Damar Hamlin: NFL player’s condition ‘moving in a positive direction’, friend says
The health of Damar Hamlin, the American football player who suffered a cardiac arrest during a game, is “moving in a positive direction”, a friend has said.
Hamlin, 24, has been in a critical condition in hospital since Monday evening when he collapsed on the field in Cincinnati.
Jordon Rooney, his friend and business partner, said medics had seen signs of progress.
“Things are moving in a positive direction, what the doctors were looking to see I think they saw that,” he said.
“Things are moving in the right direction.”
(L-R) Buffalo Bills defensive back Damar Hamlin collapsed after tackling Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins. Pic: Joseph Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports
Hamlin’s team, the Buffalo Bills, have said he remains in the intensive care unit at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.
But the Bills also said that despite still being critical, there were “signs of improvement” on Tuesday and overnight.
“He is expected to remain under intensive care as his health care team continues to monitor and treat him,” the team said in a tweet.
Mr Rooney said the player is still sedated and he also sought to clarify reports that Hamlin had to be resuscitated twice on the pitch.
“There were some reports last night that he was resuscitated twice, I wanted to clarify that was misspoke, he was only resuscitated once,” Mr Rooney said.
“Outside of that, things have just been moving in the right direction, but there’s not clarity at this point in terms of how long things are going to be, how long it’s going to take, where things are going to go.
“So for the family it’s just a matter of seeing more positive signs and hopefully keep building on that.”
Heart stopped before being ‘restored’ on pitch
The Buffalo Bills star was given CPR for around 10 minutes after he was injured following a tackle he made during the match against the Cincinnati Bengals.
The defensive back had collided with wide receiver Tee Higgins.
During the incident on the pitch, Higgins led with his right shoulder, which hit Hamlin in the chest.
Hamlin then wrapped his arms around Higgins’ shoulders and helmet to drag him down.
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Tearful players surround Damar Hamlin
Higgins managed to get to his feet and appeared to adjust his helmet before tumbling backwards and lying motionless.
The Bills said his heart stopped before his heartbeat was “restored” on the pitch by medical staff.
His football shirt was cut off and he was reportedly given oxygen.
Family express ‘sincere gratitude’
On Tuesday Hamlin’s family expressed their “sincere gratitude for the love and support” shown to him during “this challenging time” and thanked the first responders and hospital staff in Cincinnati.
They asked supporters to keep him in their prayers, and said: “We are deeply moved by the prayers, kind words and donations from fans around the country.”
His family added: “We also want to acknowledge the dedicated first responders and healthcare professionals at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center who have provided exceptional care to Damar.
“We feel so blessed to be part of the Buffalo Bills organisation and to have their support. We also want to thank Coach (Zac) Taylor and the Bengals for everything they’ve done.
“Your generosity and compassion mean the world to us. Please keep Damar in your prayers. We will release updates as soon as we have them.”
It has led to a surge in donations for a charitable campaign set up by Hamlin two years ago to purchase toys for children in need, with donations passing $6m (£5m).
Donald Trump has agreed to send “top of the line weapons” to NATO to support Ukraine – and threatened Russia with “severe” tariffs if it doesn’t agree to end the war.
Speaking with NATO secretary general Mark Rutte during a meeting at the White House, the US president said: “We’ve made a deal today where we are going to be sending them weapons, and they’re going to be paying for them.
“This is billions of dollars worth of military equipment which is going to be purchased from the United States,” he added, “going to NATO, and that’s going to be quickly distributed to the battlefield.”
Weapons being sent include surface-to-air Patriot missile systems and batteries, which Ukraine has asked for to defend itself from Russian air strikes.
Pic: Reuters
Mr Trump also said he was “very unhappy” with Russia, and threatened “severe tariffs” of “about 100%” if there isn’t a deal to end the war in Ukraine within 50 days.
The White House added that the US would put “secondary sanctions” on countries that buy oil from Russia if an agreement was not reached.
It comes after weeks of frustration from Mr Trump against Vladimir Putin’s refusal to agree to an end to the conflict, with the Russian leader telling the US president he would “not back down” from Moscow’s goals in Ukraine at the start of the month.
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Trump says Putin ‘talks nice and then bombs everybody’
During the briefing on Monday, Mr Trump said he had held calls with Mr Putin where he would think “that was a nice phone call,” but then “missiles are launched into Kyiv or some other city, and that happens three or four times”.
“I don’t want to say he’s an assassin, but he’s a tough guy,” he added.
Earlier this year, Mr Trump told Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy “you’re gambling with World War Three” in a fiery White House meeting, and suggested Ukraine started the war against Russia as he sought to negotiate an end to the conflict.
After Mr Trump’s briefing, Russian senator Konstantin Kosachev said on Telegram: “If this is all that Trump had in mind to say about Ukraine today, then all the steam has gone out.”
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Meanwhile, Mr Zelenskyy met with US special envoy Keith Kellogg in Kyiv, where they “discussed the path to peace” by “strengthening Ukraine’s air defence, joint production, and procurement of defence weapons in collaboration with Europe”.
He thanked both the envoy for the visit and Mr Trump “for the important signals of support and the positive decisions for both our countries”.
At least 30 people have been killed in the Syrian city of Sweida in clashes between local military groups and tribes, according to Syria’s interior ministry.
Officials say initial figures suggest around 100 people have also been injured in the city, where the Druze faith is one of the major religious groups.
The interior ministry said its forces will directly intervene to resolve the conflict, which the Reuters news agency said involved fighting between Druze gunmen and Bedouin Sunni tribes.
It marks the latest episode of sectarian violence in Syria, where fears among minority groups have increased since Islamist-led rebels toppled President Bashar al Assad in December, installing their own government and security forces.
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In March, Sky’s Stuart Ramsay described escalating violence within Syria
The violence reportedly erupted after a wave of kidnappings, including the abduction of a Druze merchant on Friday on the highway linking Damascus to Sweida.
Last April, Sunni militia clashed with armed Druze residents of Jaramana, southeast of Damascus, and fighting later spread to another district near the capital.
But this is the first time the fighting has been reported inside the city of Sweida itself, the provincial capital of the mostly Druze province.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reports the fighting was centred in the Maqwas neighbourhood east of Sweida and villages on the western and northern outskirts of the city.
It adds that Syria’s Ministry of Defence has deployed military convoys to the area.
Western nations, including the US and UK, have been increasingly moving towards normalising relations with Syria.
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UK aims to build relationship with Syria
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Concerns among minority groups have intensified following the killing of hundreds of Alawites in March, in apparent retaliation for an earlier attack carried out by Assad loyalists.
That was the deadliest sectarian flare-up in years in Syria, where a 14-year civil war ended with Assad fleeing to Russia after his government was overthrown by rebel forces.
The city of Sweida is in southern Syria, about 24 miles (38km) north of the border with Jordan.
The man convicted of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher has been charged with sexual assault against an ex-girlfriend.
Rudy Guede, 38, was the only person who was definitively convicted of the murder of 21-year-old Ms Kercher in Perugia, Italy, back in 2007.
He will be standing trial again in November after an ex-girlfriend filed a police report in the summer of 2023 accusing Guede of mistreatment, personal injury and sexual violence.
Guede, from the Ivory Coast, was released from prison for the murder of Leeds University student Ms Kercher in 2021, after having served about 13 years of a 16-year sentence.
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Since last year – when this investigation was still ongoing – Guede has been under a “special surveillance” regime, Sky News understands, meaning he was banned from having any contact with the woman behind the sexual assault allegations, including via social media, and had to inform police any time he left his city of residence, Viterbo, as ruled by a Rome court.
Guede has been serving a restraining order and fitted with an electronic ankle tag.
The Kercher murder case, in the university city of Perugia, was the subject of international attention.
Ms Kercher, a 21-year-old British exchange student, was found murdered in the flat she shared with her American roommate, Amanda Knox.
The Briton’s throat had been cut and she had been stabbed 47 times.
(L-R) Raffaele Sollecito, Meredith Kercher and Amanda Knox. File pic: AP
Ms Knox and her then-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were placed under suspicion.
Both were initially convicted of murder, but Italy’s highest court overturned their convictions, acquitting them in 2015.
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