A new season, a new opposing manager, new signings, but the same old story: a Chelsea win. Only just, but a win is a win, especially in a tricky opening-night fixture, as Sonia Bompastor’s side embark on a quest for the club’s seventh consecutive Women’s Super League title.
It saw Andrée Jeglertz lose his first game in charge of Manchester City; Bompastor, by contrast, is still yet to lose a league fixture in English football and Chelsea remain unbeaten in the WSL since May 2024, a run of 26 league games.
A penny for the thoughts of Christian Eriksen. Denmark could justify leaving the 33-year-old out of their squad for the meetings with Scotland and Greece on the basis he remains unemployed. Yet as the hosts huffed, puffed and failed to unpick a magnificently drilled Scotland defence, the issue of what Eriksen could have contributed was such an obvious one. Denmark in this form will not play at next summer’s World Cup.
Steve Clarke’s Scotland were worthy of their point. But for a lack of composure in front of goal, they would have departed Copenhagen with all three. The winners from this opening night of a truncated section were the Greeks, who swept Belarus aside 5-1, but Scotland richly deserved their full-time ovation from an appreciative support. Denmark were booed off.
Domhnall Gleeson stars as a clueless local newspaper editor in the mockumentary comedy’s latest creation. His talents can’t outdo the one-note dialogue and lack of hilarity
Two years after the British version concluded with a second brilliantly mortifying Christmas special in 2003, American viewers got their own take on The Office. Set at the Dunder Mifflin paper company in Scranton, Pennsylvania, it was very much in the spirit of the original, at least initially: a deadpan mockumentary centred on a megalomaniac manager (Steve Carrell’s Michael Scott), who like Ricky Gervais’s David Brent before him was “a friend first, and a boss second … and probably an entertainer third”. The Office: An American Workplace ran for nine seasons, setting aside some of the original’s cringe comedy aspects in favour of something with a little more heart. By the timeit ended in 2013, it was an award-winning sitcom juggernaut in its own right – hugely popular but bearing little resemblance to its Slough-based sibling.
It is in this US Office universe that showrunner Greg Daniels’s new spinoff is set, with the camera crew that followed Dunder Mifflin for a decade now decamping to a floundering local news outlet a state away (Oscar Nunez’s judgy accountant Oscar Martinez is the only character to transfer from Pennsylvania to Ohio). The Toledo Truth Teller is a newspaper struggling to survive in the digital age: cue the arrival of plucky new editor Ned Sampson (a very un-Irish Domhnall Gleeson). Ned hasn’t actually worked for a newspaper before, but he has risen the ranks selling high-end cardboard at the Truth Teller’s parent company, Enervate, which specialises in different types of paper (hence the link with Dunder Mifflin, and cue a recurring bit about the Truth Teller being less popular than toilet roll).
Directive will make Department of War secondary title and is way to get around need for congressional approval
Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday to rebrand the Department of Defense as the Department of War, a callback to the department’s original name used from 1789 to 1947.
The directive will make Department of War the secondary title, and is a way to get around the need for congressional approval to formally rename a federal agency, an administration official said.
Settlement could be pivotal after authors claimed company took pirated copies of their work to train chatbots
The artificial intelligence company Anthropic has agreed to pay $1.5bn to settle a class-action lawsuit by book authors who say the company took pirated copies of their works to train its chatbot.
The landmark settlement, if approved by a judge as soon as Monday, could mark a turning point in legal battles between AI companies and the writers, visual artists and other creative professionals who accuse them of copyright infringement.
Singer had said he was open to offers for stake in former band although email address never appeared to work
In a sullen episode befitting some of his more gloomy lyrics, Morrissey, lead singer of the Smiths, has abruptly shut down an email address he was promoting to sell his business interests in the band.
The notoriously saturnine frontman blamed “disagreeable and vexatious characters” involved with the band for his sudden decision, and claimed he had endured decades of misery, in a post on Friday on his website morrisseycentral.com.
Women’s rugby is proving that it can offer a greater sense of belonging and diversity than other sports
There will be more attention on Villa Park where England play Andorra and more celebrities at Monza for the Italian Grand Prix, but it’s long odds you’ll find a better party in any corner of world sport than the one being thrown in Brighton this weekend. That’s not because of the fanzones, free concerts, and fireworks, but who’s coming. These dates have been ringed ever since the fixture list was released. Everyone who’s anyone in a sport where everyone is someone seems to be planning to make a big weekend of it. England play Australia on Saturday, New Zealand play Ireland on Sunday. Both matches are sold out.
“An international at Twickenham is more than a mere spectacle,” Alec Waugh once wrote, “it is a gathering of the clan.” It’s true in Brighton, too, although it will be a very different sort of crowd from the one who used to fill the West Stand in Waugh’s day.
Russian leader was caught musing about immortality with Xi Jinping but his fascination with long life is nothing new
It was the stuff of Bond villains. Two ageing autocrats, their younger ally in tow, ambled down a red-carpeted ramp before a military parade in Beijing when a hot mic picked up a question that seemed to be on their minds: how long could they keep going – and, between the lines, might science allow them to rule for ever?
With advances in technology, Russia’s Vladimir Putin assured Xi Jinping via his translator that “human organs can be constantly transplanted, to the extent that people can get younger, perhaps even immortal”.
Denmark: Despite having scored in each of Denmark’s past three games, Christian Eriksen has been dropped from tonight’s squad. Brian Riemer decided to leave the 33-year-old out because he hasn’t managed to find a club since leaving Manchester United in June. He is believed to have been keeping himself fit by training with the Swedish club Malmo, but Riemer clearly feels he has not done enough to merit inclusion tonight.
Scotland: It’s no great surprise that Steve Clarke has made seven changes to the experimental side that hammered Liechtenstein in a friendly in June. Rarely one to inspire huge confidence while playing for his country, Angus Gunn is back in goal in place of the injured first choice Craig Gordon, while it’s great to see Brentford’s Aaron Hickey back in defence after a near two-year absence with various injury issues. John Souttar and Grant Hanley also come into the back four.
3 min City have started well. Bunny Shaw collects the ball on the left side of the area, shifts the ball to the side and blasts a shot that is pushed away the diving Hampton. Good save.
2 min City captain Alex Greenwood has started at left-back, with Gracie Prior and Jade Rose as the centre-backs. Prior moves forward and gets her head to Hasegawa’s free-kick without being able to direct it on target.
Here’s Novak. He’s asked before stepping on to court how his body is feeling. “It’s feeling alright, let’s see. I’m expecting a very physical battle. I look forward to it, the challenge.”
And then it’s Carlos. “To be honest in the grand slams having two days to rest [before this semi-final], to feel fresh, is great. I recharged the battery physically and mentally. I’ve been really consistent this tournament [on serve], which I’m really happy about. But now I’m facing one of the best returners, it’s going to be tricky.”
Joseph Emerson, ex-Alaska Airlines pilot, plans to enter guilty and no-contest pleas for his federal and state charges
A former Alaska Airlines pilot accused of trying to cut the engines of a passenger flight in 2023 while riding off-duty in the cockpit is due to enter guilty and no-contest pleas in federal and state courts on Friday as part of agreements with prosecutors.
Joseph Emerson reached the plea agreements because he wants to take responsibility for his actions and hopes to avoid further time behind bars, said his attorney, Noah Horst.
Bajun Mavalwalla, an advocate for Afghans who supported US military in Afghanistan, faces up to six years in prison
Veterans who helped the US’s Afghan allies find refuge in the US say they are outraged that a fellow veteran and advocate now faces federal conspiracycharges for his role in a protest against the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
Some call the arrest of former US army sergeant Bajun Mavalwalla II “shameful” and “un-American”. Mavalwalla is part of a communityof American militaryveterans who, in the wake of Kabul’s fall to the Taliban in 2021, worked to rescue Afghans who supported the US military operations in their home country.
South Korea concerned after hundreds of people arrested at Georgia work site making batteries for Hyundai and Kia cars
Hundreds of workers at a factory being built in Georgia to make car batteries for Hyundai and Kia electric vehicles were detained in a huge raid by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) on Thursday that stopped construction.
The facility is part of what would be the biggest industrial investment in the state’s history and had been hailed as a huge boost for the economy by Georgia’s Republican governor, Brian Kemp.
Israeli strikes on Gaza, air alerts in Kyiv, wildfires in California, and Lionel Messi’s last international match in Argentina: the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists
Warning: this gallery contains images some readers may find distressing
Regulators ordered the tech giant to end ‘self-preferencing practices’ in advertising services but declined to force sale
European Union regulators on Friday hit Google with a €2.95bn ($3.5bn) fine for breaching the bloc’s competition rules by favoring its own digital advertising services, marking the fourth such antitrust penalty for the company as well as a retreat from previous threats to break up the tech giant.
The European Commission, the 27-nation bloc’s executive branch and top antitrust enforcer, also ordered the US company to end its “self-preferencing practices” and take steps to stop “conflicts of interest” along the advertising technology supply chain.
The welcome the team’s drivers receive at their home race in Monza is like nothing else in Formula One
Were there any doubt of the import in Lewis Hamilton having joined Ferrari, it was summarily dismissed in the shadow of the Duomo di Milano on the Wednesday before this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix. There, on the Piazzetta Reale, fans had gathered in a vast throng since the early morning to greet Hamilton as he prepares for his debut with Ferrari at their home race.
The Piazzetta Reale – Royal Square – was an entirely apt locale as in Monza this weekend Hamilton and teammate Charles Leclerc are as close as any F1 drivers come to being considered royalty. The vociferous vocal acclaim that greeted them had begun 15 minutes before they appeared and all but drowned out attempts at interviews, according to Corriere della Sera.
Five areas of focus at world’s largest heart conference said to mark ‘turning point’ in cardiology and patient care
Doctors, scientists and researchers have shared new findings on ways to tackle heart conditions at the 2025 European Society of Cardiology annual meeting, the world’s largest heart conference.
The event in Madrid was attended by 33,000 health professionals from 169 countries. More than 1,100 sessions featured “gamechanger” research, new guidelines and groundbreaking trials.
Standoff has been building since March between Trump and Michelle Wu, who last week said to ‘stop attacking cities to hide your administration’s failures’
Tensions between Michelle Wu, the mayor of Boston, and the Trump administration have been escalating in recent months over the administration’s aggressive immigration policies, with reports now signaling the possibility of a federal immigration enforcement surge in the city.
The friction came to a head last week when the Trump administration reportedly began preparing an “immigration enforcement blitz” for Boston in the coming weeks, according to Politico.
Twice a year, the usually calm Via Bergognone in Milan shuts down due to excited fashion week crowds descending on Teatro Armani. Home to the Giorgio Armani headquarters since 2000, the sprawling space includes a purpose-built theatre where each show season a catwalk is constructed.
On Friday, crowds again began to gather outside, but this time the mood was much more sombre. They had come to pay their final respects to the visionary Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani, who died on Thursday at the age of 91.
Britain’s Tom Pidcock holds on to third spot overall
Portugal’s João Almeida held off race leader Jonas Vingegaard at the top of the brutal summit finish of Angliru to win stage 13 of the Vuelta a España on Friday.
The top two in the general classification battled it out for the stage win, leaving the rest behind in the final 5km. Almeida, of UAE Team Emirates-XRG, did all the work on the climb and stayed ahead of Visma-Lease a Bike’s Vingegaard in the sprint to the line.
Prestigious Stuttgart Ballet likely to face 80% empty seats at DC’s premier arts venue as audiences ‘vote with their feet’
Ticket sales at the Kennedy Center have continued to plummet following Donald Trump’s takeover of Washington DC’s premier performing arts venue, with the prestigious Stuttgart Ballet expected to dance next month to houses less than 20% full.
Audiences are “voting with their feet to skip out” on shows that would once have been packed, in protest at the US president inserting himself into the center’s management and operations as its new chairman, amid discussions around the notion of renaming it after Trump, according to an analysis by the Washingtonian magazine.
Red Roses hoping to extend winning streak to 30 games while Wallaroos hunt for spot in quarter-finals
Nothing the Red Roses do is boring. Those are the words of the centre Tatyana Heard as England head into their final pool match of the Rugby World Cup with the aim of topping the group and equalling their own world record of consecutive wins. If the heavy favourites come away with a victory against Australia, they will extend their winning streak to 30 games.
Their previous 30-match run ended in the 2022 World Cup final defeat, which is the last time they were beaten. Discussions in the buildup to this tournament had been around whether it would be beneficial for England to have lost a game between the World Cups to bank a different experience. But that is not the mentality in the Red Roses camp and the defence coach, Sarah Hunter, says the current run of victories has not been brought up.
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