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 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…

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 Chelsea stunned Aston Villa with a 1-3 win to march on in the FA Cup and ease the pressure on Mauricio Pochettino.Enzo Fernandez’s sensational free-kick added to first-half goals from Conor Gallagher and Nicolas Jackson.Moussa Diaby’s injury-time strike failed to ruin Chelsea’s night and the Blues now host Leeds in the fifth round.Having been humbled 4-2 by Wolves and thumped 4-1 by Liverpool in their two previous games there was an expectation Chelsea would lurch further into…

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 Members of the Guardian Angels roughed up a man during a live interview on Fox News Tuesday night, then misidentified him as a “migrant” in a primetime segment meant to highlight disorder and crime caused by new arrivals to New York City.The bizarre altercation played out as Curtis Sliwa, founder of the anti-crime patrol group, was speaking to Sean Hannity from Times Square, flanked by volunteers in their signature red berets and bomber jackets.As some…

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 Nottingham Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo said his side’s night of toil in their FA Cup replay against Bristol City was worth it after they booked a fifth-round tie with Manchester United.Forest needed a penalty shootout to get past the Championship outfit after it ended 1-1 after 120 minutes at the City Ground.Goalkeeper Matt Turner was the hero as he saved Sam Bell’s effort in the shootout after Divock Origi’s first goal for Forest had been cancelled…

Toppled tree falls on roof of California house as state battles floods and landslides Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planetGet our free Climate emailThe death toll has increased to at least nine people from California’s severe storms, officials said. The storm, which has unleashed biblical proportions of rain this week, was expected to continue impacting the state through Friday. Tornado and hail warnings were issued for parts of the central coast, including Morro Bay and Los Osos.Four people were killed in California by falling trees, the Office of Emergency Management said.…

Sebastien Haller scored the first goal of the game for Ivory Coast (REUTERS)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 Ivory Coast have had a thrilling route to the semi-finals of their home tournament and now face a clash against the Democratic Republic of Congo for a spot in the Africa Cup of Nations showpiece. They snuck through the group stages with only one win in three and following a final group game loss to Equatorial Guniea they sacked their manager, with Emerse Fae taking…

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekdayYour briefing on the latest headlines from across the USManuel Oliver says Jennifer Crumbley’s conviction is something to “celebrate”.“I do think — and I hope — that this will start a new wave of accountability that expands to anyone that is somehow responsible,” he tells The Independent.To him, as the father of Joaquin Oliver, who was killed in the Parkland mass school shooting, the conviction of the mother of a school shooter marks something of a turning point. It suggests that “we’re looking at these…

(PA)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 Aston Villa host Chelsea in an FA Cup fourth round replay as pressure mounts on Blues boss Mauricio Pochettino. A 4-2 loss to Wolves in the Premier League at the weekend put the manager back under the spotlight as the London club slipped into the bottom half of the table but a positive result this evening will ease the pressure. Chelsea have already reached the Carabao Cup final and will be targeting a strong run in the…