GALLERI: May 2019

Girl with brain damage who suffered vile online abuse over her facial deformities has died aged 10

Prior to her death, Sophia and her mother began to check items off the pre-teen’s bucket list, including green hair extensions

A girl who was targeted with vile abuse from online trolls over her facial deformities has died at the age of 10.

Sophia Weaver from North Carolina passed away from complications of Rett Syndrome, a rare genetic neurological and developmental disorder, which affects brain development and leads to the decline of language, breathing, walking, motor and social skills.

Weaver, who had been living in a hospice after undergoing 20 surgeries, had at one point become the target of online harassment and trolling after her image was used in an offensive tweet about abortion.

The user wrote: "It is okay to think that every child matters, however a lot of them do not hence the amnio test. (It) should be a mandatory test and if it proves negative and the woman does not want to abort then all bills accrued after that is on her and the father."

Natalie Weaver, Sophia’s mother, hit back at Twitter’s lack of action, saying: “@TwitterSupport Just received an email that Twitter doesn’t think a person using my child’s image as the poster child to ABORT & to weed out all the ‘defectives’ in utero is a violation. Why? Bc they won’t recognize hate toward ppl w/ disabilities in their regulations/reports.”

After the internet came to Sophia and Natalie’s defence, the social media platform removed the tweet and suspended the poster. However, this was not an isolated incident, and Sophia and her family continued to receive both harassment and support, which influenced Natalie to become an activist and advocate for children with disabilities.Prior to her death, Sophia and her mother began to check items off the pre-teen’s bucket list, including green hair extensions.

“Once we pull ourselves from this shattering pain we will continue to help others in her memory.” said Natalie Weaver in an Instagram post on Friday.

Barcelona vs Valencia: Marcelino’s side stun Lionel Messi to clinch Copa del Rey and end trophy drought

Valencia's players celebrate after the final whistle

valencia beat Barcelona 2-1 to win the Copa del Rey on Saturday, ending the Spanish champions’ four-year winning streak in the competition and denying them a domestic double.

Kevin Gameiro and Rodrigo Moreno struck first-half goals to give Marcelino‘s dominant Valencia control of the final in Seville’s sweltering Benito Villamarin stadium.

Record 30-times Cup winners Barcelona struggled without injured forwards Luis Suarez and Ousmane Dembele but Lionel Messi pulled the Catalans back into the game with a close-range finish.

Goncalo Guedes missed a gilt-edged chance in stoppage-time for Valencia but they held on to win their first major trophy since last lifting the Cup in 2008.

“I’m so happy because for me, my family, it’s incredible,” said Valencia captain Dani Parejo. “A club like Valencia deserves a lot more joy like this. I don’t have the words, it’s incredible.

We’ve made history in a really significant year, our centenary year.”

Valencia finished fourth in La Liga after a strong second half of the season, reaching the Europa League semi-finals and ending an impressive campaign with this victory.

By contrast, Barcelona’s campaign collapsed in the last fortnight as they threw away a three-goal Champions League semi-final lead to be eliminated by Liverpool before letting the Cup slip out of their hands.

Barcelona were bidding to lift themselves from their humiliation on Merseyside by securing the ninth domestic double in their history, but despite Messi’s efforts they were over-run by a determined and well-drilled Valencia side.

Gerard Pique was forced to clear Rodrigo’s effort off the line before Gameiro blasted Marcelino’s side ahead in the 22nd minute after good work from Jose Luis Gaya.

The Catalans failed to create openings and Rodrigo nodded home the second after Carlos Soler whipped a ball across the face of goal.

Messi struck the post with a delightful outside-of-the-boot effort before slotting home the rebound when Jaume Domenech saved Clement Lenglet’s header for his 51st goal of the season, but it was not enough.

Beilein leaving Michigan to coach Cavaliers

John Beilein is leaving Michigan after 12 seasons to become the Cleveland Cavaliers' coach.

Sources told ESPN that he will receive a five-year deal.

Beilein reached a deal with the Cavaliers on Sunday and informed Michigan's administration of his decision to leave for the NBA on Monday morning, sources said.

"John is one of the most accomplished and innovative basketball minds and leaders in the entire game," Cavaliers general manager Koby Altman said in a statement. "He has a unique ability to create an outstanding culture that will promote the development of young players and provide a solid structure to the entire program; not to mention the fact that John Beilein wins everywhere he goes. We are excited Coach Beilein is joining our organization as we continue to build the foundation that any enterprise needs to be successful and competitive year in and year out."

Beilein offered his thanks to Michigan in a tweet.

The Cavaliers have been using the term "culture driver" internally when discussing the possibility of hiring Beilein, sources said. He's considered one of the elite offensive tacticians and teachers in basketball, a coach who has never been an assistant and climbed almost every level of basketball -- coaching high school, junior college and Division III, II and I. The final step in an odyssey that has brought him an 829-468 college record has been the NBA, and now Beilein makes the leap.

He led Michigan to two Final Fours and four Big Ten tournament and regular-season titles during his 12-year run in Ann Arbor.

"I was saddened when John told me this morning of his decision to leave Michigan for a head coaching position in the NBA. However, I am incredibly thankful for his 12 years of service to this university," Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel said in a statement. "Above and beyond being our all-time winningest coach, John is a tremendous role model for the game of college basketball. He is an outstanding educator, community member and a man of great integrity, and he and Kathleen will be missed. My priority now is to commence a full national search for our next basketball coach."

Beilein, 66, has entertained thoughts about the NBA for several years and had detailed discussions with two franchises -- the Orlando Magic and Detroit Pistons -- last year before deciding to return to Michigan.

Beilein and his wife didn't want to move far from Michigan, and the Pistons' borderline playoff roster with little financial flexibility to make changes made staying in-state less appealing. Cleveland's rebuild status, with point guardCollin Sexton and a 14 percent chance -- along with New York and Phoenix -- to earn the No. 1 pick in Tuesday's NBA draft lottery, appealed to Beilein.

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Ayesha Curry reveals unnerving fan interaction in new 'Red Table Talk' interview with Jada Pinkett Smith

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Ayesha Curry, celebrity chef and wife to Golden State Warriorsstar Stephen Curry, is opening up about a disturbing fan interaction.

In a new episode of Jada Pinkett Smith's Facebook talk show, "Red Table Talk," Curry says the incident happened years ago when her daughter Riley was an infant. She says she was breastfeeding in the car when a group of Warriors fans came to ask her husband for photos and autographs.
"The woman opens the car door, sticks her body in the car and she is like, 'Oh, let me see,'" Ayesha said.
When she asked for privacy, the woman reportedly replied, "Oh honey, you know what you signed up for."

Ayesha also revealed how she feels about something every athlete's significant other deals with: groupies.
"Stephen is very nice by nature, and he's very talkative," she said. "Everything's very friendly and sometimes to the point where I'm like, okay I'm a grown woman. So I just insert myself and be like 'Hello, how are you doing?'"
Ayesha also admitted those same groupies sometimes make her feel insecure, something Pinkett Smith admitted as well.

tyra banks

Tyra Banks makes her return to modeling with third Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover

Tyra Banks made a huge return to modeling to grace the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit for the third time. The 45-year-old model and mogul made history in 1997 as the first black woman to get her own solo cover for the publication's annual swimsuit edition.

The theme for the issue is "Shattering Perceptions." For the cover photo, Banks sported a yellow Andi Bagus bikini and her signature smize in Great Exuma, Bahamas, photographed by Laretta Houston.

"This is for everybody that has been told that they are not good enough because of their body, their age, their everything," Banks wrote on Twitter. "#BanX is here to tell you that you ARE friggin' fierce no matter what anybody says!"

Banks first appeared on the pages of the magazine in 1993. She landed the cover in 1996 alongside fellow model Valeria Mazza, and returned a year later for her history-making solo cover. She paid homage to that iconic shot in another photo for the 2019 spread — bringing back the red polka dot bikini.

Since Tyra's first cover in 1996, she's transformed herself into nothing less than a mogul, a cultural force and a supernova of inspiration and empowerment," said SI Swimsuit editor MJ Day. "She's kind of the Swimsuit Issue ethos come to life, everything we know this franchise can be."

Banks retired from modeling in 2005, after walking in her final Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. She's since turned herself into a media mogul, creating the long-running reality television series "America's Next Top Model," hosting her talk show, "The Tyra Banks Show," writing a young adult novel called "Modelland" and founding her cosmetics company, "Tyra Beauty." She had a son, named York Banks Asla, with photographer Erik Asla in 2016.

In addition to Banks' cover, soccer star and Olympic gold medalist Alex Morgan and model search winner Camille Kostek also landed solo S.I. Swimsuit covers this year. "The three women that make up the covers of the 2019 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue represent the brand in the most powerful way possible," Day said. "While each individual woman is so unique, they come together cohesively to tell a spectacular story."

Lucas Moura, Pochettino and Tottenham's "gift from god"

Tottenham's miraculous second-leg recovery against Ajax was, according to second-half hat-trick scorer Lucas Moura, a "big gift from god". Yet unwavering belief has been a constant in the club's journey to a first UEFA Champions League final.

Even so, for all his pre-match talk about belief and after all his players have been through this season, Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino must – perhaps somewhere in the deepest recesses of his soul – have been doubting whether his side could really pull off this spectacular heist when Moussa Sissoko sent his Hail Mary pass high into the Amsterdam night.

Jan Vertonghen's crossbar-bound effort notwithstanding, an Ajax side fuelled by their own sense of destiny had been successfully repelling Tottenham's late advances and were closing in on a first final in over 20 years. Yet Moura's intervention, which plenty of Spurs fans will no doubt suggest was divine, means that it is Tottenham who will be in Madrid on 1 June.

The Spanish capital seemed a long way away on the club's last visit to the Netherlands – a 2-2 draw with Ajax's Eredivisie title rivals PSV Eindhoven in late October. After that result, Pochettino conceded that his side's hopes were "nearly over" and that there was "minimum possibility" of progression.

Minimum possibility, though, is not quite the same as elimination. In some ways this Amsterdam turnaround was in keeping with Tottenham's continental campaign, which has been chock-full of late drama, fuelled by a singularity of purpose.

Harry Kane scored an 89th-minute winner against PSV in London whileChristian Eriksen left it to until the 80th minute to strike against Internazionale. Moura has previous, too: he converted with five minutes to spare in Barcelona in the final round of group games.

This trumped the lot, though; surely the greatest night in Tottenham's modern history. "Thank you, football, thank you to my players," an emotional Pochettino said. "I have a group of players who are heroes. The second half was amazing. It is impossible to live this type of emotion without football. Thank you to everyone who has believed in us. To describe this in words is difficult."

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