Michael van Gerwen has denied young sensation Luke Littler a second successive World Series title after defeating him in the Dutch Darts Masters final.
The Dutchman beat the teenager 8-6 in the city of Den Bosch, avenging a loss to the 17-year-old last week in Bahrain where Littler lifted the trophy.
Wishing to recover from the loss in the World Darts Championship final, Littler faced Luke Humphries once more – this time in the quarter-finals – and beat him in a final leg thriller.
Luke “The Nuke” then despatched world number five Gerwyn Price, before falling at the final hurdle to world number two van Gerwen.
Van Gerwen had survived scares against Raymond van Barneveld and Gian van Veen to reach the final but stepped it up when it mattered.
Despite Littler outscoring his opponent with a 106.71 average and throwing more 180s than van Gerwen, the Dutchman punished the Warrington teen by taking out an 85 finish and securing victory with a 12-darter.
Littler said after the match that he put pressure on van Gerwen but “he just wouldn’t miss” and “finally got me at the end”.
“Hopefully I haven’t burnt myself out for the Premier League next week! I can’t wait to go to Cardiff,” he said on ITV.
Meanwhile, van Gerwen congratulated Littler saying he would have a “bright future ahead of him” and praised his “scoring power”.
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Referring to his own triumph, van Gerwen said: “I needed my best performance. We all know I had some really tough games in the last year and I underperformed a lot of times. You have to make sure you keep your fighting spirit.”
Littler and Humphries will clash once more on Thursday with the pair closing out the quarter-final fixtures at the opening night of the BetMGM Premier League in Cardiff.
Reigning champion van Gerwen begins his bid for a record-extending eighth Premier League crown against last year’s world champion Michael Smith.
We are rushing down the beach. In the gloom just before dawn, people are waiting by the seashore, a few hundred metres away.
We can see a dinghy out at sea. And then a voice rings out, in Kurdish.
“Whose passengers are you?”
In the half-light, the people smuggler thinks we are customers here to clamber on to the boat, and wants to know who we had paid.
We tell him we’re journalists.
“Keep out of the way,” he warns.
There are several dozen people gathered together, standing on the shoreline, moving anxiously from side to side.
I can see some women and children, but most of the passengers are men.
Some are clinging to a bag of possessions; others have nothing but the clothes they stand in. A man has his child held up on his shoulders.
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Just about everyone is wearing a life jacket.
Just beyond, the boat is coming near the shore, already half full of people.
It seems impossible that all the people on the land can really fit into the space left in the boat, but that’s what happens.
On a signal, the movement starts – the younger men clamber in first, and then help the women, children and older people to get into the boat.
It all happens remarkably quickly. From a distance, migrant boats may look ramshackle and chaotic, but when you get up close, there is method and practice.
Some people jump off; the men who didn’t have life jackets on.
It becomes clear that these are the smugglers – or, more accurately, the smugglers’ assistants who have been sent to sort things out.
On one side, we see a moment of tension as two passengers square up – one accuses the other of not leaving a space for him to get aboard.
It is a faintly ridiculous squabble, like something between two drunk men in a pub, and it blows over. They end up sitting next to each other, brooding.
And then the engine is started and the boat sets off. At first, it’s a failure – the boat, low in the water with around 70 people on board, gets stuck on a small bar of sand and spins around.
But, with a push here and there, it gets going and slowly chugs away into the mist of the morning.
‘Migrants are desperate’
We turn around. The smugglers are leaving. We shout a question – are all these people Kurds?
“All of them,” he says. “These are the last Kurdish customers I have. There are no more.”
“Why not?”
And his answer is one succinct word: “Rwanda.”
The smugglers, dressed in black, disappear into the gloom.
We can just about see them clambering into the dunes, and then they are gone. It is a good ten minutes before we see the police – four officers marching down the beach.
They ask only two questions – firstly, did we see women and children on the boat (yes) and secondly, had the boat been launched from the beach (no).
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They’d only just started their patrol, one of the officers tells me. He looks at the calm waters and shrugs. It could be busy.
Over the course of that night, we had seen plenty of police officers. We’d been questioned on the beach, checked as we walked near the beach and then pulled over at a road block.
We’d chatted with a team of CRS riot officers on the beach, one of whom bemoaned the fact that so few people grasped the sheer complexity of what they took on.
“It is so, so complicated – the migrants are desperate, and they can get everywhere. We cannot have a team in every place, at every time.”
It turned out that the road block officers were exactly the same team who we’d met on a different beach the previous evening.
“Ah, Sky News you are back,” he said, with a smile and a handshake.
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We meet two young Sudanese men who tell us they are determined to get to Britain. When I ask if they’re worried about the Rwanda plan, they look blank. They’ve never heard of it.
And then we drop into a migrant camp that is growing in size and bump into another group of Kurds.
They are cooking food – this is the cafe for the migrants – and brewing tea that is strong, and scented with cinnamon.
They give me a cup. It’s delicious.
Omar is kneading dough, making crispy flatbread, and serving it with yoghurt. And he talks as he cooks, serving a remarkable story.
Two years ago, Omar left Kurdistan and paid a smuggler $15,000 (£12,000) to get him to Britain. He was there for 20 months, suffered a stroke, failed to gain asylum and ended up paying a smuggler £500 to get him out of Britain and back to this squalid camp in France.
Yes, you read that correctly. He paid to be smuggled out of Britain, and back to France.
“Here there is no washing or bath,” he says.
“You can’t clean yourself. Life is hard. But in Britain I had to give my fingerprints and signature regularly. Once every two weeks.
“Then I was told they had turned me down for asylum. I couldn’t cope with Britain anymore.
“They could arrest me and send me to Rwanda or Iraq. Rwanda – I cannot go there.
“So that’s why I came back here, to this place. But I have no money. I am 52 years old. It’s a terrible feeling to be back here, but what can I do?”
Listening to him is Barzan, who arrived in the camp five days ago after eight months on the road since leaving Kurdistan.
By striking contrast, he is not remotely bothered by the Rwanda plan.
“People won’t stop, whatever you tell them.
“Even if you tell them they will be taken to Africa, they would still go without hesitation. Rwanda is better than Kurdistan.
“But in Britain there is work. The currency is strong. I’m young and I want to make a life for myself.”
Another voice is raised – a man named Karwan.
He hears the word Rwanda, shrugs, smiles and shakes his head: “I think it’s a joke. Two years ago they started going on about Rwanda and nothing came of it.
“Now, it’s just for the sake of the election. Nothing else.”
“Heavy showers and thunderstorms could lead to some disruption in places, especially to travel,” the Met Office says.
“Isolated property flooding is possible.”
It adds: “There is a small chance that homes and businesses could be flooded quickly, with damage to some buildings from floodwater, lightning strikes, hail or strong winds.”
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The south of England will see highs of 25C (77F) today, with the potential of temperatures reaching 26C (78.8F) on Saturday and possibly 27C (80.6F) on Sunday, according to the Met Office.
Scotland and Northern Ireland are also expected to enjoy warmer springtime weather, with 22C (71.6F) forecast for Saturday in Glasgow.
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The spell of warm weather is down to a block of high pressure that has been over the UK for much of this week.
With it, the country has also seen increased levels of UV and pollen and even two wildfire warnings.
Fire services for Dorset and Wiltshire as well as Hampshire and the Isle of Wight issued the warnings for this weekend.
However, much of the sunshine and blue skies will give way to rain and thunderstorms during Sunday.
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Deputy chief meteorologist Tony Wisson previously said:“Many places will start fine and warm on Sunday, though it is likely to become cloudier from the west or South West during the day. This will be accompanied by scattered showers, which could be heavy with thunder.
“On Monday we’re likely to see more widespread and longer-lived spells of rain, some of which will be heavy and thundery. This will also lead to a much cooler feel to the day.”
Sky News weather producer Joanna Robinson said that along with the wind and rain, next week temperatures will drop back closer to the average for this time of year.
The Northern Lights are set to be visible across the UK overnight as a huge solar storm is going to hit Earth.
America’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reportedly issued its first severe solar storm warning since 2005 yesterday as a huge geomagnetic storm races towards Earth – meaning it could be the most powerful experienced in almost two decades.
It’s set to hit overnight, and could supercharge the Northern Lights, making them visible in Scotland, northern England and Wales and even further south if conditions are right.
But the Aurora Borealis could also potentially interfere with infrastructure, including the power grid and satellites when it hits.
The huge solar storm was created by successive coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that have left space a “mess”, one space physicist told Sky News.
CMEs are when a large cloud of high energy plasma erupts from the Sun, into space, and currently there is a sunspot spitting a number out – aimed right at Earth.
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Professor Mathew Owens, a space physicist at the University of Reading’s department of meteorology, told Sky News: “Space is a mess right now, there’s six or seven of these eruptions piling up right now between the Sun and Earth and we’re predicting they’re going to arrive at 2am [11 May].”
The Met Office told Sky News: “With clear spells likely for many on Friday night, there’s an increased chance of aurora visibility for some, particularly across Scotland, Northern Ireland and parts of northern England and Wales.
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“Given the right conditions, there is the chance it may even be visible further south.”
How to see the Northern Lights
The good news is that many places will have clear skies overnight and it’s not going to be too cold either.
The best chance of seeing the Northern Lights will be from Scotland and Northern Ireland, although the northern and western isles will be cloudier at times.
Parts of northern England and North Wales may also get lucky, especially if you can get onto higher ground away from the light pollution of the towns and cities.
It’s less likely you’ll see them further south, but not impossible.
It might sound obvious, but as well as clear and dark skies you need to look towards the northern horizon, so a north-facing coast is a great place.
And even if you can’t see much with your eyes, try using your smartphone or camera. Even better if you have a tripod and can set up a long exposure.
Interestingly, the solar flares will also boost UV levels. Something to watch out for over the next couple of days in the sunshine.
But the impacts of the geomagnetic storm don’t stop there, and the power grid could feel the effects of the recent solar activity too.
Professor Owens added: “The worry is there’ll be effects on the power grid. I don’t expect those to be significant but you never know.”
The NOAA says: “Geomagnetic storms can … potentially disrupt communications, the electric power grid, navigation, radio and satellite operations.”
Satellites are also vulnerable because they can be affected directly by radiation caused by CMEs, while power grids are affected because the solar discharge can warp the Earth’s own magnetic field, impacting them.
The solar flares and CMEs that have caused all the “mess” in space began on 8 May and picked up the pace in recent days.
The explosion of plasma and magnetic fields are focused in one sunspot that is actually visible from Earth and can be seen safely through a pair of eclipse glasses.
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It’s difficult to predict the precise impacts, or exactly how far south the Northern Lights will reach because of natural uncertainty within forecasts and the difficulty of measuring the oncoming electromagnetic fields of the eruptions too far ahead of time.
This gives them “very little warning” to the potential severity of the impacts.