Author: INDEPENDENT

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 Ex-Tottenham forward Jermain Defoe had contemplated giving up on his managerial dream, but remains determined to follow in the footsteps of Chris Hughton and become a trailblazer for black coaches.Former England international Defoe called time on his distinguished playing career in 2022 and has spent the past 18 months coaching in the Spurs academy.Defoe is well aware of potential hurdles and the low number of black and ethnic minority managers in English football, which has been further…

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 emailsA volcano is erupting near a town settlement in the south-western part of Iceland, the country’s Meteorological Office said.The eruption of the Sylingarfell volcano, located about 3km north of the town of Grindavik, began at 6am local time on Thursday soon after an intense burst of seismic activity.Videos from the area showed fountains of bright-orange molten rock spewing from fissures in the ground.“Warning: A volcanic eruption started north of Sylingarfell,” the Met Office said on…

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 Mauricio Pochettino came out fighting after Chelsea outclassed Aston Villa to breeze into the FA Cup fifth round.Enzo Fernandez’s stunning free kick sealed a 3-1 victory and set up last-16 tie against Leeds at Stamford Bridge.First-half goals from Conor Gallagher and Nicolas Jackson put Chelsea in control of the fourth round replay and they cruised to victory, despite Moussa Diaby’s injury-time consolation.Chelsea had come to Villa Park in disarray on the back of 4-1 and 4-2 defeats…

Tucker Carlson is set to release a controversial interview with Vladimir Putin (Twitter/X)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 news anchor Tucker Carlson is set to release a controversial interview with Russian president Vladimir Putin on Thursday.Mr Carlson announced the sit-down interview, which has already been recorded, would be broadcast at 6pm Eastern time (11pm GMT) on his website.The former Fox News host travelled to Moscow for Putin’s first interview with a Western media figure since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.Mr…

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 Matt Turner came good for Nottingham Forest as he was the hero in an FA Cup fourth-round replay penalty shoot-out win against Bristol City which set up a mouth-watering tie with Manchester United.Turner has made several high-profile mistakes in recent weeks which saw boss Nuno Espirito Santo sign a new goalkeeper in the January transfer window.But the United States international kept Bristol City at bay throughout 120 minutes and then saved Sam Bell’s spot-kick as Forest won…

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inboxGet our free Inside Washington emailDonald Trump’s campaign to kill a bipartisan deal that would have addressed several national security priorities appeared to succeed on Wednesday as members of the Republican Senate caucus turned, one by one, against the bill which their own colleagues had supported.Mr Trump’s naked effort to disrupt lawmaking in Washington in the hopes of preventing a political win on immigration for his 2024 opponent, President Joe Biden, enraged members of the GOP who had recognised that their party had…

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 Mauricio Pochettino came out fighting after Chelsea outclassed Aston Villa to breeze into the FA Cup fifth round.Enzo Fernandez’s stunning free kick sealed a 3-1 victory and set up last-16 tie against Leeds at Stamford Bridge.First-half goals from Conor Gallagher and Nicolas Jackson put Chelsea in control of the fourth round replay and they cruised to victory, despite Moussa Diaby’s injury-time consolation.Chelsea had come to Villa Park in disarray on the back of 4-1 and 4-2 defeats…

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 emailsFew falls from power have been so swift and brutal. Just two years ago, cricket legend-turned-politician Imran Khan was comfortably ensconced in the prime minister’s house in Islamabad. Many of his political enemies either languished in prison or had been dispatched into exile. The once raucous media had been successfully tamed. The powerful military, which had smoothed his ascent to power in 2018, sturdily propped up his government. The pandemic had passed, with relatively little…

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 Premier League chief football officer Tony Scholes admits the in-stadium supporter experience of VAR is “nowhere near good enough” and believes reviews are taking too long.Video assistant referees were introduced in the English top-flight for the 2019-20 campaign, yet there are persisting problems surrounding its implementation.The Premier League say that most supporters they have surveyed are in favour of VAR, but Scholes acknowledges “that majority is not as big a majority as I would like to say…

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekdayYour briefing on the latest headlines from across the US For the eighth straight month in January, Earth was record hot, according to the European climate agency. That was obvious in the northern United States, where about 1,000 people were golfing last month in a snow-starved Minneapolis during what the state is calling “the Lost Winter of 2023-24.” For the first time, the global temperature pushed past the internationally agreed upon warming threshold for an entire 12-month period, with February 2023 to January 2024 running…