Rachel Daly scores her first two goals of the season, including one in the first 27 seconds of the match, as Aston Villa beat Liverpool 3-0 in the Women’s Super League.
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Lancashire have appointed Sir James Anderson as captain of their Championship side for 2026.
Anderson led the team in five games last summer and had a winning record but he has now been given the job full-time after signing a new one-year contract.
Now 43, England’s leading Test wicket-taker, has taken 1,143 wickets in 304 first-class matches since his debut in 2002.
Despite playing his 188th and final Test for England in 2024 at the age of 41 in July 2024, Anderson has carried on his county career.
After a turbulent summer at Emirates Old Trafford in which head coach Dale Benkenstein left mid-season and Jennings stepped down as red-ball captain, Anderson found himself standing in as skipper when chosen replacement Marcus Harris returned to Australia.
He led the team to two wins, two draws and a defeat in his five games in charge and lifted the mood after a dismal start.
Now he will work alongside new permanent head coach Steven Croft, who was in interim charge for the second half of last season and a former Red Rose team-mate of Anderson, as they aim to lead Lancashire back to Division One after relegation from the top flight in 2024.
“Captaining Lancashire for the first time last season was a huge privilege, and I’m honoured to take on the role full-time heading into the new season,” Anderson told the club’s website.
One of the two men facing trial over Liam Payne’s hotel plunge death has been allowed to leave prison. Braian Paiz will have to wear an electronic tag on his ankle as part of his home arrest.
The waiter has been languishing in jail since the start of January after being charged with selling the former One Direction singer the cocaine he snorted and smoked before his fatal third-storey drug-fuelled balcony plunge on October 16 last year.
Paiz, who has admitted to taking drugs with Liam at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires but denies selling him narcotics, lost an initial prison release bid after it was opposed by public prosecutors and a judge ruled he remained a flight risk. But three higher court judges agreed he could swap jail for house arrest and the ankle tag after he appealed, arguing his near year-long incarceration had caused him health problems and his family situation had worsened.
The other suspect, former hotel worker Ezequiel David Pereyra who is also facing drug charges, remains in jail and it was not immediately clear this morning if he would now apply for a similar home arrest regime ahead of their trial.
Public prosecutors have yet to make any official comment on the appeal judges’ decision, said to have been taken yesterday.
Paiz claimed in an interview from prison in October he had been beaten, scalded and threatened with electrocution since being arrested and remanded in custody. He also said he was sharing his remand cell with another 15 people who had nicknamed him ‘killer’ and left him in fear of his life.
At the time it emerged the 26-year-old had to give away some of his food and cigarettes to other inmates in an attempt to guarantee his safety.
Shortly after his interview he was moved from the cramped Buenos Aires police cell where he was held at first to a special LGBT wing in a new prison with better conditions.
His mum Sandra has complained massive legal bills have had a devastating effect on their family, forcing her to sell her hairdressing salon and downsize to a dilapidated home in Berazategui on the outskirts of Buenos Aires.
Like 24-year-old Pereyra, Paiz has been accused of selling cocaine to Liam, just 31 when he died, on two separate occasions and warned the prison sentence if convicted could be between four and 15 years.
He met the singer in a restaurant he served him at shortly before Liam’s fatal fall from the balcony of room 310 at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel.
Paiz has previously protested his innocence by claiming he is being scapegoated, but in a prison interview with Argentinian magazine Gente in October he made a series of new bombshell claims about the time he spent with the famous Brit.
Recalling the night they got chatting in Cabana Las Lilas, the restaurant in the upmarket neighbourhood of Puerto Madero Braian used to work at and Liam had picked for dinner, he said: “Liam approached me several times, always asking where the toilet was. But what he really wanted was to interact with me. He asked for my Instagram in front of his girlfriend.
“We started talking on a parallel account that he had created just for that purpose. It had no followers, nothing. We never used WhatsApp, as they said in the case. It was always on Instagram and then on iCloud.
“The prosecutor’s office deleted all my locations, but I have the screenshots.”
Braian said the first visit he paid Liam, on October 2 at the luxury Palacio Duhau – Park Hyatt Hotel in Buenos Aires where he was staying before switching to the CasaSur Palermo, lasted an hour and a half.
He said the singer showed him three new songs he was going to bring out and a photo of a young boy he believes was his now eight-year-old son Bear after sketching his face from a snap he took of him.
Speaking of his prison hell at his first lock-up, he repeated his earlier insistence he was innocent in an Argentinian TV interview in November last year: “I’m being accused of something I didn’t do. We shared less than two grams of cocaine that I had for personal consumption.
“I don’t deal drugs. I was just a user. What I experienced with Liam wasn’t a crime, it was a human moment.”
No date has yet been set for Paiz’s and Pereyra’s trial and sources close to the case are saying they don’t expect it to take place now until next year.
Pereyra is being held on remand in Marcos Paz Prison on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. The maximum-security federal prison is known for housing some of the country’s most dangerous men including drug lords.
Argentinian public prosecutors say their case against Pereyra and Paiz is based on phone, CCTV and witness evidence.
Lead prosecutor Andres Madrea said in June when he confirmed the two men would go to trial for selling Liam with drugs: “Based on the information obtained from the mobile phone seized from the late Liam James Payne, it was possible to establish that the defendant Paiz supplied narcotics to the aforementioned individual for consumption in exchange for money on at least two occasions.”
Three other men initially charged over Liam’s death were told in February the case against them had been dropped.
Liam’s close friend Rogelio Nores, hotel receptionist Esteban Grassi and hotel head of security Gilda Martin were accused of his manslaughter by a female lower court judge before her decision was overturned on appeal.
Christmas hasn’t started until you’ve heard Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You – but it might surprise you to know she’s not the highest Christmas earner.
Though the ‘Queen of Christmas’ is said to pocket a staggering £8 million from Christmas streams of her hit song alone, there’s one artist who takes home more every year. So who is the person in question?
It’s the ‘King of Christmas’, Canadian crooner Michael Buble. The 50-year-old is the biggest overall earner during the festive season. Of his total £26 million coming from Spotify streams, £11.8 million is from Christmassongs – the highest total of all artists.
Ariana Grande comes in third place. This is despite only 4% of her music on Spotify being Christmas themed, like Santa Tell Me. Yet the 32-year-old Wicked star is still pulling in £5.8 million for her contribution to Spotify’s favourite Christmas playlists. This is in addition to the £133 million she gets from the rest of her discography.
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Wham’s Last Christmas, released in December 1984 and sung by music legend George Michael – who sadly died on Christmas Day 2016 at the age of 53 – is in fourth place with their huge hit pulling in £4.5 million a year from Spotify streams alone.
Justin Bieber is next on the list, making £3.6 million from his Christmas songs that include Christmas Love, Mistletoe and recordings of All I Want For Christmas Is You and Santa Claus is Coming To Town.
Brenda Lee might be 81 now, but she’s still Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree from the hit she released in 1958 when she was just 13 years old. It’s said to earn her a whopping £3.5 million in streams.
Kelly Clarkson also earns £3.5 million for her Christmas back catalogue that includes hits like Underneath the Tree, Santa, Can’t You Hear Me, Christmas Eve and Silent Night.
White Christmas and It’s The Most Wonderful Time of The Year singer Andy Williams passed away in 2012, but his music still makes £3.5 million every Christmas.
John Lennon’s Happy Xmas (War Is Over) rakes in £1.6 million each year. While Elton John’s classic Step Into Christmas adds £1.5 million to his fortune over the festive season.
Libby Mayfield, Head of Marketing for Dark Horse SEO agency who carried out the research said: “When you look at the numbers, Christmas isn’t just a season, it’s a business model. For some artists, one festive hit isn’t just a chart success, it’s the backbone of their entire streaming income. For others, a few Christmas covers can boost their revenue by millions.
“Ultimately, it’s hard to look at this data and not wonder where originality has gone. Sure, some songs are classics, but what is it about recent years that’s made it so tempting to rehash and rerecord instead of writing new music?”
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They failed to win over Simon Cowell back in 2008 – but fast forward to 2025, and Ant & Seb have captured the hearts of the internet with an unexpected Christmas return that’s sent X Factor devotees into overdrive. The Welsh siblings from Cardiff – permanently cemented in reality television folklore for their memorable X Factor audition – have made a comeback with a festive charity track called “Sprinkle It.”
After sharing a brief clip on TikTok revealing their return, the response has been phenomenal. The clip has amassed more than 480,000 views on TikTok within a day, whilst hundreds of comments have poured in. Supporters have been swift to embrace the moment, with responses varying from “This is the best day of my life” to “2025 has officially been saved.”
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Others expressed disbelief, questioning, “Is this actually them?”. One supporter posted: “Did Ant and Seb just rescue 2025 at the last moment?” whilst another proclaimed the return was “better than a One Direction reunion.”Another captured the sentiment plainly: “I gasped – oh my god, iconic.”
Ant & Seb initially rose to prominence almost twenty years ago following their X Factor audition which became one of the programme’s most discussed episodes, primarily due to Seb’s now-iconic rap and the notorious phrase, “Why did he bring his brother?” Despite failing to advance as a novelty act under Simon Cowell, Cheryl and Louis Walsh, the episode went on to become one of the most unforgettable, accumulating millions of views across YouTube, Instagram and TikTok throughout the years.
Seventeen years later, the siblings have returned with “Sprinkle It,” a cheerful, uplifting number blending Ant’s silky vocals with Seb’s characteristic wit. The duo co-wrote the track themselves, aiming to deliver something enjoyable, entertaining and seasonal.
However, the return carries additional significance. After their initial X Factor appearance, Ant suffered a mental health crisis connected to the editing and public presentation of their audition. Ant continues his recovery, and the pair explain this venture is about spreading joy, laughter and optimism, whilst demonstrating that circumstances can get better and time offers healing. Every penny raised from the single will go to Shelter and Shelter Cymru, helping those experiencing homelessness throughout the UK.