Author: INDEPENDENT

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsSheridan Smith has opened up about her public “meltdown” that happened while she starred in the West End adaptation of Funny Girl in 2016.At the time Smith, 42, was dealing with personal difficulties and mental health issues following her father’s cancer diagnosis. Media coverage was dominated by reports of missed curtain calls, disgruntled audiences and speculation about Smith’s alcohol abuse. She eventually took a leave of absence from the show due to “stress and exhaustion”.In…

Sign up to Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for freeSign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter Former Brazilian footballer Dani Alves has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a young woman in a Barcelona nightclub in 2022, sentencing him to four and a half years in prison.The decision was reached by a three-judge panel of Catalonia’s top court, following a three-day trial. The court also ordered Alves to pay €150,000 (£120,000) to the victim.“The sentence considers that it has been proven that the victim did not consent, and that there is evidence, in…

Mikel Arteta bemoaned a lack of aggression from his Arsenal side in the Champions League defeat at Porto but said it would be “cruel” to judge their return to the knockout stages on the last-gasp goal that settled the contest.The Gunners’ hopes of reaching the quarter-finals for the first time in 14 years suffered a blow as Galeno’s fine late strike saw Porto win 1-0 in the last 16 first-leg tie.Arsenal have the chance to turn the tie around in the return leg at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday 12 March. Source link

Russian forces clear out abandoned military equipment after Ukrainian troops’ retreat from AvdiivkaFor free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsRussian troops are reportedly pressing on toward towns and villages near Avdiivka after they took the key eastern city.Russian forces secured Avdiivka after months of bombardment reduced the town to rubble. It was Russia’s biggest battlefield victory since its forces captured Bakhmut in May 2023.“It doesn’t end with them taking Avdiivka. They continue assaulting (our positions),” said Andriy, a Ukrainian drone pilot of…

Sign up to Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for freeSign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter Mikel Arteta bemoaned a lack of aggression from his Arsenal side in the Champions League defeat at Porto but said it would be “cruel” to judge their return to the knockout stages on the last-gasp goal that settled the contest.The Gunners’ hopes of reaching the quarter-finals for the first time in 14 years suffered a blow as Galeno’s fine late strike saw Porto win 1-0 in the last 16 first-leg tie.With the second leg at the Emirates…

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsRetired bishop Christopher Saunders has been charged with rape and child abuse in a remote part of Australia’s northwest.The 74-year-old former bishop of Broome was arrested and taken into custody by Western Australia police on Wednesday following investigations launched by law enforcement and the clergy.Mr Saunders is the most senior Catholic official in Australia to be charged with child sexual offences after Cardinal George Pell.Mr Saunders has previously denied any wrongdoing.He was taken to the…

Sign up to Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for freeSign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp evoked memories of their famous win over Barcelona in 2019 during their “thunderstorm” second-half comeback to beat Luton 4-1.Trailing to Chiedozie Ogbene’s 12th-minute header, Klopp’s side were a different prospect after the break with Virgil van Dijk, Cody Gakpo, Luis Diaz and Harvey Elliott bringing up 100 goals for the season.While it by no means matched the magnitude of their Champions League semi-final comeback after losing the first leg 3-0 to the Catalan…

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekdayYour briefing on the latest headlines from across the USUS prosecutors have charged a 60-year-old alleged member of the Japanese Yakuza mafia with conspiring to traffic nuclear materials.Takeshi Ebisawa was charged with allegedly attempting to sell uranium and plutonium intended for Iran to build a nuclear bomb.Mr Ebisawa, along with Thai co-defendant Somphop Singhasiri, 61, had previously faced weapons and drug charges in April 2022.“The defendant stands accused of conspiring to sell weapons-grade nuclear material and lethal narcotics from Burma (Myanmar), and to purchase military…

Sign up to Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for freeSign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter As long as they had 11 players, Jurgen Klopp had vowed, Liverpool would give it a go. Deprived of 10, going a goal down, they certainly did. A stunning turnaround brought Klopp’s band of brothers four goals and took them four points clear at the Premier League summit.They head to Wembley on Sunday buoyant, despite their injury problems. Depleted, they were not defeated, transforming a deficit into an emphatic triumph with irrepressible energy. Klopp had imbued his…

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsVladimir Putin still wants to fully conquer Ukraine and impose regime change in the belief that Russia’s greater numbers in weaponry and soldiers will prevail at the end, according to Western officials.A series of successes on the frontline, the capture of Avdiivka in the Donbas most notable, and £47bn economic and military aid package for Ukraine blocked in the US Congress, is said to have buoyed the Russian president’s hopes of total occupation.“We do not…