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Is it time for Man Utd ‘rock’ Le Tissier to shine for England?

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Simon Stone

Manchester United reporter
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Manchester United coach Marc Skinner was quick to shut down an obvious line of questioning around his match-winner Maya Le Tissier after the club’s Champions League debut.

“Your next question is probably ‘should she start for England’,” he said. “I am not here to answer that.”

Despite becoming one of the most consistent defenders in the Women’s Super League, making a record 71st consecutive appearance in last week’s 1-1 draw with Chelsea, central defensive anchor Le Tissier has had limited exposure at international level.

Marshalled by Le Tissier, United had the WSL’s second-best defence last season, conceding just 16 goals in 22 games.

The United captain was rewarded with a place in Sarina Wiegman’s Euro 2025 squad, but did not play a single minute in Switzerland as the Lionesses retained their European title.

Eight caps since her first call-up in November 2022 is scant reward for a player of her ability. In the WSL this season, Le Tissier tops the rankings for most clearances (34) and most touches (444).

Wiegman has said she prefers Le Tissier at right-back, despite her playing at centre-back for United.

But injuries to England captain and centre-back Leah Williamson, plus right-back Lucy Bronze, must give Le Tissier a chance of playing when Weigman’s side take on Brazil and Australia later this month, with the Dutchwoman naming her squad next week.

Skinner was not keen to get involved in the debate but he was happy to extol the virtues of the 23-year-old, who kept her nerve to convert the first-half penalty that secured victory over Norwegian side Valerenga in Leigh in their league phase opener.

“She is [at the top of her game] and has been for a long time,” he said.

“I start her for a reason. She is an incredible footballer and a driven personality. When she gets her opportunity, she will be an incredible England stalwart and someone who will give the country pride.

Maya Le Tissier scoresGetty Images

While his counterpart as head coach of United’s men’s side, Ruben Amorim, has made a point of not looking as his players take vital penalties, Skinner was happy to watch skipper Le Tissier take hers, so sure was he that the defender would convert.

“When she steps up I feel confident,” he said. “I am not one of these managers who looks away.

“You are at the mercy of technique and composure and mental acumen, not whether the wind is blowing in the wrong direction.

“She practices them and is calm with them. I trust her technique 100%.

“I thought she was good in defence as well tonight. She’s a rock for us and it’s fitting that she got the first goal [for United in the Champions League].”

With matches to come against Atletico Madrid, who beat Austrian side SV Polten 6-0 away from home, next week, then French heavyweights PSG and Lyon, plus Juventus, United needed to win to stand any chance of reaching the ‘nine to 12 points’ Skinner thinks will be needed to get through to the knockout stages.

He dismissed the notion his side looked tired against limited opponents, even though they only had eight substitutes, including two goalkeepers, when they could have named 11.

Instead, representing a club that has such an illustrious European history on the men’s side, he needed to remind his players at the end of the monumental strides that have been taken with a team that didn’t even exist eight years ago.

“This is a special group and I have reminded them there is special expectation on a Manchester United team,” he said.

Ellen White, Jen Beattie and Ben Haines

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France’s Macron to appoint new prime minister within 48 hours

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French President Emmanuel Macron will name a new prime minister within the next 48 hours, his office has said, in the latest effort to chart a path out of the worst political crisis of his presidency.

The announcement on Wednesday followed two days of last-ditch talks with party leaders by outgoing Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu in a bid to break the country’s political deadlock, after his cabinet lineup, unveiled on Sunday, was rejected by allies and rivals alike.

The Elysee presidential office said in a statement that Lecornu’s discussions with various parties had concluded that a majority of lawmakers were not in favour of parliament being dissolved for early elections, and that there was “a platform for stability” that could make it possible for a budget to be passed by the year’s end.

“On this basis, the President of the Republic will appoint a Prime Minister within the next 48 hours,” said the statement.

Macron thanked Lecornu for his work since Monday to resolve the crisis, the office said.

Ahead of the announcement, it had been unclear whether Macron would opt to reappoint Lecornu or name a replacement, call snap elections or even resign himself.

Escalating crisis

In September, Macron tasked Lecornu – the fifth prime minister he has installed in less than two years – with forming a government after the divided French parliament toppled his predecessor, Francois Bayrou, over a much-maligned austerity budget intended to tackle a debt crisis.

But despite Lecornu’s promises of a departure from Bayrou’s approach, his cabinet, unveiled on Sunday evening, immediately drew fierce criticism from both the right and left for containing many of the same faces from the previous administration.

Lecornu resigned the following day, making his 14-hour administration the shortest in modern French history, but then added to the confusion when he announced he would hold 48 hours of talks at Macron’s request to try to agree on a new cabinet.

The move prompted renewed criticism of the increasingly isolated Macron, including from former premier Edouard Philippe, once a close ally of the president, who was one of many calling for presidential elections to resolve the crisis.

‘I tried everything’

Speaking to French TV earlier Wednesday, Lecornu said he had told Macron that the prospects of snap elections had diminished as there was a majority in the lower house opposed to the dissolution of parliament.

“I tried everything,” he said of his efforts to find a deal to end the crisis. “This evening, my mission is finished.”

He suggested that a more technocratic and less political administration could follow, saying that any new cabinet appointments should not harbour ambitions to stand in the next presidential elections.

He also pushed back against calls for snap presidential polls ahead of the scheduled 2027 elections, saying it was “not the time to change the president”.

“Let’s not make the French believe that it’s the president who votes the budget,” he said.

The French parliament has been sharply divided since Macron, in response to surging gains by the far right, announced snap elections last year, resulting in a hung parliament.

Trump says he may travel to Middle East as Gaza deal ‘very close’

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United States President Donald Trump says indirect talks between Hamas and Israel over a potential ceasefire in the war on Gaza and an exchange of captives were going “very well” and that he may travel to the Middle East later this week.

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Wednesday, Trump said that a deal is “very close”.

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“Negotiations are going along very well,” he said. “I may go there sometime toward the end of the week, maybe on Sunday,” he said.

Senior officials from Qatar, Turkiye, Egypt and the US joined the delegations in Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Wednesday, the third day of the talks, as the mediators pressed the two sides to resolve their differences over Trump’s 20-point proposal.

The first phase of the plan calls for a ceasefire and the release of 48 Israeli captives held in Gaza, including 20 who are believed to be alive, and the release of Palestinian prisoners held in appalling conditions in Israeli jails.

Hamas has submitted its list of detainees to be freed as part of the proposed swap.

Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and special envoy Steve Witkoff, as well as Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer – a close aide of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – were participating in the negotiations on Wednesday, Israeli and Palestinian sources said.

Also joining the discussions was the prime minister of longstanding key mediator Qatar, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani.

The Hamas delegation includes leaders Khalil al-Hayya and Zaher Jabarin, two negotiators who survived an Israeli assassination attempt in Qatar’s capital Doha that killed five people last month.

In a statement released late Wednesday, senior Hamas official Izzat al-Risheq said the group welcomes the participation of Qatar’s prime minister and Turkiye’s intelligence chief, alongside Egypt’s intelligence chief, in the current round of talks.

He said their involvement gives the negotiations “a strong boost” towards achieving positive results on ending the war and facilitating a prisoner exchange.

A delegation from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) armed group is also set to arrive in Egypt to participate in the indirect talks, according to a statement from the group.

The PIJ is the smaller of the two main Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip and is currently holding some Israeli captives.

For his part, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said the mediated negotiations had made “a lot of headway” and that a ceasefire would be declared if they reached a positive outcome.

Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara says the talks remain tense with “some serious disagreements”, as crucial details are yet to be hammered out – including the timing and the extent of an Israeli withdrawal, the makeup of the post-war administration for the Gaza Strip and the fate of Hamas.

“You could say that the initial phase of the initial phase is working out,” Bishara said. According to him, both sides appeared to agree on “some sort of parameters” for a captive-prisoner exchange.

“According to the plan, … after Hamas hands over the captives, then the war should be over,” Bishara said. “Israel says no, the war will be over only after Hamas disarms.”

Israeli attacks continue

Even as the talks progressed on Wednesday, Israel continued its attacks on Gaza. At least eight Palestinians were killed across Gaza over the previous 24 hours, the Palestinian Health Ministry said on Wednesday. At least 61 others were injured in attacks, it said.

Gaza’s Government Media Office said in a statement on Wednesday that Israel carried out 271 air and artillery strikes over the past five days despite calls from the US to stop the bombardment. The attacks targeted densely populated areas and shelters for displaced people across the enclave, killing 126 civilians, including women and children – with 75 of them in Gaza City alone.

Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from central Gaza’s az-Zawayda, said the situation on the ground “looks extremely bleak” as Israeli drones are still targeting residential buildings, particularly in Gaza City.

“Civilians have said the scale of bombardment sounds less intense in comparison with the days preceding the onset of the current round of negotiations,” Abu Azzoum said.

“They say that might be a sign that mediators are exerting further pressure on Israel to at least mitigate the scale of its bombardment on Gaza for one reason: It’s to allow for Hamas fighters to retrieve bodies of Israeli captives as part of the first phase of the ceasefire deal,” he said.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that just 14 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are partially functioning, and only a third of 176 primary care facilities work.

Hanan Balkhy, WHO regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean, said Gaza has been struggling with “dire shortages” of electricity, clean water and medicine, as well as broken equipment and damaged infrastructure in those health facilities still working.

“Some facilities have been hit and rehabilitated and hit once more,” she said.

The Celebrity Traitors star Ruth Codd shares tragic reason behind leg amputation

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Ruth Codd, who is in this year’s The Celebrity Traitors on BBC One alongside 18 other stars, wants to raise awareness about amputations following a horrific injury

Ruth Codd – the Irish actress in The Celebrity Traitors – described her leg amputation as the “greatest challenge” she has ever faced.

The star’s candid interview, which has resurfaced following her appearance in the new series last night, details why Ruth, now 29, had her right leg amputated below the knee. The actress had injured her foot playing football when she was 15 and, in around 2019, she suffered further complications which led to the surgery.

Ruth, from Wexford, Ireland, said she made the decision to help relieve the pain and gain more control over her life. Ruth has learned in the subsequent years to use a prosthetic leg, she told the Irish Examiner. This interview from 2022 has resurfaced today following interest on Ruth and her injury.

She said: “My injury is the greatest challenge I’ve faced in my life so far. I injured it playing soccer at the age of 15. It never healed correctly so until I was 23, I was on and off crutches, getting loads of operations. Because of nerve damage and chronic pain, I chose to get it amputated. It took eight years of my life, constantly going in and out of hospital.

“My whole life revolved around trying to heal my leg. For years, I didn’t see it getting any better. I was stuck in a really bad mindset and I was pissed off at life. When I made the decision to amputate it, things finally started to turn around. It was a relief. I could get on my life.”

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In The Celebrity Traitors, Ruth and 18 other stars compete to prove themselves as either a Faithful or a Traitor. The other celebs include actor and broadcaster Sir Stephen Fry and Olympian Tom Daley.

Ruth, who portrayed Anya in the Netflix thriller series The Midnight Club, previously spoke of her delight to partake in the show. Her enthusiasm was mirrored by the BBC unscripted director Syeda Irtizaali, who said of the show in the summer: “It was a real pleasure to cast this series. I think where we started with was we wanted to have a really broad range of people, obviously, but we also wanted people that were real fans of the show, that really understood it.

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“I was worried about it; I was worried about how they were going to play it compared to members of the public, but we have nothing to worry about. They really play the game, and some of the things that you’ll see them doing are extraordinary; that’s all I’m going to say. It’s well worth the wait.”

‘Deeply romantic’ Louis Tomlinson admits true feelings for girlfriend Zara McDermott

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One Direction singer Louis Tomlinson recently sat down for an in-depth interview and opened up about his relationship with Love Island star Zara McDermott

One Direction star Louis Tomlinson has revealed his true feelings for his girlfriend, Zara McDermott. Love Island star Zara and singer Louis were dating privately for several months before going public with their relationship in June, with a loved-up snap of the smitten pair kissing.

Zara, who split from ex-boyfriend Sam Thompson in December after a five-year relationship, has also reportedly gradually moved into his north London mansion. And now, Louis shared further insight into their new romance during a rare interview while promoting his latest project.

During a chat on The Diary Of A CEO, with presenter Steven Bartlett, he mentioned being “in love” with the TV personality.

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He said: “I’m a deeply, deeply romantic person. It’s also easy to to be romantic when you are a creative. I really struggle to write in a fictional sense, I really struggle.

“For me, I have to have been living it, it has to be real to me. So if I wasn’t feeling so good, like right now, I wasn’t feeling so in love…the record probably would have a slightly different feel to it.”

Zara and Louis confirmed their relationship on Instagram earlier this summer, much to the delight of fans. In June, Zara posted a sweet snap of the two smooching, with Louis commenting, “I love you.”

The post was met with support from both families as Zara’s brother responded, “beautiful couple,” while Louis’ sister added, “love love.”

It was reported the couple first started dating at the beginning of this year but wanted to keep things private until they were ready to tell the world.

Their first public appearance was at Glastonbury Festival in June, where they were seen in a TikTok video embracing while watching a performance. Louis had his arms around Zara, who looked loved-up and at ease as she leaned back on his shoulder.

While their romance has gone from strength to strength, their relationship faced at least one awkward moment earlier this summer when Louis and Sam were both taking part in Soccer Aid.

Zara and Louis’ relationship appears to be progressing quickly, with friends reportedly viewing the pairing as serious.

According to sources close to the couple, this summer was spent travelling together before returning to the UK at which point Zara began using Louis’ home as her base.

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Victoria Beckham recalls becoming ‘good at lying’ while hiding crippling eating disorder

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The former Spice Girl has revealed how she struggled to hide her eating disorder from her parents after leaving the band

Victoria Beckham has revealed that she suffered from a crippling eating disorder that she learned to keep from her loved ones after leaving the Spice Girls.

In her new documentary, the star shared that she stopped eating because she was felt unable to control what others were saying about her during the height of her fame, but “I can control my weight”.

She admitted she tried to hide her condition after the Spice Girls split and got “very good at lying”. Victoria said: “It’s been a lot, and that’s hard. I had no control over what was being written about me, the pictures being taken, and I suppose I wanted to control that.

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“I could control it with the clothing, I could control it with my weight and I was controlling it in an extremely unhealthy way. When you have an eating disorder you become very good at lying and I was never honest about it with my parents.”

She added that it affected her “constantly” and has now been with her for her entire life. “I never talked about it publicly. It really affects you when you’re being told constantly that you’re not good enough and I suppose that’s been with me my whole life.”

The admission was made during an episode called Kill The Wag. In it, Victoria shared that she lost her identity whilst trying to rebrand herself as a fashion designer and not a Spice Girl or the wife of footballer David Beckham. She explained how she got a boob job, wore hair extensions and branded that era the “attention-seeking” years.

But within two years, she had successfully turned things around and gotten her career as a fashion designer off the ground. She also got the boob job reversed. “i buried those boobs in Baden-Baden!” she joked.

In another scene, Victoria’s parents, Jackie and Tony Adams said her eating disorder stemmed from bad experiences at theatre school. Her mother recalled, “If you’re told you’re overweight, you’d be hurt” sharing how Victoria was called fat by her classmates and pushed to the back of the stage.

“It’s a silly thing to say to a young person – ‘you’re fat’,” she added. Tony continued: “Obviously it would upset her.” Victoria then revealed how she begged her parents to let her come home because the other children were so mean.

Victoria, whose eldest son Brooklyn has aspirations of a successful chef career, now eats healthily. A friend explained why Victoria decided to share her experiences with an eating disorder on the documentary: “Victoria wanted to be honest and upfront in this documentary — she didn’t want to shy away from a subject she knows still, to this day, obsesses people.

“In her younger years, before she found the gym and true happiness with her career and family, she was incredibly rigid with her food, and borderline anorexic. She largely replaced solid food with liquids and would also run quite obsessively. She was also told to lose weight by Spice Girls management and that saw her spiral.”

They added: “Her decision to speak about it now shows just how far she has come — she’s an incredible role model to both her kids and women generally. Victoria hopes that by being honest with her difficulties, she can help others experiencing similar problems.”

For help and support on eating disorders contact Beat Eating Disorders on 0808 801 0677.

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