Both Manchester United and rival supporters joined in greeting Bruno Fernandes after he comforted a terrified and upset young mascot.

The Portuguese midfielder captained the Red Devils against Liverpool at Old Trafford this afternoon.

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The FA Cup match was shown live on ITV, and as the stars began to gather in the tunnel, one of the player escorts was seen breaking his heart.

Fernandes, 29, quickly spotted the sobbing child and tried to comfort him as they prepared to walk onto the field in front of a raucous crowd.

Seconds later it was time for action, but as the teams entered the Theater of Dreams, Fernandes went the extra mile to care for the overwhelmed child.

He had taken the boy in his arms and then carried him outside, while the boy held on tightly with an arm around the ex-Sporting Lisbon CEO’s neck.

Viewers were quick to notice Fernandes’ act of kindness, and even fans of other clubs couldn’t help but praise the usually polarizing player.

A rival supporter started the love-in, posting on X: “I can’t stand him but fair play to @B_Fernandes8 with that little mascot.”

Another said: “Awh bless bruno with the little kid mascot.”

A third wrote: “the little guy in the front stood there sobbing next to the upset mascot, bless him.”

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Along with a heart emoji, another post read: “Bruno comforting and carrying his concerned mascot.”

A fifth read: “Bruno’s little mascot is so cute.”

While a sixth wrote: “Bruno runs the scared mascot. The biggest game of the season and he’s the captain. F*** the haters.”

Another added: “Bruno Fernandes makes me like him because he’s so nice with that little overpowered mascot.”

And an eighth wrote: “I’m not a fan of Bruno Fernandes but I have to give him credit for looking after the young Utd mascot who was clearly nervous/upset.”

Former United captain Roy Keane worked for ITV as a pundit, and he couldn’t resist a cheeky joke after watching the first scene of the boy crying in the tunnel.

Host Mark Pougatch said: “There’s a lot of pressure on a lot of different people here this afternoon and this poor little mascot is a little overwhelmed at the moment, he has a soothing word.

“I think we need Uncle Roy to go see him.”

That led to the ever-dry Irishman replying: “I think he’s worried about the game, the mascot.”

MAN UTD NEWS LIVE: All the latest news from Old Trafford

Israeli troops drove dozens of military vehicles into the city overnight in Ramallah, which is also the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Israeli attack on the West Bank: The Palestinian Health Ministry said Monday that a 16-year-old Palestinian was killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah. It is reported that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) entered the Palestinians’ administrative capital overnight in what is being called their “largest incursion into the city in years.”

The 16-year-old boy was identified by the Palestinian Ministry of Health as Mustafa Abu Shalbak. Mustafa Abu Shalbak was reportedly fatally shot by Israeli forces as they entered the Am’ari refugee camp in Ramallah.

An Al Jazeera report citing witnesses said that when clashes broke out between Israeli forces and Palestinians protesting the raid, IDF soldiers fired live bullets, shooting Shalbak in the neck and chest.

He was pronounced dead after being taken to the Palestine Medical Complex.

Reuters news agency, citing witnesses, reported that Israeli forces drove dozens of military vehicles overnight into the city of Ramallah, which is also the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Separately, Israeli forces ripped up a main road in the West Bank town of Tulkarm during a raid there, Reuters reported.

Palestinian news agency WAFA said Israeli forces also stormed the West Bank city of Nablus and blew up a house.

The house is believed to belong to a man accused of carrying out an attack that led to the deaths of a British-Israeli mother and her two daughters in April in occupied Palestinian territory.

The man, Moaz al-Masri, whom Israel accused was killed by IDF soldiers last May.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said Israeli forces have carried out night raids and arrested 55 Palestinians, adding that the total number of arrests since the start of the war has risen to around 7,400.

The Palestinian organization said in a statement that the arrest operation was concentrated in Hebron Governorate, where nearly 20 people were detained.

Since then, there has been a major wave of violence in the occupied West Bank

The Palestinian militant group Hamas carried out terror attacks in southern Israel on October 7, sparking the ongoing war in Gaza.

At least 400 people have been killed in the West Bank as a result of clashes with Israeli forces and settlers and with IDF soldiers who regularly carried out attacks in the Palestinian territories it occupied in 1967, Reuters reported.

(With input from the agency)

The widow of dead Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny met EU chiefs in Brussels today hours after releasing a video in which she blamed Vladimir Putin for her husband’s death in prison and accused the Kremlin of hiding his body.

Yulia Navalnaya addressed foreign ministers from the EU’s 27 nations in Brussels after vowing to carry on her husband’s fight against the Russian president’s vicelike grip on Russia.

European diplomats said that she reiterated her determination to keep up the struggle and called on the bloc to do more to target Putin’s circle – drawing a standing ovation from the room.

She also warned against striking any deals with the Russian leader or hoping that he would change, they said.

Hours earlier, Navalnaya had posted a striking video message on X in which she called on her husband’s supporters to keep fighting against the Kremlin’s oppression to construct a ‘peaceful, happy, beautiful Russia that Alexei envisioned’.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell wrote on X: ‘We expressed the EU’s deepest condolences to Yulia Navalnaya. Vladimir Putin and his regime will be held accountable for the death of Alexei Navalny.

‘As Yulia said, Putin is not Russia. Russia is not Putin. We will continue our support to Russia’s civil society and independent media.’

Meanwhile, it was business as usual for Putin, who was seen smirking as he held a meeting at the Kremlin with Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Moscow-installed governor of Sevastopol in occupied Crimea. 

Earlier today in a heartfelt video message Navalnya, 47, said: ‘Vladimir Putin killed my husband.’

Holding back tears, she pledged to carry on her husband’s work and fight for a free Russia with the help of its citizens.

‘I want to live in a free Russia, I want to build a free Russia,’ she said the video message entitled ‘I will continue the work of Alexei Navalny’.

Navalnaya accused the Russian authorities of hiding Navalny’s body and of waiting for traces of the Novichok nerve agent to disappear from his body.

‘Three days ago, Vladimir Putin killed my husband Alexei Navalny. Putin killed the father of my children.

‘Putin took away the most precious I had in my life – my most dear and the most loved man.

‘But Putin also took Navalny away from you, somewhere in a [penal] colony in the Far North, beyond the Arctic Circle, in eternal winter.

‘Putin didn’t just kill a man called Alexei Navalny. Together with him, Putin wanted to kill our hopes, our freedom, our future. To destroy and nullify it.

‘The best evidence that Russia can be different, that we are strong, brave, that we believe and desperately fight and want to live differently.’

‘By killing Alexei, Putin killed half of me – half of my heart and half of my soul,’ Navalnaya said.

‘But I still have the other half, and it tells me that I have no right to give up. I will continue the work of Alexei Navalny, continue to fight for our country.’

‘I urge you to stand next to me,’ she said. ‘I ask you to share the rage with me. Rage, anger, hatred towards those who dared to kill our future.’

‘I address you with the words of Alexei, which I strongly believe: ‘There’s no shame in doing a little. There is shame in doing nothing. There is shame in allowing yourself to be intimidated.’

‘Russia – the free, peaceful, happy, beautiful Russia of the future about which my husband dreamed… I want to live in that Russia. I want mine and Alexei’s children to live in that Russia.

‘I want to build that with you, that which Alexei Navalny set forth. It is only this way – and there is no other way – that the senseless death he suffered will not be in vain.

‘Fight, and don’t give up. I am not afraid – and you will not fear anything.’

Navalny’s allies say they know why her husband was killed and would soon reveal the details, including the names of the people involved in his murder. The Kremlin has denied involvement in his death. 

Navalny’s mother, Lyudmila, has been unable to recover his body since his death on Friday. 

A close legal aide to the dissident, Kira Yarmysh, said Lyudmila, who was today seen at a regional office of Russia’s Investigative Committee, was told by authorities that his body would only be handed over following a full post-mortem examination. 

The prison service has been accused of delaying the return of his body.  

She was reportedly told that an initial post-mortem was inconclusive, and that a second one needed to be undertaken.

And today, Russian investigators told his family they will not hand over Navalny’s body to his relatives for 14 days ‘until a chemical examination is completed,’ said Ivan Zhdanov, head of the dead politician’s anti-corruption campaign. 

Lyudmila was initially told that his body had been taken to the town of Salekhard, near the penal colony he was being held in, but when she arrived the morgue was closed. 

Last night, CCTV footage that is believed to have shown a midnight motorcade made up of prison vehicles and two highway patrol cars that took Navalny’s corpse from the Polar Wolf prison was leaked. 

In the security footage of the midnight motorcade, the Soviet-designed Federal Penitentiary Service van believed to be carrying Navalny is clearly seen flanked by an unmarked car and several police vehicles.

The drive from the Polar Wolf jail in Kharp went first to Labytnangi, and then crossed the frozen Ob, the world’s seventh longest river, to Salekhard, according to independent news outlet Mediazona which obtained the footage of the macabre journey.

The journey across the thick ice may have ended at a hospital morgue, where paramedics revealed Navalny’s body was covered in bruises, according to another news outlet, Novaya Gazeta Europe.

Russia’s prison service announced Navalny’s death on Friday.

It was most recently reported that Navalny died of ‘sudden death syndrome’, but no details were given to back this claim up.

Just two minutes after the time Navalny was reported to have died – 2.17pm – Russia’s prison service put out a statement revealing his passing.

Four minutes after this, a Telegram channel controlled by the Kremlin claimed he had died of a blood clot, and just seven minutes later Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, was talking to the media about it.

Since reports of his death were published, his family and allies have accused the Kremlin of deliberately hiding his body. 

Independent outlet Novaya Gazeta Europe yesterday reported that Navalny’s body shows signs of bruising that were caused by being held down while he suffered a seizure. 

The news outlet spoke to a paramedic in the Salekhard ambulance service, close to the IK-3 penal colony, also known as ‘Polar Wolf’, in the town of Kharp, in the Yamalo-Nenetsk region about 1,200 miles northeast of Moscow, where Navalny was being held.

Paramedics found bruises on Navalny’s body, which is now under police guard in a morgue at Salekhard district clinical hospital, according to the independent news outlet.

‘Usually the bodies of people who die in prison are taken straight to the Bureau of Forensic Medicine on Glazkova Street, but in this case it was taken to the clinical hospital for some reason,’ the anonymous paramedic told the outlet.

‘As an experienced paramedic, I can say that the injuries described by those who saw them appeared to be from convulsions.

‘If a person is convulsing and others try to hold him down but the convulsions are very strong, then bruising appears. They also said he had a bruise on his chest — the kind that comes from indirect cardiac massage. 

‘So they did try to resuscitate him, and he probably died of cardiac arrest,’ the paramedic said, adding: ‘But nobody is saying anything about why he had a cardiac arrest.’ 

Yesterday, the British and American ambassadors to Russia laid flowers at a memorial to Navalny set up in Moscow, as hundreds of Russian citizens have been arrested for paying tribute to the dead dissident. 

US ambassador Lynne Tracy and Britain’s Nigel Casey both paid their respects to Navalny at the Solovetsky Stone monument in Moscow, which was created to pay tribute to the victims of political repression. 

The stone is made with a large boulder from the Solovetsky islands, where the first camp of the Gulag political prison system was established, and can be found near the historical the Federal Security Service building in Moscow. 

By Bethan Edwards for Mailonline

Published: 06:22 EST, February 14, 2024 | Updated: 06:42 EST, February 14, 2024

By Zeenia Naqvee

Published: 10:55 EST, February 13, 2024 | Updated: 10:55 EST, February 13, 2024

Not for nothing is she known as one of the hardest-working royals. But even die-hard fans might be surprised at the sheer scale of Princess Anne’s weekly workload.

And with her brother the King incapacitated indefinitely from public duties, the 73-year-old royal stalwart – who last year undertook 457 engagements – will be one of those picking up most of the slack.

On Tuesday her day started at Gatcombe Park, her country home near Stroud, Gloucestershire, where the punctual princess was picked up by helicopter at 9.30am to fly her to Windsor Castle.

There she undertook an investiture on behalf of the King, who had originally planned to hold it before his cancer diagnosis. 

In doing so she became the first member of the Royal Family to be seen performing public duties in the UK since news that the monarch was being treated was announced.

After arriving at 10am she changed into her Naval Uniform before the investiture started at 11am sharp. 

The princess spent almost two hours on her feet, handing out honours to almost 100 worthy members of communities the length and breadth of Britain, smiling and chatting happily.

They included Sara Cox, the world’s first professional female rugby referee, who was made an MBE for services to rugby union.

She said that she spoke at length with Anne – who is patron of the Scottish Rugby Union – about technology in the sport and rugby in general because she knew the princess was such a big fan.

According to aides, a sandwich was ‘scheduled in’ between precisely 1pm and 1.20pm – ‘not that Her Royal Highness ever really stops to eat it’. 

In this she is very much like her elder brother who famously refuses to eat at lunchtime – even if he is seated with other guests – and does not even drink water until the evening so he can carry on working without taking what the palace modestly refer to as ‘comfort breaks’.

At 1.20pm the princess boarded her helicopter again to fly to Nottinghamshire for two further long-planned public engagements, landing at 2.10pm.

Her first stop was ten minutes away, the Nottingham West Primary Care Network, where she braved cold, wet and windy weather to meet healthcare workers in her role as patron of The Royal College of Occupational Therapists. 

Wearing a purple skirt and jacket with knee high black boots, the Princess Royal was all smiles as she stepped out of a Range Rover after it pulled up outside the church hall in Eastwood, opposite a boxing gym, at 2.15pm.

She shook hands with Sir John Peace, the Lord-Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire who acts as the King’s personal representative in the county, and exchanged a few words with him before going inside. 

The princess did not reply when asked by reporters how the King was doing – Buckingham Palace is keen not to give a ‘running commentary’ about his health – and spent almost an hour at the hall, speaking to staff about a project which is helping local residents improve their mental health.

Those at the event said she was in ‘good spirits’. John Ogle, chairman of Nottinghamshire County Council, said she was ‘extremely professional’ and ‘very knowledgeable’ about occupational health.

‘No one mentioned the King, she was here to hear about the work that is being done,’ he said.

She left the church hall at 3.20pm before travelling 12 miles south to G H Hurt & Sons, a family-owned luxury knitted lace firm based in Chilwell, Nottingham, arriving just before 4pm. The princess met staff in her role as patron of the UK Fashion and Textile Association.

Founded in 1912 and renowned for its exquisite lace shawls, the family firm boasts a long association with the Royal Family.

Most recently it hit the headlines when the Prince and Princess of Wales dressed their baby son, Prince George, in one of their £45 merino wool christening shawls which was identical to one Prince William had when he was a baby.

The princess left at 5.10pm and headed for London, landing on the helicopter pad at Kensington Palace at 6pm. She was met by a car which took Anne to her modest home/office at nearby St James’s Palace 15 minutes later.

There was just enough time for her to change and grab a bite to eat – little wonder she remains as trim as always – before leaving again at 7.05pm.

Her fourth and final engagement of an extremely long day was at the Science Museum in London to announce the winners of this year’s £500,000 Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering.

The princess said a few words and enjoyed a reception with the nominees before departing at 8.15pm for the 15-minute journey back to St James’s Palace where she was due to overnight.

A source told the Mail that while the day had been made ‘slightly busier’ than usual after the princess offered to step in to hold her brother’s investiture, it was ‘not untypical’ of her normal workload. Indeed by Friday she will have packed in a dozen or so public engagements, in addition to her private commitments.

Monday saw her visit a number of organisations in Wiltshire, while she will head to a military engagement in Oxfordshire first thing today, followed by another event in Marlow, Berkshire, and then on to London.

Tomorrow she will be working in London and on Friday she will be in Wales, packing in everything from visiting an industrial estate to examining maintenance work on a bridge.

‘Not everyone’s cup of tea but Her Royal Highness is rather like her late father and fascinated by everything to do with engineering,’ one source familiar with the princess’s work remarked.

Saturday will see her travel to Scotland to cheer on her beloved rugby team in the Six Nations tournament. Her duties are ‘bread and butter’ royal fare, another source says: Unveiling plaques, signing visitor books and shaking hundreds of hands.

‘Unlikely to get much in the way of public or media attention, but interactions that mean so much to the deserving people she meets and what we expect from the monarchy,’ they said.

Another insider added of the princess dubbed ‘The King’s wing-woman’: ‘It’s this kind of work that is so valuable and makes her such a star.’

Remarkably given her workload and her indispensability to the King, Queen Elizabeth’s only daughter is currently just 17th in line to the throne.

That is because the law of primogeniture, which allowed royal male heirs to overleap their female counterparts, wasn’t changed until 2013. As a result Anne’s brothers, Andrew and Edward, leap-frogged her.

“This afternoon, at my direction, U.S. forces struck targets at facilities in Iraq and Syria that the IRGC and affiliated militias use to attack U.S. forces,” Biden said in a statement.

The United States has carried out a series of airstrikes on Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria. These attacks were carried out in retaliation for a drone strike that resulted in the deaths of three American soldiers in Jordan. However, it is important to note that no targets in Iran have been hit, despite calls for such action. These initial attacks are just the beginning, as the US has stated that more retaliation will follow.

The decision to carry out these airstrikes came shortly after the arrival of the bodies of the three US personnel killed in the drone strike. President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden joined the families of the fallen soldiers at a military base in Delaware for a dignified handover ceremony. Although the strikes took place shortly after this solemn event, news reports suggest that they were not directly linked.

In a statement, President Biden confirmed that he had ordered strikes on facilities in Iraq and Syria used by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its affiliated militias to attack US forces. He emphasized that this was just the beginning of the response and that future actions would be carried out at the discretion of the US.

“This afternoon, at my direction, U.S. forces struck targets at facilities in Iraq and Syria that the IRGC and affiliated militias use to attack U.S. forces,” Biden said in a statement, referring to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

He added: “Our response started today. It will take place at times and places of our choosing.”

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also issued a separate statement saying these attacks marked the beginning of the US response. He further mentioned that the President had led additional actions to hold the IRGC and affiliated militias accountable for their attacks on US and coalition forces. “This is the beginning of our response. The President has ordered additional actions to hold the IRGC and affiliated militias accountable for their attacks on U.S. and coalition forces. These will unfold at times and places of our choosing.”

The US Central Command, responsible for carrying out the retaliatory strikes, reported that a total of 85 targets had been hit. These targets included the IRGC's Quds Force, which is known for waging unconventional warfare and running militias to serve its interests abroad. The US used long-range B-1 bombers to carry out the air strikes as these aircraft have the ability to carry a significant volume and quantity of ammunition.

The facilities targeted in the attacks included command and control centers, intelligence centers, missile and missile storage, unmanned aerial vehicle storage, as well as logistics and ammunition supply facilities. These facilities were owned by various militia groups and their IRGC sponsors.

As tensions between the US and Iran continue to escalate, it remains to be seen how Iran will respond to these airstrikes. The US has made it clear that it is not seeking war with Iran, which is likely why targets inside Iran have not been included in the attacks. The coming days and weeks will reveal the full extent of the US response and the impact it will have on the region.

Iranian-backed groups have varying histories and relationships with Tehran, but all share Iran's desire for the US military to leave the region and for Israel's power to be reduced. Iranian rhetoric, echoed by allied groups, often goes further and calls for the elimination of the Israeli state.

Like Iran, most allied groups follow the Shia branch of Islam. The exception is Hamas, whose members are predominantly Sunni Muslims.

Iran has provided weapons, training, financing and other support to the groups, especially those in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen, according to evidence obtained through weapons seizures, after-action forensics, foreign asset tracking and intelligence gathering. According to American and international experts, part of the training is being outsourced to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

More recently, Iran has also allowed militias to obtain certain weapons parts and manufacture or retrofit some weapons themselves, Middle East and U.S. officials said. Moreover, most groups, such as Hamashave their own extensive, profitable enterprises, which include both legal activities such as construction and illegal enterprises such as kidnapping and drug smuggling.

Despite its support for the militias, Iran does not necessarily control when and where they attack Western and Israeli targets, according to many Middle Eastern and European experts, as well as U.S. intelligence officials. It does have an influence on the groups and, at least in some cases, seems able to stop strikes.

After Iraq-based militants attacked a US base in Jordan on Sunday, the group the Pentagon said was responsible, Kata'ib Hezbollah, whose leadership and forces are close to Iran's Revolutionary Guards, announced it would temporarily withdraw at its insistence of Iran. and the Iraqi government.

However, each militia also has its own agenda, depending on the home country.

For example, the Houthi movement had battlefield success in Yemen's civil war and controls part of the country. But now that they are unable to feed their population or create jobs, they demonstrate strength and competence to their domestic public by taking on the great powers, attacking shipping going to and from the Suez Canal, and to provoke retaliatory attacks by the United States and its allies.

That has allowed the Houthis to claim the mantle of solidarity with the Palestinians, and also aligns the group with Iran's goal of attacking Israel and its key ally, the United States.

In contrast, Hezbollah in Lebanon, which has the longest-standing ties to Iran, is part of the Lebanese government. Its decisions on when and how much to attack Israel take into account the risks of Israeli reprisals against Lebanese civilians. A 2020 U.S. Department of State report estimated that Iran's support for Hezbollah at the time amounted to $700 million per year.

The weapons supplied to the groups range from light weapons to rockets, ballistic and cruise missiles — and a range of increasingly sophisticated drones, said Michael Knights of the Washington Institute, who has tracked the proxies for many years.

Iran has provided smaller direct cash subsidies to its allies in recent years, in part, experts say, because the country is under financial pressure from U.S. and international sanctions.

In addition to direct aid, some groups have received in-kind financing such as oil, which can be sold or, as in the case of the Houthis, thousands of AK-47s that can also be marketed, according to a November report of the United Nations.

A Yemeni political analyst, Hisham al-Omeisy, said of the Houthis: “They are very well supported by the Iranians, but they are not puppets on a string. They are not Iranian proxies.”

The same could be said of other groups.

Iran itself sends different messages about the militias to different audiences, said Mohammed al-Sulami, who heads Rasanah, an Iran-focused research organization based in Saudi Arabia, which has long worked with Iran for regional influence.

When speaking to domestic and Middle Eastern audiences, Iran tends to portray what it calls the “Axis of Resistance” as something under its leadership and control, and part of its regional strategy. But when addressing Western audiences, Iran often claims that while the groups share similar views, the Islamic Republic does not lead them, Mr. al-Sulami said.

“Iran is very clever in using this gray zone to maneuver,” he said.

Vivian Nereim contributed reporting from Saudi Arabia,