Archive November 1, 2025

Bompastor backs ‘class’ Hampton after Earps comments

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Images courtesy of Getty

Emma Sanders

Stamford Bridge women’s football news correspondent for BBC Sport

Hannah Hampton, the goalkeeper, has shown “class” in response to Mary Earps’ criticism of her, according to Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor.

After Earps questioned Hampton’s choice as her number one at Euro 2025, Bompastor also criticized Sarina Wiegman’s lack of respect for England manager.

Earps, the former England keeper, claimed she told Wiegman that her recall of Hampton to the squad, after being “disruptive and unreliable,” was “bad behavior” by her.

Earps, 32, will release her autobiography the following week, and excerpts from her book have been released by the Guardian.

    • 19 hours ago

“We are talking about Hannah, but I want to speak out for Wiegman,”” said Wiegman. You should probably think about it before speaking when you use the words “winner” three times in a row.

“One of the things Hannah said about Mary Earps is class, and Hannah is the class one,” Hannah said in her earlier comments about her.

Hampton reportedly had a bad attitude after joining the England squad for Euro 2022.

Wiegman later recalled Hampton, who saved two spot kicks in their Euro 2025 penalty shootout victory over Spain. He later said it was for “something personal.”

At the Ballon d’Or awards in September, the 24-year-old was also honored as the best female goalkeeper.

Earps was a key player in England’s victory at Euro 2022, and he also saved Jenni Hermoso’s penalty from Spain in their World Cup final defeat a year later.

Hampton claimed that Earps’ “changed” her “goalkeeping in the women’s game” after her shocking international retirement in June.

With all the accomplishments she’s made in the game and helped put women’s goalkeeping on the map for the younger generation, Hampton said at the time, “I think there’s been quite a bit of scrutiny that she probably doesn’t deserve.”

Hampton kept her third clean sheet in a row as Chelsea defeated London City Lionesses on Saturday morning, the morning after the first excerpts of Earps’ book were released.

It’s difficult because Hannah is both an athlete and a person. She has grown a lot since I started Chelsea, and she is a great athlete as well, Bompastor said.

We have a really positive relationship, and I want to show her my support in this circumstance. She is regarded as a classy and professional, as evidenced by what she accomplished today.

She exhibits both mental and physical qualities as the best goalkeeper in the world. We simply want to treat her with love and respect.

Ellen White, Jen Beattie and Ben Haines
The Women’s Football Weekly podcast returns for another season featuring Ben Haines, Ellen White, and Jen Beattie. On the Women’s Football Weekly feed, you can find interviews and additional content from the Women’s Super League and beyond as well as new episodes that are available every Tuesday on BBC Sounds.

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Sir Anthony Hopkins forced to sell home at a massive loss after devastating LA wildfires

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After the devastating fire that swept through the area in January, Anthony Hopkins is selling the remains of his Pacific Palisades estate for half the amount he paid for it.

Legendary actor Sir Anthony Hopkins is quietly putting what remains of his fire-ravaged Pacific Palisades estate on the market — and make no mistake, it’s a raw deal.

The Hannibal Lecter star is selling the two now-empty plots he once combined into one grand vision, asking a total of $6.4 million — about £5.1 million — while he paid nearly $12.6 million (roughly £10 million) for them in 2018 and 2019.

Hopkins splashed out $6.6 million (around £5.2 million) for the first parcel, which included a swimming pool, then bought the neighbouring plot — with what’s left of a chimney stack — for $6 million (about £4.8 million). Now, in what amounts to a bitter £6.2 million loss, he’s selling them separately: the pool lot goes for $2.55 million (£2m), while the smokestack plot is priced at $3.85 million (£3.1m).

The reason for the fire-ravaged shell? The devastating Pacific Palisades blaze, part of the broader Los Angeles wildfires tied to the deadly Woolsey Fire, which tore through the region in January this year. The fire was the largest raging within the LA area burning thousands of structures.

Thousands of firefighters attempted to contain the wind-driven fires in California which killed 10 people, ravaged communities, and sent thousands of people frantically fleeing their properties.

Hopkins, now in his late 80s, has spoken rarely about the loss, but when he did, he was characteristically reflective. “As we all struggle to heal from the devastation of these fires, it’s important we remember that the only thing we take with us is the love we give,” he said, according to reports.

His neighbor’s property was largely destroyed by the Woolsey fire in November 2018, which had nearly escaped his home. Hopkins lost his London home to a fire in 2000, but luckily he was safe in Los Angeles at the time.

He is not at ease with his heartache. Another A-lister, Billy Crystal, whose home was destroyed by the same fire, said: “Every inch of our house was filled with love. Beautiful memories that cannot be lost. We are obviously devastated, but friends and our children’s love will help us get through this.

Paris Hilton, Billy Crystal, the Oscar-winning singer, Cary Elwes, Ricki Lake, Heidi Montag, and Spencer Pratt, the Hills’ Spencer, and other celebrities who lost their homes in the fires are just a few examples.

Actor Cary Elwes also shared his grief, writing on Instagram : “Sadly we did lose our home … but we are grateful to have survived this truly devastating fire,” while Eugene Levy, known for Schitt’s Creek, described the terror of fleeing: “The smoke looked pretty black and intense … I couldn’t see any flames but the smoke was very dark.”

Back in January, Anthony made a surprise appearance at a Welsh fish and chip shop after losing his home to the devastating Los Angeles wildfires. Hopkins returned to his hometown of Port Talbot and decided to treat himself to a chippy. The star stunned locals as he rocked up for a portion of fish and chips. Anthony could be seen wearing a black flatcap and black coat as he ordered from the counter.

Anthony has visited the chippy before, and the owner shared a photo and said, “He’s back again for his fish and chips, can’t ask for a better advertisement.”

A local said, “In his hometown of Port Talbot this week, at Steve’s Chippy, the street I was born in, for his fish and chips supper. We love him, he loves us, and he never gets upset when he comes home.

Continue reading the article.

Egypt unveils Grand Egyptian Museum dedicated to its ancient civilisation

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Cairo is set to open the long-awaited Grand Egyptian Museum that Egypt hopes will celebrate the nation’s heritage and also revitalise its struggling economy and tourism sector.

World leaders, including monarchs and heads of state and government, were scheduled to attend the Egyptian presidency’s press conference on Saturday, in Cairo.

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It referred to the opening of the museum as “an extraordinary event in the history of human culture and civilisation.”

The 24, 000 square meters (258, 000 square feet) of permanent exhibition space will house large statues and historical pieces from the nation’s ancient civilisation. The museum’s location, which has been in development for 20 years, is close to Cairo’s Giza Pyramids.

The museum will “unify the genius of the ancient Egyptians and the creativity of the modern Egyptians, enhancing the world culture and art with a new landmark that will attract all those who cherish civilization and knowledge,” according to President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s tweet on social media.

[Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters] A general view before the Grand Egyptian Museum’s (GEM) official opening ceremony, which took place close to the Giza pyramids.

El-Sisi has spearheaded a number of megaprojects since taking office in 2014, including the museum, which aims to revive an economy that has fallen victim to decades of stagnation and unrest following the uprising in the Arab Spring in 2011.

The grand reveal preparations have been kept secret. Prior to the ceremony’s opening ceremony, the government announced that Saturday would be a public holiday, which has increased security in the city. The museum’s final two-week of preparations were delayed due to the limited number of visitors over the past few years.

The museum’s location and the nearby Giza Plateau, home to the Sphinx and pyramids, have been transformed by the government. To improve access, the path was made paved, and a metro station is being built near the museum’s gates. West of Cairo, 40 minutes from the museum, has also opened an airport, Sphinx International Airport.

Construction on the $1 billion facility began in 2005 but was halted due to political unrest, with several delays.

A magnificent six-storey staircase with views of the nearby pyramids and ancient statues ascends from the atrium. According to museum officials, a bridge connects the museum and the pyramids, allowing visitors to move either on foot or by electric vehicle between them.

The Pyramid in Giza is seen in the distance from the Grand Egyptian Museum before the official opening of the museum, Egypt, November 1, 2025.
[Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters] The Grand Egyptian Museum is visible far away from the Great Pyramid of Giza.

The museum’s 12 main galleries, which opened last year, are organized by era and themes to display antiquities dating back to prehistoric times and the Roman era.

The 5, 000 pieces from King Tutankhamun’s collection will be displayed in its entirety for the first time since British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered his tomb in Luxor in 1922, in two halls dedicated to him.

The government hopes that the museum will draw more visitors who will stay for a while, as well as offer the foreign currency needed to bolster Egypt’s struggling economy.

According to official figures, Egypt received a record-setting number of visitors in 2024, accounting for about 15.7 million of the country’s gross domestic product. Egypt, which has repeatedly needed bailouts to stabilize its economy, uses tourism-related foreign currency to pay for important imports like wheat and fuel.

Sarah Ferguson’s subtle swipe at Meghan Markle after staggering Eugenie decision

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On Princess Eugenie’s wedding day, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle made a big announcement, and it’s thought Sarah Ferguson was unfazed.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry reportedly made a surprise announcement about Princess Eugenie’s wedding day in Sarah Ferguson.

While still serving as royal couple in 2018, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex learned that Prince Archie was their child. Just a few months after their fairytale wedding in Windsor, they were happy.

Their controversial announcement reportedly irked some people, and Princess Eugenie’s wedding was the subject of Harry’s cousin’s feud.

While Harry and Meghan initially only confided in a select few guests at the celebration, Kensington Palace publicly confirmed the baby news shortly afterwards. Royal biographers Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand claim the timing “did not go down particularly well” with Eugenie.

The wonderful news, reportedly infuriating her mother Sarah, appeared to overshadow Eugenie’s marriage to Jack Brooksbank.

While Sarah, 65, never explicitly commented on the clash, she published multiple tweets celebrating Eugenie and Jack’s wedding, strategically timed with Kensington Palace’s official confirmation of Harry and Meghan’s pregnancy, The Express reports.

According to sources, Fergie attempted to reroute viewers’ attention to the wedding by taking photos during this deliberate dig at the Sussexes. According to Palace insiders, Fergie alleged that the couple had raised her daughter.

Harry explained in his explosive autobiography Spare why he made the decision to tell his family” target=”_blank” aria-label=”royalLink opens in a new tab.” tabindex=”0″>royal family members during his cousin’s wedding day despite Sarah’s alleged frustrations.

He stated in his 2023 memoir that, “We were deliriously happy for them and for ourselves, selfishly, because Jack was one of our favorite people, and that we were getting married to him.

He continued, “Meg and I were scheduled to depart for our first official foreign tour as a married couple, but we put off the trip by several days so we could attend the wedding.”

Additionally, the various wedding-related gatherings would allow us to approach family members one by one and share our good news.

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Just three days after Princess Eugenie’s wedding ceremony, the couple made a public announcement about their pregnancy on October 15.

The awkward swipe has resurfaced as Sarah and her ex husband Andrew find themselves engulfed in a reignited scandal over their links to Jeffrey Epstein.

Strictly’s Amy Dowden admits she ‘cried so much’ after asking heartbreaking question

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Amy Dowden, a professional dancer for Strictly Come Dancing, has revealed the emotional impact of her breast cancer diagnosis and earlier this year.

Amy Dowden, a Strictly Come Dancing professional, has opened up about the devastating emotional impact of her breast cancer diagnosis, revealing how being diagnosed with two different cancers left her “broken” and wrestling with difficult future questions.

The 35-year-old dancer, who has been a mainstay on the popular BBC programme for years, first discovered a lump in her breast earlier in 2023, the day before jetting off to the Maldives on her honeymoon with fellow professional dancer Ben Jones.

Following scans, further scans revealed that Amy had breast cancer, which was confirmed by medical tests, and additional tumors were discovered as well.

She underwent surgery and discovered that she had ductal and lobular breast cancer, which made her treatment significantly more difficult than she had anticipated. She was diagnosed with both breast cancer and had devastating news.

Following the diagnosis, Amy had a mastectomy, followed by chemotherapy, which led to a medically-induced menopause. She also experienced concerns about her fertility throughout the chaos of her recovery and treatment, according to Wales Online.

Speaking about this challenging time, Amy told The Dr Hilary Show podcast: “You’re in that world where you’ve just got married, you know, you’re being asked about your fertility plans. I would love the honour of being a mum, so that was a real, you know…

“Devastating news of a cancer diagnosis” You suddenly consider, “What do you mean fertility?” What do you mean by that? That truly broke my heart. She continued, “I cried so much and couldn’t stop myself.”

Amy explains how her cancer didn’t fully manifest itself in her initial MRI scan. I had my MRI, and it revealed a lump that was larger than the doctors had anticipated, along with a few other tumors. Then a mastectomy was decided.

“After the surgery, they discovered that I had breast cancer of two different kinds. Before, they knew I had ductal cancer, but I now have both. My breast tissue was lobular, according to the surgeon who sent it to pathology.

Amy took the challenging but optimistic decision to freeze her eggs before starting chemotherapy. I now have future fertility options because I managed to get five embryos. I’m 35 now. I would have loved to be a mother right away, probably one day, if I had been diagnosed.

According to Amy, doctors would only consider stopping her hormone treatment after a predetermined amount of time. It’s about how long ago it’s been treating patients, not how many years. In January 2027, my consultant has agreed to follow up on our conversation. The fact that I still have my embryos makes me feel comforting.

She also found comfort in the timing of her egg-freezing process. The good news is that my eggs were produced when I was younger than I am now. Therefore, the quality is from when I was 32, which is comforting even if I use them at 38, 39, or 40. I still have no idea how my body will react, which is obvious.

Continue reading the article.

Amy was teamed up with reality TV sensation Thomas Skinner in this year’s Strictly Come Dancing series.

Why has the Israeli army’s top lawyer resigned after leaking rape evidence?

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Major-General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, the head of the Israeli military, has admitted to leaking footage that shows a prisoner being gang raped by a prisoner at the Sde Temain prison facility in August of last year.

In the midst of a right-wing backlash following the arrest of several soldiers for the rape of a Palestinian prisoner, the video of the rape had originally been leaked to the press in early August.

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Tomer-Yerushalmi resigned on Friday, blaming pressure from the right for her decision to release the video, asserting that she was responding to “false propaganda directed against the military law enforcement authorities.”

A blindfolded Palestinian prisoner is captured in the leaked footage by soldiers grabbing and escorting him before covering him with riot shields as they continue their rape.

The original indictment stated that the accused kicked the detainee, stomped on him, stood on his body, hit him repeatedly, dragged his body along the ground, and taser-fired him, including on his head, for 15 minutes.

The victim’s alleged injuries to the anal and lung areas, as well as broken ribs, were documented in medical records obtained by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. Later, he needed surgery.

How did the soldiers fare?

In connection with the man’s rape, at least nine soldiers were detained. The release of all but five was quick.

The remaining soldiers were detained in February after the detainee was “severely abducted” but refused to rape him. The trial is raging.

A UN commission concluded that the decision to downgrade the indictments, despite the evidence, “will inevitably lead to a more lenient punishment” if the conviction is made after reviewing the change of indictment and other instances of Israel’s use of sexual and gender-based violence.

Why didn’t Israeli politicians demand accountability?

because they believed it to be inherently anti-patriotic to do so.

Several far-right politicians from Israel, including Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu, gathered outside the Sde Teiman prison to protest the soldiers’ rape arrests.

Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s hard-right National Security Minister, addressed Tomer-Yerushalmi directly in July 2024, expressing the message, “The Military Advocate General, take your hands off the reservists” in Hebrew. he said, referring to the soldiers who are accused of rape.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a fellow far-right traveler, was also active on social media at the time, expressing his support for the alleged rapists as “heroes, not villains.”

Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right politician and Israeli minister of national security, requested that Major-General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi halt her inquiry into the alleged rape suspects ([Ahmad Gharabli/AFP]).

Smotrich, who returned to social media during the uproar that followed the rape, instead urged an “immediate criminal investigation to find the leakers of the trending video, which was intended to harm the reservists and that caused enormous harm to Israel in the world, and exhaust the full severity of the law against them.”

What was Tomer-Yerushalmi’s resignation’s response among the critics?

The woman who provided the evidence for the alleged rape’s release received the same amount of vocal support as the accusation’s most vocal supporters.

Smotrich blasted her and a large portion of Israel’s judicial system of rank corruption and launched what he called an “anti-Semitic blood libel” against their military in a post-resignation on social media shortly after Tomer-Yerushalmi’s resignation.

Ben-Gvir wrote in response to the leak of the footage, “Everyone involved in the affair must be held accountable,” and he also made a similar point.

Both ministers are vocal supporters of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ongoing efforts to stifle the judiciary and weaken its political oversight.

At Sde Teiman, have Palestinians been the victims of any other crimes?

According to the documents that came with each corpse, at least 135 of the mutilated bodies that Israel returned to Palestinian officials in Gaza last week as part of the ceasefire agreement, were located at Sde Teiman.

Some of the bodies had blindfolded, and some had their hands still tucked behind their backs. One wore a rope around its neck.

Detainees at Sde Teiman, including children, were frequently shackled, forced into stress positions, denied toilets and showers, and beaten, according to the same UN report that examined the reduced indictment against the soldiers.