emblems and that’s my concern, is that someone is going to use this uniform for ill will,” Salmen told Global News.

The theft happened on Saturday, Jan. 31 on Kneller Road in the city’s Rutland area.

The first responder says it was just before 7 a.m. when she came home after working an overnight shift.

She says she parked her vehicle in front of her garage to run inside and grab something before leaving again. But when she got back outside, her bag was gone.

“I didn’t realize my passenger door was unlocked. I didn’t double check my vehicle because I was only going for not even two minutes,” Salmen said. “I parked at 6:50 in the morning and by 6:52 my stuff had been taken.”

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A neighbour’s security camera captured a video of a woman walking through the townhouse complex with a bicycle during that brief time Salmen was inside.

The paramedic says her bag is on the handlebars.

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B.C. Emergency Health Services said no one was available for comment Wednesday.

RCMP confirmed they are investigating the theft and working towards identifying a suspect, including reviewing surveillance footage from the area.

“It is important to the public to know that this uniform is out there,” said Kelowna RCMP Cpl. Steven Lang.

With the uniform representing a position of authority, it raises public safety concerns if misused, something Lang said people need to be aware of.

“If they think there’s anything suspicious or the person that may be in front of them isn’t who they pretend to be or say that they are just to contact the agency that is being represented,” Lang said.

“And if their instinct is telling them something might be untoward or feels a little off, that they should believe in those signs.”

Salmen is also encouraging residents to be vigilant.

“I want the uniform back. I want it off the street,” she said.

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&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

As much as the mood has undoubtedly improved this season, the root causes of Cardiff’s recent troubles have not simply disappeared.

Tan remains a divisive figure, as do chairman Mehmet Dalman and chief executive Ken Choo.

They were the target of numerous protests last season, some of which saw hordes of supporters marching to Cardiff City Stadium, holding banners and singing songs demanding that Tan and his fellow board members leave.

Some of the ill feeling can be traced back to Tan’s highly controversial rebranding of the club’s colours from red to blue in 2012, even though he reversed the decision three years later.

More recently, the anger relates to his perceived lack of interest, with Tan having not attended a home game for more than two years.

Then, perhaps most damningly, there is the way he, Dalman and Choo have run the club.

Fans, former players and pundits have all highlighted the startling lack of football knowledge at board level, with no layer of expertise between Tan and the many managers he has hired and fired.

Cardiff at least tried a new method in their appointment of Barry-Murphy, forming a one-off sub-committee which included the club’s academy manager Gavin Chesterfield, former Swansea City sporting director Mark Allen and members of the Wasserman agency. However, the final decision still belonged to Tan.

“They didn’t plan to get relegated,” says Perry. “And in hiring Barry-Murphy, is it really a thorough process that we’ve got to the outcome of getting him? I don’t think so.

“It’s a filtering system, a few people narrowing it down to five choices, and those five choices go then to the owner.

“The problem will always be the owner, simply because he hasn’t got that knowledge to pick out of those five. Nathan Jones was in there [on the shortlist], there were others who weren’t similar to Barry-Murphy.

“I’ll only start calling it a process if Barry-Murphy goes and the next appointment is very similar. Then it becomes a process, get another coach who puts a team out that we can identify with as supporters and is also successful.

“But you must have knowledge of what you’re looking for. The same problems are here at this club, and they need to change for us to have success continuously.”

Given how well the Barry-Murphy appointment has gone so far, then, might Tan be convinced to use a director of football or similar on a permanent basis?

“The total opposite,” Perry says. “I think he’ll get carried away, so much so that it will reinforce his own opinion of himself, that he is the right man because of what we’re seeing now.

“He will not look at the process and put his hands up and go, ‘possibly we’re fortunate here because it wasn’t our first choice’.

“You have to be honest, reflection is a key part of football or any big business, but when you reflect you have to be honest and you have to look at your skillset. Then you have to either improve that skillset or you bring somebody in that has those skills. Unfortunately, at City we don’t have that and that is my concern.”

There is no guarantee of an instant return to the Championship. It took Cardiff 18 years to get back to that level when they were last relegated to the third tier in 1985.

Of the 30 teams to have been in the Premier League and relegated to League One, six have never made it back to the Championship.

Given how Cardiff are going this season, they should not add to that number.

Promotion will not fix everything, though.

“I came into this season determined to enjoy it,” says Perry.

“We’re doing well, playing a brand that we identify with and everybody’s happy.

“But you’ve only got to look around the football club and I still see the same mistakes.”

We are often moved, entertained, and emotionally invested in stories of triumph and tragedy involving our domesticated feline friends. In this case, however, it is their giant ancestors – the king of the beasts – that is taking a starring role. Three of them, to be exact.

On January 15, 2026, three African lions – Cyrus, Zephora, and Juancito – placed their tentative paws onto the ground of what will hopefully be their forever home. Following years of coordinated efforts among conservation leaders, veterinary professionals, and accredited sanctuaries, Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and rescue operation protecting survivors of the exotic animal trade, welcomed the lions to the spacious habitats designed specifically to meet their long-term needs.

This is the first international relocation of large felines from Honduras, with eight big cats in total finding homes in permanent US sanctuaries. Five tigers were transferred to Carolina Tiger Rescue, while the remarkable journey of Cyrus, Zephora, and Juancito spanned multiple countries and modes of transport, travelling by ship, by air, and finally reaching their destination by way of American highways, all while adhering to strict international and US regulations.

The lions had been kept for years at Little French Key Resort in Honduras as attractions for visiting tourists, in enclosures unsuitable for the complex needs of these apex predators. In collaboration with the resort leadership, these magnificent creatures have been removed from the spectacle of display and are now adjusting to their new home, a spacious, species-appropriate habitat designed specifically to meet their physical, behavioral, and psychological needs. The TCWR prides itself on creating custom environments that provide rescued big cats with the dignity, expert care, and lifelong protection they deserve.

“This mission represents everything sanctuary work stands for – international cooperation, compassion in action, and a future where rescued animals are given the lives they deserve,” said Scott Smith, TCWR vice president, who participated in the rescue. “After an unbelievable journey, these lions are finally home.”

Of course, such an epic journey is far more complicated than simply sedating and relocating the lions; this is a complex undertaking with many moving parts that has been years in the making, which would not have been possible without the leadership and long-term commitment of Leo Lahijani of Little French Key Resort, whose dedication to securing a better future for the animals in his care has been instrumental in moving the initiative forward.

“This rescue has been years in the making, driven by a deep responsibility to secure the best possible future for these animals,” said Leo. “From the beginning, our focus was on improving outcomes and finding partners with the experience and integrity to provide lifelong care. Working alongside Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge and Carolina Tiger Rescue made it possible to move forward with confidence, knowing the lions and tigers would be placed in sanctuaries where their well-being, dignity, and long-term care come first.”

Environmental officials in Honduras feel that the relocation project is a national milestone, setting a precedent for responsible wildlife management and reinforcing the country’s commitment to conservation and the fight against illegal wildlife trade.

For Cyrus, Zephora, and Juancito, the result is simple but profound: safety, space, and a lifetime of care at Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge.

 About Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge

Founded in 1992, the 459-acre Refuge, located 7 miles south of Eureka Springs, is an ethical animal tourism destination accredited by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries (GFAS). They are members of the American Association of Zoo Keepers and licensed by the USDA and the Arkansas Game and Fish. Their mission is to rescue and provide a lifetime sanctuary for captive wild animals. Since its inception, Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge has rescued and provided sanctuary, and assisted other accredited sanctuaries and zoos in rescuing and transporting over 500 animals. For more information, visit tcwr.org.

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