Wide receiver Amari Cooper has informed the Las Vegas Raiders that he intends to retire just days before the team will open the 2025 season at New England, a source confirmed to ESPN on Thursday.

His decision comes after he told reporters last week, “trust me, I still got some juice left.” Cooper, 31, had signed with the Raiders late last month.

It ends what would have been a reunion with the franchise that drafted him with the fourth pick in 2015 when the team was based in Oakland.

It also will leave the Raiders with just four wide receivers on the 53-man roster: Jakobi Meyers, Tre Tucker, Dont’e Thornton Jr. and Jack Bech.

In 52 career games with the Silver and Black, Cooper totaled 225 catches for 3,183 yards and 19 touchdowns. He surpassed 1,000 yards in his first two seasons. The Raiders traded Cooper to the Dallas Cowboys during the 2018 season. The Cowboys then traded him to the Cleveland Browns in the 2022 offseason, and the Buffalo Bills acquired him last October from the Browns.

He finishes his career with 711 career receptions, 10,033 receiving yards and 64 touchdowns. He had seven seasons with at least 1,000 receiving yards, including a career-high 1,250 in 2023.

Cooper’s decision was first reported by NFL Network.

ESPN’s Ryan McFadden contributed to this report.

Giorgio Armani, the celebrated Italian fashion designer who built a global empire, has died at the age of 91, his company said on Thursday.

“With infinite sorrow, the Armani Group announces the passing of its creator, founder and tireless driving force: Giorgio Armani,” the fashion house said in a statement.

His vast portfolio included the Giorgio Armani and Emporio Armani clothing lines alongside the haute couture label Armani Privé and an Armani Casa design and interiors line.

He was absent from his last three shows, held in June and July, owing to illness. He had been expected to attend the brand’s 50th anniversary celebrations later this month including an exhibition at the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan.

The founder and sole shareholder of Giorgio Armani SpA, Armani reportedly refused numerous offers throughout his career to become part of one of the big four luxury fashion conglomerates. He described the independence of his brand as “an essential value”.

His inaugural 1975 presentation pioneered the idea of soft power dressing, earning him the title “King of the Blazer”. His proposition of fluid rather than structured suiting featuring longer-cut suit jackets, loosely pleated trousers and floor-sweeping belted coats formed an entirely new approach to dressing. He applied the same techniques to womenswear, freeing many from the fussy and figure-hugging silhouettes prescribed by other brands. His muted colour palette of greys and beige became synonymous with stealth wealth, long before the idea of quiet luxury entered the lexicon.

In 1980 the brand was catapulted to international fame when Richard Gere wore numerous pieces designed by Armani in the film American Gigolo.

This also pioneered a new way of working with Hollywood. While in the past couturiers had a relationship with one specific star, such as Hubert de Givenchy and Audrey Hepburn, Armani had multiple.

In 1978, Diane Keaton became the first actor to wear Armani on the Oscars red carpet. Jodie Foster has worn the label to every ceremony but one since 1989, while Julia Roberts’ 1990 look of a steel grey oversized Armani suit teamed with a white shirt and tie has become one of the most memorable Golden Globes looks of all time.

Born in Piacenza in northern Italy in 1934, Armani originally pursued a career in medicine. He left the University of Milan before completing his degree to join the army. Shortly after he began looking for a different type of career.

“I got into fashion almost by accident and then it slowly grew in me until it completely absorbed me, stealing my life away,” he previously said.

After working as a window dresser and later a sales associate at La Rinascente, a notable department store in Milan, he took on a menswear design role at Nino Cerruti.

Armani was 41 when he launched his own label. It was his partner Sergio Galeotti, an architect by training, who convinced him to sell his Volkswagen Beetle to fund his own company. Galeotti ran the books while Armani focused on the creative side. When Galeotti died in 1995, Armani continued alone.

Armani-branded products generated £3.5bn in 2021. They included a collection of hotels, restaurants, nightclubs, cosmetics, chocolates and even floristry.

After his spring/summer 2022 collection, Armani for the first time took his bow alongside Leo Dell’Orco, the head of the men’s style office, who originally joined the company in 1977.

A statement issued on behalf of his employees and family said: “In this company, we have always felt like part of a family. Today, with deep emotion, we feel the void left by the one who founded and nurtured this family with vision, passion, and dedication. But it is precisely in his spirit that we, the employees and the family members who have always worked alongside Mr Armani, commit to protecting what he built and to carrying his company forward in his memory with respect, responsibility, and love.”

In an interview with the Financial Times published days before his death, Armani explained how he planned to pass on his vast estate.

“My plans for succession consist of a gradual transition of the responsibilities that I have always handled to those closest to me … such as Leo Dell’Orco, the members of my family and the entire working team.” He added that he “would like the succession to be organic and not a moment of rupture”.

As the news broke on Thursday, designers and celebrities began to pay tribute on social media. “The world lost a giant today. He made history and will be remembered forever,” wrote the fashion designer Donatella Versace.

“A great honor to have had the chance to meet and work with such an amazing person,” wrote the Ferrari Formula One driver Charles Leclerc, who previously starred in an Armani campaign. “You will be missed Giorgio.”

“A true friend. A legend,” posted Roberts.

“Incredibly saddened to hear about the passing of Giorgio Armani,” wrote the actor Diane Kruger. “One of the nicest people and mentors I was lucky enough to meet and work with.”

The former British Vogue editor Edward Enninful posted: “Mr Armani taught me the importance of entrepreneurship and community and believing in your own creativity. Since meeting in the 90’s, he always believed in me and gave me a seat at the table from day one; from styling his campaigns to his endless words of wisdom at each stage of my career, he always made me feel seen.”

In a series of posts on X the actor Russell Crowe recounted how losing his bags on the way to the Cannes film festival in 1997 led to him discovering the designer. “I adored him. He was so kind. So many significant moments in my life, awards, wedding, Wimbledon … all in Armani. What a life he had, from his beginnings to his glory.”

When asked in a 2022 interview how he’ would like to be remembered, Armani replied: “As a sincere man. I say what I mean.”

New blood pressure guidelines have been introduced to encourage people to take action earlier on as more young people are being struck by heart issues. 

Despite the widespread belief that hypertension or high blood pressure is an old-age problem, doctors are increasingly treating younger generations. 

It is now estimated that about 25 percent of young adults (aged 18 to 39) have hypertension, a reading of anything higher than 130/80 mm Hg, and a notable percentage of children and adolescents (aged eight to 19) are also affected. Meanwhile, half of US adults suffer from high blood pressure. 

This condition can lead to serious health complications later in life, such as heart disease and stroke, as well as kidney disease, cognitive decline and dementia. 

Under the American Heart Association’s guidelines, which have been revamped for the first time since 2017, there is a greater emphasis on preventative measures to ‘address the growing burden of morbidity and mortality attributable to high blood pressure.’

Heart specialists have established a tool called PREVENT: Predicting Risk of cardiovascular disease events. It is a calculator to estimate 10- and 30-year cardiovascular disease risk in people aged 30 to 79 years. 

It includes variables such as age, sex, blood pressure, cholesterol levels and other health indicators, including zip code as a proxy for social drivers of health. 

The measures also provide updated guidance on medication options, including using GLP-1 medications for some patients with high blood pressure who are overweight or obese, and recommendations for managing hypertension, before, during and after pregnancy, as the condition can cause life-threatening complications during these periods.

The above shows the American Heart Association’s PREVENT equation for estimating cardiovascular risk

New diet recommendations were also made.

When it comes to small dietary changes, in adults with or without hypertension, the new guidelines recommend potassium-based salt substitutes over traditional table salt.

The cardiologists note that this can be useful to prevent or treat elevated blood pressure and hypertension, ‘particularly for patients in whom salt intake is related mostly to food preparation or flavoring at home’.

Adults are advised to limit their sodium intake to less than 2,300mg per day, moving toward an ideal limit of 1,500mg per day, by checking food labels.

Looking at diets as a whole, the heart health experts recommend the DASH diet, which emphasizes reduced sodium intake and a diet high in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, and low-fat or nonfat dairy, and includes lean meats and poultry, fish and non-tropical oils.

Meanwhile, concerning alcohol consumption, the guidelines recommend consuming no alcohol or for those who choose to drink, consuming no more than two drinks per day for men and no more than one drink per day for women. 

Other pointers in the guidelines to prevent the risk of high blood pressure include managing stress with exercise, as well as incorporating stress-reduction techniques like meditation, breathing control or yoga.

It is also advised to maintain a healthy weight, and increase physical activity to at least 75 to 150 minutes each week, including cardio and weight training.

Heart specialists have established a PREVENT (Predicting Risk of cardiovascular disease EVENTs) risk calculator to estimate cardiovascular disease risk in people aged 30 to 79 years

The above graph shows the change in hypertension prevalence among all American adults, as well as among men and women from 1999 to 2023

A 2024 CDC report found 47.7 percent of adults 18 and older had hypertension between 2020 and 2023, which is about the same as the prevalence in the CDC’s report from 2017-2020. 

However, four in 10 adults of that percentage don’t know they have the condition, the CDC said, meaning they are not receiving treatment and are therefore at much higher risk of deadly complications. 

High blood pressure is a primary or contributing factor in more than 685,000 deaths each year in the US alone.

The findings mean the government is on track to fail in its goal to bring hypertension prevalence down to 41 percent by 2030.

Prevalence among men remained mostly unchanged from survey-to-survey and women’s prevalence dropped by about one percentage point. 

And between the sexes, the 2024 CDC report showed that men had a higher prevalence than women – 50.8 percent compared to 44.6 percent.  

People 18 to 39 years old had a prevalence of 23 percent. Prevalence was about 53 percent in people 40 to 59 years old and it was 72 percent in Americans 60 and older. 

The above graphs show all cardiovascular disease risk (top), atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk (center) and heart failure risk (bottom) for men (right) and women (left) based on how many risk factors, which include blood pressure, medication regimen, smoking status, cholesterol level and diabetes status, a person has

While prevalence slightly decreased in the older age groups, younger age groups saw a slight rise.

This slight increase could be a contributing factor to the rise in strokes and cardiac events among young people.  

Strokes in Americans under 45 have risen nearly 15 percent since 2011, according to a separate report from the CDC.  The agency partly attributed the rise to an increase in high blood pressure, but also to an increase in nationwide obesity and drug addiction. 

The Cleveland Clinic lists recreational drug use, an unhealthy diet and a sedentary lifestyle a risk factors for hypertension. However, healthy and active people are not immune to hypertension. 

The newest CDC 2024 report found, among people with hypertension, 59 percent were aware they had the condition and about half were taking medication to lower their blood pressure. 

However, this varied widely across age groups. Just 27 percent of 18- to 39-year-olds were aware they were suffering from hypertension, compared to the 74 percent of people 60 and older who were aware of their condition.

Because of this, treatment also varied. Just 14 percent of younger people were treating their hypertension compared to 69 percent of seniors.  

Despite the level of treatment, however, just 21 percent of all people had their blood pressure controlled to a healthy level. 

A 2024 CDC report found 47.7 percent of adults 18 and older had hypertension between 2020 and 2023

The above map shows hypertension prevalence in counties across the US

There was no significant change in the percent of people who were aware of, in treatment for or in control of their hypertension observed from the 2017-2021 survey and 2021-2023 survey. 

Typically, hypertension does not cause symptoms, which is why doctors call it a ‘silent killer,’ according to the Cleveland Clinic, but when blood pressure is higher than 180/120 mmHg – considered a medical emergency called a hypertensive crisis – a person may experience headaches, heart palpitations and nosebleeds. 

According to the CDC, high blood pressure was the primary contributor to approximately 685,900 deaths in the US in 2022. 

Over time, high blood pressure can weaken the heart and blood vessels, which can cause cardiovascular disease, including sudden cardiac arrest, and increase risk for stroke and dementia.

To treat hypertension, doctors will recommend lifestyle changes, such as reaching and remaining at a healthy weight, eating a healthy diet, reducing salt intake, limiting alcohol, exercising and making sure to consume enough potassium, a mineral and electrolyte involved in important body processes.