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The Super Bowl – the biggest event in the US sporting calendar – does not fall short of incredible moments that have fans on the edge of their seats.

From high-pressured performances on stage to the gruelling chase of the ball – the 57th edition of the Super Bowl will be no different as the Eagles and Chiefs go head to head.

Before the big game, let’s take a trip down memory lane and look back at the most iconic moments in NFL history.

Santonio Holmes scores in the last few seconds

Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Santonio Holmes. Pic: AP
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Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Santonio Holmes. Pic: AP

Super Bowl XLIII, Tampa Bay, 2009 saw the Pittsburgh Steelers claim a dramatic victory against the Cardinals.

With 35 seconds left on the clock, a perfectly placed ball in the back corner of the end zone was grabbed in a victorious occasion by Santonio Holmes – breaking the hearts of many Cardinals fans, as the Steelers took the win.

The Blackout Bowl in 2013

San Francisco 49ers cheerleaders perform during a power outage at the Superdome in 2013. Pic: AP
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San Francisco 49ers cheerleaders perform during a power outage at the Superdome in 2013. Pic: AP

Super Bowl XLVII had a 34-minute delay due to a power outage, plunging parts of the Superdome into darkness.

At the height of a nail-biting clash between the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers most of the lights in the 73,000-seat building went out.

Officials revealed that an “abnormality” in the power system triggered an automatic shutdown, which forced backup systems to kick in, according to the official NFL site.

Taking a knee

San Francisco 49ers Eric Reid (35) and Colin Kaepernick (7) take a knee during the National Anthem at an NFL football game in 2016
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San Francisco 49ers Eric Reid (35) and Colin Kaepernick (7) take a knee during the National Anthem at an NFL football game in 2016

A protest against racial injustice and police brutality.

The act of solidarity first started in 2016 with quarterback Colin Kaepernick taking a knee, followed by other players.

This was in response to former President Donald Trump‘s remarks and the oppression against black people across the country.

During the Super Bowl half-time show in 2022, rapper Eminem took a knee.

Eminem and Dr. Dre perform in the halftime show during the NFL Super Bowl 56 football game. Pic: AP
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Eminem and Dr Dre perform in the half-time show during the NFL Super Bowl in 2022. Pic: AP

As speculation began about over NFL resisting the gesture, the football league quickly pushed back and denied the reports.

“We watched all elements of the show during multiple rehearsals this week and were aware that Eminem was going to do that,” league spokesman Brian McCarthy said.

Malcolm Butler’s goal-line interception

Malcolm Butler (L). Pic: AP
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Malcolm Butler pulled off an incredible catch to win the Super Bowl for New England Patriots (L). Pic: AP

Super Bowl XLIX saw an unforgettable save that had the crowds roaring.

With a few seconds left on the clock, New England Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler brilliantly caught the ball in the end zone to deny Seattle Seahawks.

“Unreal,” shouted the commentator as Butler sealed the Patriots’ victory.

The Wide Right or 47 Wide Right by Scott Norwood

Pic: Reuters

Super Bowl XXV might seem like a distant memory, but it is indeed a scene many fans remember.

It was ready, set, go for a field goal attempt by the Bills.

Norwood was ready to make his move but ended up kicking the ball wide right.

“It is no good,” the commentator said as the victory was given to the Giants in a 20-19 win.

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The First Overtime

New England Patriots' Tom Brady. Pic: AP
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New England Patriots’ Tom Brady. Pic: AP

Super Bowl LI saw a tie at 28-28 between the Falcons and Patriots.

After a nerve-wracking coin toss, the Patriots became were victorious within four minutes of overtime.

James White ran with the ball through the field and grappled through the crowd for the final touchdown.

An epic win that will surely be remembered.

Destiny’s Child reunite

Beyonce reunites with Destiny's Child. Pic: AP
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Beyonce reunites with, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams. Pic: AP

Beyonce always has a way of capturing the hearts of her fans and her reunion with Destiny’s Child in 2013 will live long in the memory.

Queen Bey took centre stage with Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams for the half-time show of Super Bowl XLVII.

It was a blast from the past, as fans were heard roaring to the sound of their famous track Bootylicious.

Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake

Janet Jackson (L), Justin Timberlake (R). Pic: AP
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Janet Jackson performed with Justin Timberlake. Pic: AP

Justin Timberlake rocked the stage with his Rock Your Body hit song, along with Janet Jackson at the Super Bowl XXXVIII half-time show.

Towards the final few seconds of the song, Timberlake ripped Jackson’s top open, briefly exposing her breast on stage.

Dubbed “nipplegate”, Timberlake infamously described it as an unintended “wardrobe malfunction”.

CBS, which had aired that year’s Super Bowl, was fined $550,000 by the Federal Communications Commission – but it was later was overturned.

David Tyree’s Helmet Catch

New York Giants receiver David Tyree (85) holds on by his fingertips to a 32-yard pass. Pic: AP
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New York Giants receiver David Tyree (85) holds on by his fingertips to a 32-yard pass. Pic: AP

Super Bowl XLII 2008 shocked many with the New York Giants Tyree’s epic helmet catch that is seen as one of the greatest plays in NFL history.

In the heat of the game, with two minutes to spare, the ball shot its way through the field after a forward pass.

Tyree took a perfectly timed leap, catching the ball and pressing it against his helmet.

The Coin toss

Billie Jean King flips the coin before the NFL Super Bowl 56 football game. Pic: AP
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Billie Jean King flips the coin before the NFL Super Bowl 56 football game. Pic: AP

In 2022, Tennis legend Billie Jean King conducted the coin toss ahead of the Super Bowl LVI.

King was honorary coin toss captain along with members of the California School for the Deaf-Riverside Cubs and members of the girls’ youth tackle football players from the Inglewood Chargers and the Watts Rams.

King conducted the toss to mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX, the landmark sports gender equality legislation.

Title IX was passed in 1972 as part of the Education Amendments, which abolishes sex-based discrimination in school, universities and other educational programmes.

And finally….

A puppy holds onto a plush football at the "Puppy Bowl" in Phoenix, Arizona, January 29, 2015. Thursday's "players" in downtown Phoenix were all puppies - part of a drive by the Animal Planet television channel and the Arizona Humane Society to encourage adoptions ahead of the televised "Puppy Bowl" that will air on game day. REUTERS/Daniel Wallis (UNITED STATES - Tags: ANIMALS SPORT FOOTBALL)

Every single puppy bowl ever.

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Donald Trump says Vladimir Putin wants to meet – and that he and Barack Obama ‘probably’ like each other

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Donald Trump says Vladimir Putin wants to meet - and that he and Barack Obama 'probably' like each other

Donald Trump says a meeting is being set up between himself and Vladimir Putin – and that he and Barack Obama “probably” like each other.

Republican US president-elect Mr Trump spoke to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Thursday, saying Russian president Mr Putin “wants to meet, and we are setting it up”.

“He has said that even publicly and we have to get that war over with. That’s a bloody mess,” Mr Trump said.

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Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Friday there was a “mutual desire” to set up a meeting – but added no details had been confirmed yet and that there may be progress once Mr Trump is inaugurated on 20 January.

“Moscow has repeatedly declared its openness to contacts with international leaders, including the US president, including Donald Trump,” Mr Peskov added.

“What is required is a mutual desire and political will to conduct dialogue and resolve existing problems through dialogue. We see that Mr Trump also declares his readiness to resolve problems through dialogue. We welcome this. There are still no specifics, we proceed from the mutual readiness for the meeting.”

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Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in July 2017. Pic: AP
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Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in July 2017. Pic: AP

Trump on Obama: ‘We just got along’

Mr Trump also made some lighter remarks regarding a viral exchange between himself and former Democrat President Barack Obama at Jimmy Carter’s funeral on Thursday.

The pair sat together for the late president’s service in Washington DC on Thursday, and could be seen speaking for several minutes as the remaining mourners filed in before it began.

Mr Obama was seen nodding as his successor spoke before breaking into a grin.

Asked about the exchange, Mr Trump said: “I didn’t realise how friendly it looked.

“I said, ‘boy, they look like two people that like each other’. And we probably do.

“We have a little different philosophies, right? But we probably do. I don’t know. We just got along. But I got along with just about everybody.”

The amicable exchange comes after years of criticising each other in the public eye; it was Mr Trump who spread the so-called “birther” conspiracy theory about Mr Obama in 2011, falsely asserting that he was not born in the United States.

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Insults continued for years, with Mr Obama famously dedicating much of his final White House Correspondents’ Dinner speech in 2016 to jokes at his political rival’s expense.

Mr Trump has repeatedly attacked the Obamas, saying the former president was “ineffective” and “terrible” and calling former first lady Michelle Obama “nasty” as recently as October last year.

On Kamala Harris’s campaign trail last year, Mr Obama said Mr Trump was a “78-year-old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems since he rode down his golden escalator nine years ago”, while the former first lady said that “the consequences of him ever being president again are brutally serious.”

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LA wildfires: One daughter’s haunting account of her father’s fatal decision to stay in his home

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LA wildfires: One daughter's haunting account of her father's fatal decision to stay in his home

“He was asleep in his bed, where he still is right now, as I wait on the coroner.”

The haunting words of Kimiko Nickerson stopped us in our tracks.

Her father Rodney, 82, was sure the fire wouldn’t reach his home in Altadena. He was wrong.

The inferno cut through this quiet suburb north of Los Angeles at an alarming rate, its path unpredictable.

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She said: “He just didn’t want to evacuate. He’s been living here since 1968, and he’s been in Altadena my whole life.

“Like all of us on this block, in four blocks, he didn’t think it was going to be this devastating.

“It jumped whole streets, and it hit this community, but it didn’t touch the mountainside at all.”

They’re still trying to process the apocalyptic scenes here and grieving for those who did not get out.

Kimiko said: “I have no words to explain my feelings at this point in time.

“I’m just silent and numb and just mentally trying to go through the process.”

Rodney Nickerson decided not to leave his Altadena home.
Pic: Kimiko Nickerson
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Rodney Nickerson decided not to leave his Altadena home.
Pic: Kimiko Nickerson

‘Truly apocalyptic scenes’ as flames swallow homes in LA wildfires evacuation zone

It would be impossible to exaggerate the scale of the destruction, cars burnt to a cinder, palm trees still alight, powerlines strewn across roads.

So many people have lost the roof over their head but there’s one thing Kimiko says she’ll never lose – her memories.

“Every laugh, every joke he told.

“He was a smart man. He read the LA Times from cover to cover and walked around the Rose Bowl every day.

“He was healthy, he was ambitious… but he went to sleep and died in his bed back there.”

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Donald Trump to be sentenced today over porn star hush money after Supreme Court rejects appeal

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Donald Trump to be sentenced today over porn star hush money after Supreme Court rejects appeal

The US Supreme Court has rejected a last-ditch attempt by Donald Trump to delay sentencing in the Stormy Daniels hush money case.

The president-elect was convicted on 34 counts last May in New York of falsifying business records relating to payments made to Ms Daniels before the 2016 presidential election.

Prosecutors claimed he had paid her $130,000 (£105,300) in hush money to not reveal details of what Ms Daniels said was a sexual relationship in 2006.

Mr Trump has denied any liaison with Ms Daniels or any wrongdoing.

By a majority, the Supreme Court found his sentencing would not be an insurmountable burden during the presidential transition since the presiding judge, Juan M Merchan, has indicated he will not give Mr Trump jail time, fines or probation.

Mr Trump’s attorneys argued that evidence used in the Manhattan trial violated last summer’s Supreme Court ruling giving Mr Trump broad immunity from prosecution over acts he took as president.

At the least, they said, the sentencing should be delayed while their appeals play out to avoid distracting Mr Trump during the presidential transition.

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Stormy Daniels. Pic: AP
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Stormy Daniels. Pic: AP

Mr Trump’s attorneys went to the justices after New York courts refused to postpone sentencing.

Judges in New York found that the convictions related to personal matters rather than Mr Trump’s official acts as president.

Mr Trump’s attorneys called the case politically motivated, and they said sentencing him now would be a “grave injustice” that threatens to disrupt the presidential transition as the Republican prepares to return to the White House.

Mr Trump has said he will appeal again: “I respect the court’s opinion – I think it was actually a very good opinion for us because you saw what they said, but they invited the appeal and the appeal is on the bigger issue. So, we’ll see how it works out,” he said at a dinner with Republican governors at his private club in Florida.

Because the New York case was a state, rather than federal crime, Mr Trump will not be able to pardon himself when he takes office on 20 January.

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