CHELSEA have tabled a £13million bid for AC Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan, according to reports.

The Blues want to give their new No1 his debut at the Club World Cup, which begins next Sunday.

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But the deadline to register players for the revamped 32-team tournament is on Tuesday.

And it means Chelsea face a race against time to get the transfer announced.

The club have been locked in talks with both AC Milan and the player since last week.

Maignan is thought to be keen on a move to Stamford Bridge and has already agreed personal terms.

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The 29-year-old has just a year left on his contract with the Italian side.

And with the two parties no closer to agreement, Milan are set to cash-in this summer rather than risk losing him for free in 12 months time.

Journalist Fabrizio Romano claims £13m will be enough to seal the deal, while Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport claim the fee is likely to be £15m.

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Milan have already sounded out Roma’s Mile Svilar as Maignan’s replacement.

The Frenchman has 31 international caps to his name and is regarded by many as one of the best keepers in the world.

He has been in the Serie A Team of the Year twice in four seasons and he won the title with Milan in 2022 after keeping 17 clean sheets.

There is set to be a lot of movement in Chelsea’s bloated goalkeeper department this summer.

The first to go will reportedly be Kepa Arrizabalaga to Arsenal in a £5m deal.

Robert Sanchez and Djordje Petrovic face uncertain futures.

Meanwhile, Chelsea are set to improve their bid for Borussia Dortmund’s Jamie Gittens.

The Blues’ opening offer fell £10m short of their £40m valuation of the English winger, who has already agreed a seven-year contract in West London.

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A HOLLYWOOD star who gave up being a drug dealing bikie is now fighting ISIS through the dripping jungles of central Africa.

The Machine Gun Preacher is on a mission to rescue child sex slaves on the continent – and is has come up against the notorious terror group.

Caters

Caters

Alamy

Childers was played by Gerard Butler in the Hollywood film[/caption]

The priest, real name Sam Childers, is battling ISIS in the Congo as he continues his holy war to save abused children.

He’s famously known as being the inspiration behind the movie Machine Gun Preacher.

The film starred an A-list cast of Gerard Butler as Childers, Michelle Monaghan as his wife, and Michael Shannon.

Machine Gun Preacher told the story of how Childers came to be fighting in Africa after growing up in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Once a criminal, he found God, turned his life to charity work in Africa and dedicated himself to saving children.

Machine Gun Preacher – the film – showed him battling Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army in 1997.

Now he’s released a self-made documentary – trying to raise money to take the fight to ISIS in Congo.

He said: “I’m not worried about dying. I’m 62 years old. The last thing I worry about is dying. I worry more about living than dying.”

After being hammered in the Middle East, ISIS turned to Africa and is now enslaving thousands of children as its militants rampage through impoverished areas.

Childers has a network of orphanages, schools, and farms set up across the centre of the continent.

But he’s come into combat with ISIS as they have expanded into Congo.

He said: “We don’t want to see our children be kidnapped, sold in prostitution.

“We don’t want to see none of that so I’m willing to do whatever I have to do… and I’m willing to answer for it.

“They are murderers. They’re killers.

AFP

Childers said he has battled other groups like M23[/caption]

“I’m not afraid of none of them.”

Some 5.4million people have been killed in Congo’s ongoing conflicts since 1998 – but the wars have gone largely ignored in the West.

Three children were beheaded by rebel fighters in February and dozens more killed when they took a village.

Childers’ belief in God has given the preacher the strength to keep fighting – even against militant Christian groups.

The Lord’s Resistance Army raped and abducted girls, mutilated them, and enslaved boys into being child soldiers.

He said: “I’ve been ambushed over 10 times. Been in over 10 major battles. They tried to assassinate me over 10 times.

“That’s just in the Kony War.”

Despite the gun battles, Childers says that he was in more danger while a bikie and drug dealer in America.

Caters News Agency

Childers has been working in Africa since the 1990s[/caption]

Caters News Agency

Childers became a heroin addict and bikie in his youth but turned his life around[/caption]

He said: “I fought in guerrilla warfare, or been in war over 25 years, and I never was shot in Africa.

“I was shot once and stabbed 3 times in America.”

Childers said the soldiering was a means to an end – supporting the good work his organisations do through orphanages and farms.

“What you got to realize those rescues and to be active in stuff like that costs a lot of money.

“I have a lot of children and orphanages and children’s homes that got to be taken care of.”

Now, he runs a private military company in Congo that works with local forces to try and save children.

Childers said many of the children he rescued were severely mentally damaged by their time spent in captivity.

He said: “They cannot be kept in a normal orphanage with other children until after one year.

“That’s if the people believe they’re doing well. That’s doing the mental evaluations.”

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Childers and Butler — who played him in the 2014 film[/caption]

Alamy

Michelle Monaghan and Butler in the Machine Gun Preacher film[/caption]

Alamy

Childers first fought in East Africa against the Lord’s Resistance Army[/caption]

But Childers revealed that he preferred to work with children rather than adults, saying they could work through the mental challenges they faced from being victims of rape or violence.

But it’s not just ISIS that his charities are fighting, with disease and hunger also continuing to kill children.

Childers said: “So then we feed over 10,000 meals a day. The majority of the children we feed only eat one meal a day, and that’s the meal we’re feeding them.”

Now, the preacher has released a new film trying to raise money for his work.

“Our goal is to do a hundred 1,000 downloads by the end of this year and that money’s used for children, man, you know. And so, instead of telling everyone, hey, send me $20.

“We’re asking everyone. Look, you want to hear a good story. You want to hear a good story of redemption. You want to hear a good story of saving people’s lives. You want to hear a good story of giving all.”

Becoming the Machine Gun Preacher

Childers was born into a difficult household with a heroin addict mum and drunkard dad.

They were always Christians, but in his teens Childers got in with the wrong crowd, he said.

“I started doing what they were doing to fit in, smoking cigarettes, smoking marijuana.

“12 years old: drinking, eating pills.

“13, 14 years old: snorting cocaine.

“Then, at 15 years old, I woke up one morning, and here I got a heroin addiction. You know, I’m shooting up cocaine, shooting up heroin.”

Childers quit school and said he turned himself into one of the biggest drug dealers in Grand Rapids, running narcotics from all over the US.

He said: “The only good thing was my dad brought me and my brothers up to be hardworking people.

“I always held a job, even though I was a cocaine addict heroin addict.

“But I made a lot of money selling drugs.”

Childers said he always believed in God, but “I thought I had everything I needed.

“I had money. I had drugs, guns, women motorcycles.”

But then in his early 20s, Childers got into a bar fight that was so awful it changed the course of his life.

“There were big guys, tough guys laying on the floor crying, holding their guts in.

And I said that night, if I get out of here, I’m I’m done living this life.”

His charity work has seen Childers honoured with the Mother Teresa Memorial International Award for Social Justice in 2013.

VLADIMIR Putin is preparing a “huge, vicious and unrelenting” revenge assault on Ukraine just days after Operation Spiderweb, U.S. and Western officials have warned.

Insiders said the Kremlin‘s full-scale retaliation for last week’s stunning drone blitz on four key Russian airbases hasn’t yet materialized – but it is coming very soon.

AFP

Western officials have warned that Vladimir Putin is plotting a major revenge assault on Ukraine[/caption]

AP

Fire and smoke rise from the site where a Russian missile struck a residential area in Kharkiv on Saturday[/caption]

The revenge strike will be “asymmetrical” and likely to feature a mix of drones and missiles aimed at symbolic Ukrainian targets – not just military assets, one U.S. official told Reuters.

Another said the operation could begin within days.

A senior Western diplomat added: “It will be huge, vicious and unrelenting.

“But the Ukrainians are brave people.”

On Friday, Russia unleashed a fierce missile and drone barrage on Kyiv, killing at least six and injuring over 80, but American officials say this may only be the beginning.

Russia‘s Defense Ministry called it a response to “terrorist acts” by Ukraine – but insiders say the real retaliation is still being assembled behind the scenes.

U.S. officials believe the SBU — Ukraine’s security service — may be directly targeted in the revenge strike.

Carnegie Endowment analyst Michael Kofman told Reuters: “Most likely, they will attempt to retaliate against (SBU) headquarters, or other regional intelligence administration buildings.

“In general, Russia’s ability to substantially escalate strikes from what they are already doing — and attempting to do over the past month — is quite constrained.”

PUTIN’S $7bn HUMILIATION

The looming storm follows Operation Spiderweb – Ukraine‘s most daring covert strike yet.

It was led personally by spy chief Vasyl Malyuk under the direct orders of President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Over 117 kamikaze drones were launched from hidden mobile units disguised as everyday cargo trucks, slipped undetected into Russian territory.

New footage released on Saturday by Ukraine’s SBU shows an FPV drone lifting off from a lorry rooftop before smashing directly into a Russian bomber at the Belaya airfield.

The strikes hit four strategic bases – Belaya, Dyagilevo, Olenya, and Ivanovo — torching aircraft capable of launching nuclear warheads.

Ukrainian officials say 41 planes were destroyed or damaged.

U.S. intelligence puts the figure closer to 20, with at least 10 completely destroyed – still a staggering blow to Russia’s long-range bomber fleet.

The $7billion damage, inflicted with zero boots on the ground, has left the Kremlin tyrant furious and determined to reassert its military dominance.

Twitter

The SBU released new footage of the covert operation on Saturday[/caption]

‘IT’S NOT GOING TO BE PRETTY’

President Donald Trump revealed this week that he spoke directly with Putin on Wednesday.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the Russian despot told him “he will have to respond” to the drone attack.

Speaking to reporters later, Trump added: “It’s probably not going to be pretty. I don’t like it.

“I said: ‘Don’t do it. You shouldn’t do it. You should stop it.’

“But, again, there’s a lot of hatred.”

Meanwhile, Russia’s propaganda machine is framing the war as existential.

Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declared Friday: “This is about the future of our children, of our country.”

Getty

A view of destruction following the two-hour Russian attack on Kharkiv on Saturday[/caption]

Getty

A man stands amid rubble in destroyed house at residential district after Russian shelling in Kharkiv[/caption]

BLITZ ALREADY UNDERWAY?

While officials say the major strike is still to come, Ukraine is already reeling from a brutal few days of missile and drone attacks.

On Friday, 400 drones and 45 missiles rained down on cities across the country.

In Kyiv, explosions lit up the night sky near the Mother Ukraine monument.

A fire tore through the 11th floor of a residential block in Solomyanskyi, and emergency crews rushed to save civilians trapped inside.

Overnight into Saturday, Kharkiv suffered Russia’s largest airstrike yet, killing three – including a baby and a 14-year-old girl – and wounding 21.

“We have a lot of damage,” Kharkiv’s mayor Ihor Terekhov said.

At least 18 apartment buildings and 13 homes were hit, with more strikes reported in Donetsk, Dnipro, Ternopil, and Odesa.

Ukraine’s Air Force said it shot down 174 out of 206 drones and nine missiles overnight.

EPA

SUMMER OFFENSIVE BREWING

Western analysts say Mad Vlad is not just seeking revenge – but a breakthrough.

Reports from Ukrainian intelligence suggest up to 125,000 troops are massing near the Sumy and Kharkiv frontiers, with fears of a three-pronged summer assault to finally break the deadlock.

The offensive is expected to focus on Kramatorsk, Kostiantynivka, and Pokrovsk in the Donbas – with plans to encircle key cities rather than slug it out street by street.

Military analyst Konrad Muzyka told The Telegraph Russia’s tactics have evolved: “We have seen the Russians shift to focused, small-unit attacks, often of just three to five men.

“Company-size assaults of 50 to 100 men hardly ever happen anymore.”

But Ukraine, armed with drones and Western weapons, isn’t backing down.

Zelensky warned this week: “Even after all of Russia’s horrific attacks, he is reportedly preparing yet more so-called ‘responses.’

“With every new strike, with every delay of diplomacy, Russia is giving the finger to the entire world.”

COPS have revealed what led them to human remains in the search for a teenager who vanished three weeks ago.

Detectives made the discovery on Friday while searching for 17-year-old Pheobe Bishop in “unforgiving” terrain.

9News

9News

Investigators were steered to the crime scene – five miles from their initial search area – by a family tracking app on Pheobe’s phone.

The remains were discovered at 2.30pm on Friday in remote bushland, according to Queensland Detective Inspector Craig Mansfield.

Police believe they were not buried.

Mansfield explained the remains still need to be formally identified and “as a result, a crime scene is still established there at the moment”.

He added: “Our forensic capabilities will hopefully be finished there today.

“The area is in an unforgiving terrain, so it may take some time to finish that examination.”

The process of recovering the remains has been delayed by over a day – the reason being that dangerous wildlife, including feral pigs and dogs, scour the area, Daily Mail Australia reports.

The teen’s travel luggage and phone have not been found, police say.

Pheobe was last seen near Bundaberg Airport in southern Queensland at around 8.30am on May 15.

She was supposed to fly to Brisbane and then to Perth to see her “high-school sweetheart” boyfriend but CCTV footage showed that she never entered the airport.

Pheobe’s two housemates James Wood and Tanika Bromley were charged with murder on Thursday, along with two counts of interfering with a corpse.

The remains were collected on Saturday night from the Good Night Scrub National Park, where police remained on Sunday morning, according to Daily Mail Australia.

The is around an hour from Pheobe’s hometown of Gin Gin, near Bundaberg in central Queensland, where she shared a house with Wood and Bromley.

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‘This is ripping me apart,’ said Pheobe’s mum[/caption]

9News

Mansfield said: “We have been in contact with Pheobe’s family to advise them of this development.

“Understandably, this caused great distress to them, however they’re supportive of the information that they’ve been receiving along the way.”

Pheobe’s mum Kylie Johnson thanked police on Saturday for their efforts in finding her daughter.

“These guys have literally been on their hands and knees to find our baby and get her home to us,” she said.

“I will honestly never be able to repay them for what they have done for my family and Pheobe.

“They have worked 24 hour days since Pheobe went missing and they won’t stop until she’s home.”

On Friday, the mum made a heartbreaking statement on social media after receiving the news.

“I didn’t think my heart could break anymore than it did when you went missing, or when the charges were laid but this. This is ripping me apart,” she said.

Pheobe’s sister Kaylea Bishop said the teen was “loved and missed” dearly.

Standing outside Bundaberg Magistrates Court, where Wood and Bromley’s murder charges were heard on Friday morning, Kaylea begged for help finding her sister’s body.

A candlelight vigil will take place in Gin Gin at 4pm today to honour the teen, Daily Mail reports.

People attending the vigil have reportedly been encouraged to wear bright colours and butterflies.

Wood and Bromley will return to court on August 11.

School supply sales remain sluggish in some stores in Baclaran just a week before the official reopening of SY 2025-2026.

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A flash flood hit several barangays in San Jose Del Monte City, Bulacan on Friday afternoon, affecting hundreds of families.

Third time indeed proved to be the charm for National University-Nazareth School, after they copped the elusive crown in the Shakey's Girls Volleyball Invitational League (SGVIL) Rising Stars Cup on Saturday.

Police have stopped 72 e-scooters and handed out 22 fines during a crackdown sparked by a pedestrian’s death, as the Premier warned tougher regulations might be needed.