JAKE PAUL has sent a classy message to former opponent Ben Askren.

Askren, 40, was knocked out by the YouTuber-turned-boxer back in 2021 and has been in hospital recently.

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Jake Paul issued a classy message to Ben Askren[/caption]

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The MMA star is in need of a lung transplant[/caption]

The former MMA star has been needing treatment for weeks due to complications from severe pneumonia.

He will need to undergo a lung transplant and has been placed on the waiting list as he continues to fight alongside his beloved wife Amy.

Paul, 28, beat Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in California by unanimous decision on Saturday night.

He dominated the bout, with judges awarding him nine out of the ten rounds.

But it was after the fight that Paul sent his classy message to his old adversary.

Paul urged fans to donate to Askren to help cover the astronomical costs of Askren’s operation.

It comes after it was confirmed that his insurance would not cover the lung transplant.

Askren’s family have launched a non-profit fund on Help Hope Live to help contribute to the costs.

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Paul also made the commitment to make a big donation alongside his brother Logan Paul.

He said: “Say a prayer for Ben Askren and for his family.

“We all need to support him. Everyone should go donate to him.”

Meanwhile, Paul also spoke about Askren’s health battle before the fight with Chavez Jr.

He insisted that he was willing to help Askren’s family if needed.

He said: “My prayers go out to him. I feel sorry for his family, I can’t imagine what they’re going through.

“I just hope that he can recover because there’s so much more to life besides fighting and careers.

“I’m wishing him the best and I’m here if they need any support.”

MICHAEL McGrath has vowed to nail gangsters like Daniel Kinahan.

The Fianna Fail EU Commissioner will work to ensure thugs can be extradited from Dubai.

Mr McGrath is responsible for democracy, justice, the rule of law and consumer protection.

And he spoke out after Kinahan member Sean McGovern, 39, was extradited to Ireland on May 29 to face charges including murder.

While there isn’t a single EU-wide extradition treaty with Dubai, Ireland recently signed a bilateral agreement with the United Arab Emirates.

Speaking to The Irish Sun on Sunday from his office in Brussels, Mr McGrath said he is “very anxious” to secure a long-term deal for the bloc with the UAE.

The ex-Finance Minister added: “I’m personally determined to extend the ­network of agreements that we have on judicial co-operation with third countries.”

The number of extraditions to Europe from Dubai has increased in recent months.

Earlier this month, footie star Quincy Promes, 33, was booted back to the Netherlands to serve a seven-and-a-half-year prison sentence for stabbing his cousin and drug smuggling.

The ex-Ajax star was arrested at his home in Dubai after a request by the Dutch police.

Mr McGrath revealed there was a “very successful visit to the UAE” in April.

This involved Eurojust, which is “focused on judicial co-operation on an international basis”.

Mr McGrath added: “So we work very, very closely to increase the network of third country agreements we have, and the UAE would be among the list of countries that I would like to improve the level of co-operation with.”

IRELAND has been beset by anti-social behaviour on public transport for a number of years.

The Dail heard last month that there was an “urgent need” for security personnel on Dublin’s buses and trains, citing a “steady stream” of violent incidents.

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The rise in incidents ranging from verbal abuse and intimidation to physical assaults has endangered passengers and staff, and also damaged trust in the transport system.

In the run up to the general election, Fianna Fail promised to create a new transport police that would be independent of An Garda Siochana.

This force will operate under the National Transport Authority.

Writing in the Irish Sun on Sunday today, Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien and TD for Dublin Fingal East says this will protect passengers and staff and also builds public confidence.

MY priority for the next five years of this government is to drive forward a transformative programme of investment in sustainable and modern transport infrastructure to boost economic growth for the country.

I want to continue to invest in reliable, accessible, and efficient transport links between our towns, cities, and rural areas. This includes expanding our bus and rail fleets, building new rail stations, and accelerating the electrification of public transport.

We are progressing several major projects nationwide that will significantly improve Ireland’s transport system.

BusConnects is a transformative programme of investment in the bus system, providing better bus services across our cities.

In Dublin, the major infrastructure element of BusConnects comprises the Core Bus Corridor schemes.

These aim to provide over 200km of enhanced bus and cycling infrastructure in Dublin.

WORK PROGRESSING

I am pleased to say that An Bord Pleanála has approved all 12 Core Bus Corridor applications in Dublin. My department aims to have the first of the Core Bus Corridors in construction this year.

We have also received planning approval for DART+ West and full approval for DART+ South West and the new DART+ Fleet, currently undergoing testing, which will start rolling out on the Northern line from Dublin to/from Drogheda in 2026.

In April 2025, I was pleased to open a new ‘through’ platform at Kent Station in Cork city.

Works are also continuing on the Cork Area Commuter Rail Programme Phase 1 works and I look forward to these being complete in 2026. Luas Cork, the new light rail project for the city is also progressing.

For public transport to function effectively and accommodate a growing number of journeys, safety must remain at the core of policy and planning.

A reliable and secure system not only protects passengers and staff but also builds public confidence, encouraging greater use of sustainable transport.

One of my key priorities is addressing safety on public transport. While significant progress has been made in recent years through increased investment in safety measures, antisocial behaviour — or even the perception of it — remains a serious challenge.

SAFE AND SECURE NETWORK

Those who rely on or work within our public transport system must feel secure.

That is why I have initiated work to establish a dedicated Transport Security Force, which was a key commitment in the Programme for Government and a priority for me and my colleagues in Fianna Fáil.

Just this week, I met with the Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan and his officials to work on establishing a security force, with their input and support.

While the past few years have seen significant progress on investment in safety measures, antisocial behaviour remains a serious issue, and it is those who regularly use and work within our public transport network who are most directly impacted by any safety or security incidents.

Work in the Department for Transport is advancing around identifying the necessary legislative proposals to progress the Transport Security Force commitment, in conjunction with the NTA.

The decisions over the appropriate model for the Transport Security Force are in the preliminary stages of the deliberative process.

The introduction of such a force will require the development of legislation too which can have a significant lead time, but I will keep the public updated as we progress through the various stages.

Underpinning this commitment to delivering a safe and secure public transport network, the ongoing interim work on public transport safety will continue, as will the support and funding for operator measures, such as the recent extension of the Dublin Bus Security Pilot Scheme.

EMERGENCY ALARMS

All public transport operators are continuing to expend significant resources introducing measures to counter the impact of antisocial behaviour.

For example, all services are now fully fitted with CCTV cameras, various text alert systems and control centres have been introduced.

Across the operating companies, security screens and safety cabins are provided where possible for driver safety. There are emergency alarms onboard all vehicles which can be activated by drivers to contact their central control centres.

As Minister for Transport I am continuing to work closely with industry stakeholders to identify measures to improve passenger safety.

We have established a public transport safety working group, with representatives from the public transport operators, the commercial bus sector, the NTA, unions, An Garda Síochána, the Department of Justice, and passenger representative groups.

I will continue to engage with operators and unions and will continue to work with all stakeholders to provide safe, sustainable public transport.

THE family of missing man Mark ‘Rubber’ Duffy fear he has been killed and secretly buried by a drugs gang.

Mark’s distraught sister Leia Duffy, 39, made the claim as detectives continue to investigate the dad of two’s disappearance on October 3, 2022.

An Garda Siochana

Lorraine O'Sullivan - Commissioned by The Sun Dublin

Mark, 43, who was vulnerable and battled addiction, was last seen alive at 2.45pm as he crossed the Commons Road in Navan, Co Meath.

He was also seen collecting his social welfare payment that morning.

Despite extensive searches over the last two-and-a-half years, Gardai have been unable to locate him — or establish any “proof of life”.

As his heartbroken family prepare to meet investigators, they revealed for the first time how they believe he was killed after he was wrongly accused of stealing drugs from a local mob.

The family also suffered further tragedy when Mark’s ex-partner Sharon passed away from natural causes on December 29, 2002.

Leia told The Irish Sun on Sunday: “Even if the Kinahans had been after Mark he would have returned home to be with his children when their mother passed away.

“We firmly believe he was lured to his death and then buried somewhere because they wrongly believed he had taken their drugs.

“Mark didn’t have a bad bone in his body and there’s no way he would have done something like this.

“He was about to start a new job as a foreman in Cork and would never have jeopardised this.

“The Gardai are aware of this and we have no doubt that this case should now be a murder inquiry.”

She continued: “Mark loved the ground his kids walked on and would never ever have abandoned them. Our family is broken over this.

“He didn’t have the means to disappear and we know he is dead. Anytime I needed him he was there and it’s hard to believe he is gone.

“This is not about revenge or retribution — we just want someone to make an anonymous call and tell us where he is so we can bury him with my father Fergus.

“We don’t want to be like those other poor families who have had to wait years for answers — we just want him back.

“I think he didn’t see what was coming and was lured to his death as he was so trusting.”

MURDER PROBE CALLS

Mark’s son Evan also spoke for the first time about his family’s ongoing trauma.

He said: “I don’t care about people being held accountable — I just want my dad home.

“We just want to lay him to rest — we can’t continue like this. Our lives have been turned upside down,we just want a place to go so we can pay our respects to him.

“My dad would never have left his children this long, we just need one person to tell us where he is.”

Leia added: “When we meet with the Gardai we will be pressing for a murder inquiry to be established.

“We want the full resources of a murder inquiry because my brother didn’t just vanish into thin air.

“He was last seen near the railway lines. Mark’s addiction only took hold after he struggled with the passing of his father in December 2021.

“He was in a bad place in the ten months before he went missing and did not deserve this.

“If he did have some kind of debt then it could have been resolved — so many lives have been affected by this nightmare.”

Lorraine O'Sullivan - Commissioned by The Sun Dublin

Lorraine O'Sullivan - Commissioned by The Sun Dublin

As the investigation continues, we can reveal officers are examining data from Mark’s Snapchat account after detectives obtained a court order in the US.

They’ve also taken 40 statements and continue to trawl CCTV footage from the day of his disappearance.

We also understand they have identified a “person of interest”, who’s currently in prison.

He was the individual who had driven Mark to collect his social welfare payment.

Cops have also identified three other individuals, but none have yet given any credible information.

We truly believe Mark is not alive anymore because there is not a shadow of doubt he would have come back — the kids were his life.”

Mark’s mother, Martina

Detectives believe the inmate is the same man who brought Mark to collect his social welfare payment on the same morning that he went missing.

They are also examining claims a number of individuals were overheard in a pub speaking about how Mark would “never be found”.

Officers recovered Mark’s social welfare card and receipts but have yet to locate his phone.

At present, the case is classified as a “missing persons” case.

‘I KNOW HE’S GONE’

Mark’s mother Martina also urged anyone with information to come forward, adding: “My son was the life and soul of the party and we all just miss him so much.

“I know he’s gone and I won’t be around forever to lay him to rest with my husband.”

She continued: “It breaks my heart seeing his poor children suffer and he would be very proud of them because they have handled this trauma with great dignity.”

Martina added: “He has been threatened in the past because of his problems with addiction. But nobody deserves this.

“It’s awful to think he has been out there for almost three years.

MARK ‘POSED NO THREAT’

“I don’t know how anyone could do this to someone who just lived for his family. Mark could barely walk because of the limp he had from a previous accident and posed no threat to anyone.

“When he went missing it would have been a busy time — with school collections — and someone must have seen something.

“He interacted with a number of other people throughout the day but none of them have ever reached out and given us any sort of an explanation as to what he was doing.”

His mother went on to say: “We truly believe Mark is not alive anymore because there is not a shadow of doubt he would have come back — the kids were his life.

“He hasn’t got a passport, he didn’t even have a wallet and hasn’t been anywhere.

“So we know he has been taken from us.”

Anyone with any knowledge of Mark’s whereabouts is asked to contact Navan Garda station on 046-9036100 or the Garda Confidential Line on 1800666111.

Collect image sourced by Stephen Breen

A DODGY solicitor caged over a property scam believes he will be killed by Kinahan cartel hitman Alan Wilson.

Herbert Kilcline, 64, made the claim to The Irish Sun before he was jailed for two and a half years last week.

The fraudster used false deeds to change the ownership of two Dublin properties.

Kilcline – who worked on the €250,000 scam with millionaire Philip Marley, 53 – believes Wilson “won’t rest” until he is dead.

Although Kilcline is being held in Mountjoy and Wilson in the Midlands Prison, he insists the feared gangster still has “the connections” to target him.

Kilcline maintains he will always be a target after making a statement to Gardai about the murder of teenager Marioara Roastas, 18, in 2008.

Wilson was charged with her murder in 2012 but was cleared by a court in 2014.

The non-practicing solicitor claims he will always be in the sights of the notorious criminal.

Speaking to us before his conviction, Kilcline said: “I will be a target for Alan Wilson until the day I die.

“He has never forgiven me for making a statement to the Gardai about Marioara Rostas.

“I’m not a master criminal and don’t regret coming forward in the Rostas investigation.

“When Wilson gets out he will be baying for blood and that blood will be mine.”

Wilson, 46, is serving time over a failed 2017 plot to murder a Hutch gang associate. He is due to be released in 2028.

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Having signed Sipho Mbule earlier this month, Orlando Pirates are looking to bring in another Sundowns player.

VLADIMIR Putin has unleashed another night of hell over Ukraine with a 500 missile and drone onslaught.

Nato was forced to scramble its warplanes after the Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk was hit in an apocalyptic blast which turned the skies a crimson red overnight.

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Explosions in Kremenchuk as missiles and drones strike the city[/caption]

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A huge blast was seen from the oil refinery[/caption]

The city was attacked by Putin’s forces with cruise missiles, hypersonic missiles, and Iranian-designed  Shahed attack drones all at the same time.

It was the most powerful blitz on the city since the start of the war back in 2022. 

Ukraine claimed to have downed 475 out of 537 aerial targets – an astonishing success rate, many by its air force pilots. 

The Russian strikes involved Tu-95 strategic bombers and MiG aircraft.

Poland’s operational command announced that NATO fighters were scrambled because of  the intensity of Russian onslaught on Ukraine. 

“Due to the attack by the Russian Federation carrying out strikes on objects located in the territory of Ukraine, Polish and allied aviation has begun operating in our airspace,” said a statement.

“The Operational Commander of the [armed forces] has activated all available forces and resources at his disposal.

“The on-duty fighter pairs have been scrambled, and the ground-based air defence and radar reconnaissance systems have reached the highest state of readiness.

“The steps taken are aimed at ensuring security in the areas bordering the threatened areas.”

The attacks were across the country and amounted to one of the heaviest bombardments of the three year conflict.

A missile strike on Zaporizhzhia left an industrial facility on fire. 

“A production facility of one of the enterprises was damaged,” said Ivan Fedorov, head of the regional military administration.

Mykolaiv and Donetsk region were hit. 

The NATO defence moves came after the Russians targeted Lviv in western Ukraine. 

Mayor Andriy Sadovyi  said Russian forces attempted to strike critical infrastructure, but no civilians or residential buildings were affected.

The Ukrainian air force said Russia had unleashed 537 missiles and drones including 477 Hashed drones. 

Four Kinzhal and seven Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles were fired at Ukraine. 

The blitzkrieg also included 41 Kh-101/Iskander-K cruise missiles.

A Ukrainian F-16 supersonic fighter supplied by the West was shot down with the loss of a “hero” pilot amid a desperate operation to counter 500-plus strikes by Vladimir Putin’s forces.

Pilot Lt-Col Maksym Ustimenko, born in 1993, shot down seven air targets using all his weapons before he was hit. 

“The pilot used the entire complex of on-board weapons, and shot down seven air targets,” said the Ukrainian air force. 

“During the last exercise, his plane was damaged and began to lose altitude. 

“Maksym Ustimenko did everything possible, took the plane away from a settlement, but did not have time to eject… 

“He died like a Hero!”

A Bafana Bafana starlet is heading to England, while Relebohile Mofokeng’s potential European move raises concerns over his future.

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AARON KERNAN hopes that whoever is tasked with marking David Clifford today has slept well all week.

Kerry’s star forward is in flying form coming into the All-Ireland quarter-final against the Orchard at Croke Park.

Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

The two-time Footballer of the Year is the Championship’s top scorer with 7-37.

A whopping 7-27 of that is from play and the five-time All-Star winner helped himself to 3-7 in last Saturday’s preliminary quarter-final cruise against Cavan.

Those stats are enough to give any defender nightmares, with Armagh’s Barry McCambridge set to square up to him today.

Former Orchard defender Kernan admits Clifford is in the form of his life after a lacklustre 2024.

He believes the key to stopping the forward is to cut off his supply and that means shackling Kingdom stalwarts Seán O’Shea and Clifford’s older brother Paudie, who is named on the bench but is likely to feature.

The 2005 Young Footballer of the Year said: “You needed to sleep very easily this week if you’re on him — and know that he could kick 0-6, he could score 1-4.

“It’s a damage limitation job on David, especially if the ball is coming in early to him because it’s a different game than what it was last year.

“He looked like a hugely frustrated figure in every game last year.

“I think physically he looks in the shape of his life, but I think the energy that he’s playing with, he looks like he’s really possessed this year.

“He’s in unbelievable form and whoever’s on him will have a really difficult task.

“But it’s two or three key match-ups out the field that we need to shut down and we need to put pressure on those Kerry players.

“That’s Paudie Clifford, Seánie O’Shea because it’s the quality of ball and the amount of ball they get to him where the real damage is done.”

Clifford ran riot against the Breffni and could have scored more than he did.

But Meath showed how to stop the 26-year-old who made his Kerry debut in the 2018 National League.

The Kingdom have scored 14 goals in six Championship games this summer.

But they drew a blank against the Royals in a shock 1-22 to 0-16 defeat two weeks ago when Clifford’s supply lines from out the field were cut off.

Meath’s stranglehold in the middle gave Robbie Brennan’s men a platform to record their first Championship triumph over Kerry since the 2001 All-Ireland semi-final.

Injuries ruled out O’Shea, Paudie Clifford, Paul Geaney, Brian Ó Beaglaioch, Barry Dan O’Sullivan and Diarmuid O’Connor. But O’Shea and Ó Beaglaioch start today, with David’s brother Paudie and Geaney named on the bench.

Clifford Junior was limited to 0-5 against the Royals, including a free and a two-pointer.

And Kernan believes Armagh must use the Meath blueprint to curtail his threat.

MEATH IN THE MIDDLE

The four-time Ulster SFC winner said: “David said himself he could have potentially finished with a double hat-trick last weekend against Cavan.

“But the weekend before against Meath, they did a brilliant job in terms of shutting him down because they always had somebody who sprinted straight back to get goal-side of him.

“Whoever the full-back was — and it was predominantly Seán Rafferty — as he was being taken on by David Clifford, a second person was there to try to double up on him, so that the next pass had to go backwards, and then their scramble defence was kicked into gear.

“So that’s what Meath did really well and what Cavan didn’t do an awful lot of last weekend.

“Then Clifford ended up in one-on-one bouts, just particularly for the first goal he got, where he was able to step out on the left, burn his man, take his space and put it in the back of the net.

“That’s where Meath were really good the week previous, where a midfielder or a half-back got back and got goal-side, which meant that David had to turn back out.

“That’s the key thing. It’s shutting down particularly the likes of Paudie Clifford and Seán O’Shea, but it’s also, ‘If my man is out of the game, who can I help? Where do I need to go?’

“Don’t be standing idly by thinking, ‘I’m doing my job, my man’s not on the ball, he’s not a threat’.

“That’s irrelevant. David Clifford is always a threat, so can I help whoever happens to be on him?

“That takes a huge amount of work rate, hunger, a huge amount of focus, but it’s an All-Ireland quarter-final and it just simply has to happen.”

CROSSING THE WHITE LINE

Kernan retired from inter-county football in 2014 and soldiered on with Crossmaglen Rangers until November 2023.

He joined Sligo as a coach this year under clubmate Tony McEntee, but they departed the fold after their Tailteann Cup quarter-final loss to Fermanagh a fortnight ago.

Kernan admits it was a disappointing end to his brief spell with the Yeats men, but it’s back to basics now with the Cross Under-10s.

He said: “I loved it, but just gutted that it was over sooner than we would have hoped.

“It was a brilliant opportunity and I found it to be a brilliant experience in terms of working with the management team that was there and obviously the playing group. It was my first time really properly getting involved in any sort of a management set-up and I took a huge amount from it.

“It was just disappointing that they couldn’t have got over that game against Fermanagh and build on it, like the couple of Tailteann Cup semi-finals they’d reached previously.

“The goal was to go one step further, get to the final and win it this year, so not to have made it back to Croke Park, certainly for me personally and the whole group, it was a very disappointing one to have to walk away from Brewster Park that evening.

“But it was something I’m absolutely delighted to have done.

“I was straight back into the Crossmaglen Rangers Under-10s on the Monday night afterwards, so I’ve only been in and out.

“That’s the extent of the managerial career for the rest of the season anyway.”

l AARON KERNAN was speaking exclusively as a Gaelic games ambassador for BoyleSports ahead of today’s All-Ireland SFC quarter-finals.