Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium Kick-off time: Saturday, November 1:40 GMT
Liam McConnell received his first Scotland cap against the United States on Saturday because of the aggression in his game, which he has known about for a while.
McConnell has recently participated in the Scotland Under-20 squad, which regularly trains against the entire national team.
McConnell fought off the impressive names, even going up against Pierre Schoeman, a massive prop.
The young Edinburgh back-rower sneeringly described his teammate as “a pretty big man, so I don’t know how that would go.”
Townsend, who has started McConnell out in the first match of the Autumn Nations Series, has a strong impression of that fiery competitive spirit.
According to Townsend, “we chose him based on both his potential and what he’s been doing with Edinburgh.”
“This season, we’ve already seen an all-around game from him.” His ability to carry balls, his quick passes, offloads, and his confidence to demonstrate his abilities under pressure.
“Those are the really additional elements that we’ve seen,” he said, “because Liam’s aggression and effort are what he really impressed us with when he was with us in the under-20s.”
nine hours ago
October 21
balancing new blood and experience
McConnell has long been touted as the star of the future, but he had to sacrifice his time to make it happen in a back-row full of internationals in Edinburgh.
Jamie Ritchie left Perpignan in the summer, opening the door for McConnell, who has started three of Edinburgh’s four matches in the United Rugby Championship this year. He acknowledges Ritchie’s significant impact on his game.
In some ways, both of us are roughly comparable, McConnell said. He probably taught me a lot, I suppose. And then, since he’s left, I’ve tried to sort of do things that he used to do at the club.
The matchday 23 features two uncapped players: McConnell and Harri Morris, the Edinburgh hooker who starts off the bench.
Only Scottish-based players are available for the match against the USA, so Townsend has looked to experiment, with six players in the squad having six caps or fewer than that.
Townsend, who recently extended his contract to include the 2027 World Cup in Australia, said, “There’s a balance of players that are experienced, which will raise the level of performance and help those coming into the squad for the first time.”
We’ve looked at players who might require more match minutes in terms of individuals. Some of our players’ seasons have been impacted by injury.
“For someone like Scott Cummings, who played for the Lions on tour, the season started a little later. Therefore, we believe that getting a second game will be very valuable for him.
Before the big matches, which include New Zealand and Argentina back-to-back and a final game against Tonga, should provide more than enough for an experimental Scotland XV to prepare for the autumn campaign.
When asked if four wins from four is the goal, Townsend responded, “I think we have to go into every game with a focus on winning it.”
We firmly believe that players can win any team we encounter. However, it really depends on them. What’s working, what’s not working, and how do you adjust during a game? If you’re ahead, if you’re behind, what’s working, and what’s not working.
According to filings under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), Israel has contracted at least three public relations firms to improve its reputation online and among the country’s Christian right.
Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in accordance with US Department of Justice records, worked with European Havas Media Group to create the newly established Bridges Partners, Christian PR firm Show Faith by Works, and online consulting Clock Tower X.
Recommended Stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
All of the companies that were contracted made the promise to improve the nation’s online reputation and win back the support of young right-wing and evangelical US voters, which polls indicate is causing haemorrhaging as a result of Israel’s occupation of Gaza.
Israel’s allies and supporters in the US are acutely aware of the need to control how their war, which has resulted in the deaths of more than 68, 000 Palestinians, perceive it.
A coordinated social media campaign, which started in October 2023, was revealed in a study of Israel’s online activity that was published by the Al Jazeera Centre for Studies in May.
In the first few months of the war, Israel was able to gain favorable coverage from the traditional US media, but it was losing the battle on social media, where videos showing the massacre and destruction of Gaza were popular and gaining Palestinian support.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged this, referring to social media as a “weapon” in Israel’s effort to win US support, and citing TikTok’s purchase by a consortium led by pro-Israel billionaires as “the most important purchase.”
I had the honor of posing a query to Bibi Netanyahu about the possible loss of evangelical support for the state of Israel following Charlie Kirk’s murder. pic. https://twitter.com/XP2faZQa0N
Each of the PR firms hired by Havas promises to take a different approach to the campaign, including including how war is discussed online, as well as religious groups.
preserving one’s faith
In order to promote “positive associations with the Nation of Israel” in American churches and portray “the Palestinian population” as “extremist,” Israel has hired Show Faith by Works to run a $3.2 million outreach and digital targeting campaign, according to its FARA filing.
Show Faith by Works also promises Israel that it will carry out “the largest geofencing and Christian targeting campaign in US history,” according to documents included in the FARA filing.
When users are in close proximity to a specific location or area, such as Christian universities or churches, geofencing targets and tracks their communication devices.
The company also has plans for a mobile “10/7 Experience,” which could include events, conferences, and events involving Christian colleges and churches in response to the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
The experience would include a “VR headset, set pieces, full-length TVs for interactive experience” of the attack, which saw 1, 139 people killed and about 250 taken captive, according to the filings.
The company claims to be able to offer the participation of “Christian Celebrity Spokespeople” like actors Chris Pratt and Jon Voight, both of whom have publicly supported US President Donald Trump.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, applauds the cheers of tens of thousands of Christians on October 5. [Reuters]
Rewriting the present
Clock Tower claims in its FARA filing that it has been engaged to connect with the Gen Z age demographic through social media platforms like YouTube, TikTok and Instagram and to engage with artificial intelligence (AI) platforms such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Grok. The activities officially aim to “combat anti-Semitism” – a term often deployed by the Israeli government to counter criticism of its genocidal war on Gaza.
In its filing, Clock Tower promises to use AI modelling to ensure that the Israeli-supervised campaign – and by extension narratives – are prominent online during the course of its war on Gaza.
“If you can create enough online noise, through either social media or highly ranked websites, you’re able to influence AI’s large language models]like ChatGPT, Gemini and Grok]”, said Marc Owen Jones, an associate professor of media analytics and an expert in disinformation at Northwestern University Qatar.
“LLMs]large language models] are trained on a set amount of data, where they scrape large amounts of]historical] information. However, many models such as Grok, ChatGPT or Gemini use what they call retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), where they also pull contemporary data from websites and social media”, Jones said.
“What companies like Clock Tower X are promising is that, if they can flood the information space with sites and content sympathetic to Israel – what’s called RAG poisoning – , there’ll be enough there to at least muddy the waters around what others see as a clear-cut genocide”.
The logos of xAI and Grok are seen in this illustration taken February 16, 2025]Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters]
Clock Tower, headed by former Donald Trump aide Brad Parscale, also says that much of this content will be integrated with that of right-wing Christian network Salem Media, which in April announced a strategic partnership with Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr, and his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump.
Anonymous influencing
The campaign promised by Bridges Partners has already become the source of an online meme – but not in the way the company or Israel would have been hoping.
Bridges Partners ‘ campaign involves an unnamed cohort of between 14 and 18 influencers who would be paid to post in support of Israel. After breaking down the figures included by Bridges Partners in their invoices to Havas, Responsible Statecraft – the Quincy Institute’s online magazine – found that the influencers were likely being paid around $7, 000 per post.
The number has been quickly seized upon by detractors of Israel, who regularly post the amount underneath posts they suspect of being part of the pro-Israel campaign, indicating that they believe the poster has been “bought” by Israel.
Responsible Statecraft reported earlier this month that the anonymity of the US influencers, who under the terms of their agreements would post paid pro-Israel content since July, could potentially be illegal if their identities remain undisclosed.
At present, the Bridges Partners filing names only one registered foreign agent: consultant Uri Steinberg, who holds a 50 percent stake in the company.
It is too early to say whether the campaign will ultimately be successful. But the backlash towards the arrangement once it became public illustrates just how difficult the task will be for Israel to change perceptions that have now become deeply ingrained, particularly among younger people.
“No matter what artificial data is produced, it still won’t be enough to counter the volume of factual reporting of the war on Gaza”, Jones said.
There might be enough to arouse a sense of uncertainty, make both sides more equal in the conflict, or make Israel’s response to the October 7 attack more reasonable than some people currently believe it to be.
Al Jazeera is unable to contact Bridges Partners, Clock Tower X, or Show Faith by Works for comment.
Eran Shayovich, the head of the Israeli ministry of foreign affairs, and Havas Media Group have also received inquiries that have not been resolved.
Tens of thousands of protesters have marched in Jerusalem to demand that ultra-Orthodox Jewish people remain exempt from Israeli military service.
Approximately 200,000 people, mostly men clad in traditional black suits and hats carrying placards denouncing conscription, brought West Jerusalem to a standstill Thursday, clogging roads and setting fire to pieces of tarpaulin, local media reported.
Recommended Stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
At least 2,000 police officers were mobilised to respond to the demonstration.
One teenager died at the largely peaceful protest after falling from a building under construction next to the protest, police said.
Banners seen at the protest declared: “The people are with the Torah” and “Closing the yeshiva — a death sentence for Judaism.”
The mass demonstration follows a recent crackdown, with thousands of call-up notices sent to ultra-Orthodox people in recent months and several deserters imprisoned.
“Right now, people who refuse to go to the army are taken to military prison,” said Shmuel Orbach, a protester, “It’s not so bad. But we are a Jewish country. You cannot fight against Judaism in a Jewish country; it does not work.”
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men gather on and below the Chords Bridge during a protest against Israeli military conscription in Jerusalem, October 30, 2025 [Ammar Awad/Reuters]
The debate over military service — and who is exempt — has long caused tensions in Israeli society and become a political headache for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his country’s two-year war on Gaza.
Under a ruling established at the time of Israel’s creation in 1948, when the ultra-Orthodox were a very small community, men who devote themselves full-time to the study of sacred Jewish texts are given a de facto pass.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews make up 14 percent of Israel’s Jewish population, or about 1.3 million people, and roughly 66,000 men of military age currently benefit from the exemption.
Frustration at the exemption has grown amid Israel’s wars on Gaza, Lebanon and Iran since 2023, as the Israeli military death toll reached the highest number for decades.
Last year, Israel’s Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the military must begin drafting ultra-Orthodox men for service.
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men gather on the Chords Bridge during a protest against Israeli military conscription in Jerusalem, October 30, 2025 [Ammar Awad/Reuters]
In its ruling, the court said that in the absence of a law that distinguishes between Jewish seminary students and other draftees, Israel’s compulsory military service system applies to ultra-Orthodox men like any other citizen.
That ruling has had a destabilising effect on Netanyahu’s coalition government. In July, Israel’s ultra-Orthodox party, United Torah Judaism (UTJ), announced it was quitting the country’s fractious right-wing coalition, leaving Netanyahu with a razor-thin majority in the Knesset.
Parliament has been struggling to draft a new conscription bill, which has so far failed to meet both the ultra-Orthodox demands and those of a stretched military.
Israel is scheduled to hold elections by late October 2026, with at least 11 new political parties already registered and Netanyahu’s opposition once again searching for a way to unseat him.
A drone view shows Ultra-Orthodox Jews rallying during a protest against Israeli military conscription, in Jerusalem, October 30, 2025 [Ilan Rosenberg/Reuters]
Taylor Swift reportedly turned down several invitations to be on the Duchess of Sussex’s now-axed podcast, and after those snubs, Prince Harry seemed to have no knowledge of the singer’s latest antics
View 4 Images
Prince Harry baffled when quizzed over Taylor swift after she snubs Meghan(Image: Hasan Minhaj/YouTube)
Prince Harry appeared to draw a blank when questioned about Taylor Swift’s drama with Charli XCX in an awkward moment that comes after the Life of a Showgirl singer snubbed his wife.
Taylor seems to have made an effort to keep her distance from the royal couple, and was reported to have turned down not one, but two separate invitations to appear on Meghan’s podcasts. The Duchess of Sussex hosted Archetypes and Confessions of a Female Founder, which have both now been scrapped.
The awkwardness continues as Harry has now been filmed looking baffled when asked about Taylor’s recent album and her rumoured feud with Charli XCX. The prince was quizzed about the pair’s respective ‘ diss tracks ‘ and the ensuing drama, but instead of answering, he just looked confused.
READ MORE: 1p-an-hour electric blanket with dual control heating slashed to £27 from £60READ MORE: Taylor Swift drops more clues diss track Actually Romantic is about Charli XCX
This happened during an interview with US comedian Hasan Minhaj. The comedian asked Harry: “What do you think of this Charli XCX Taylor Swift beef?”
Harry answered: “The what”? Despite the prince’s obvious lack of knowledge about the tensions between the two singers, Hasan continued and asked what Harry thought of Charli’s ‘ diss track ‘ Sympathy Is A Knife.
The song, which appeared on the album Brat, is thought to be about Charli’s insecurities and how being around Taylor made them worse. Taylor is said to have written her song Actually Romantic, which slams the object of the song as obsessive and mean, as a response.
The prince, who seemed to have no idea what Hasan was talking about, could only crack a smile and slowly nod. His lack of knowledge when it comes to Taylor is very different to his brother, Prince William, who was seen dancing and singing along to Shake It Off at the singer’s Eras Tour last year.
The singer also snapped a selfie with the prince and two of his children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte.
This isn’t the first time the pop princess and English prince have met. Taylor and Jon Bon Jovi performed together at a 2013 charity concert, and the two actually sang together.
In a later speech, she praised the prince for his charitable work. Prince William, I want to thank you for having me. It is incredible. To draw attention to teenagers and young adults in particular.
He was “very funny” and not a bad singer, she continued. His voice was good, and I could hear it. a pleasant mood. I’d say he has a star quality, and I’ll be there if he ever wants me to sing along.
Meghan, like her brother-in-law, is reportedly a huge Swiftie who also went on the Eras Tour in 2023. Despite Meghan reportedly sending a personal letter, the two parties are believed to have disagreed, as Taylor refused to allow Meghan to appear on her podcasts.
After last weekend’s win over Japan, Tane Edmed, Max Jorgensen, and Taniela Tupou, all of whom have been called back, will start for Australia at fly-half when they take on England at Allianz Stadium on Saturday.
The Wallabies are still without several European-based players, including lock Will Skelton, center Len Ikitau, and fly-half James O’Connor because the game is approaching the end of the official international window.
Edmed will face a difficult test on Saturday against England’s highly skilled George Ford, who has only started three Tests for the fledgling Wallabies.
The 25-year-old’s rival flyhalf Carter Gordon is reportedly struggling with a quad strain and is not participating in the matchday 23 despite having a release from his NRL contract to resume his rugby union career.
On the bench, Hamish Stewart will provide fly-half cover.
Suaalii, a former rugby league star, made his spectacular Test debut with a score of 42-37 in the final seconds of Jorgensen’s winning try at Twickenham last year.
Hunter Paisami will continue his center partnership with Suaalii in place of Ikitau, who has been in excellent form for Prem side Exeter.
Tupou, the 23-stone tight-head prop known as the “Togan Thor,” last appeared for the Wallabies before New Zealand beat them in September.
Rob Valetini and Fraser McReight complete a strong back row, while regular captain Harry Wilson switches to the number eight. The skipper of last week’s meeting, Nick Champion de Crespigny, is one of the replacements.
Australia defeated Japan 19-15 in Tokyo on Saturday, finishing third overall in the rugby championship, and then flew to England.
This autumn, the Wallabies, who are seventh in the world, will also face Italy, Ireland, and France.
Head coach Joe Schmidt remarked, “The coaches have tried to balance this year’s challenging schedule with the demands of this year’s tough schedule in terms of Test matches and travel.”
“We hope the group will be really competitive on Saturday because it was great to get a few players up last weekend.
Kellaway, Jorgensen, Suaalii, Paisami, Potter, Edmed, Gordon, Bell, Pollard, Tupuo, Frost, Williams, Valentini, McReight, McReight, and Wilson (capt.) start XV.
After talking with Dr. Zoe, Nadia Sawalha describes how painful her painful medical condition has left her face feeling “bruised.” She explains why her swollen appearance is so painful.
Digital Reporter Jessica Clarke
View 4 Images
During the show on Thursday, 30 October, Jane Moore asked Nadia the reason she had her glasses on(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX)
Loose Women star Nadia Sawalha is suffering from a painful health condition as she opens up about her appearance and her experience chatting to Dr Zoe Williams.
During the show on Thursday, 30 October, Jane Moore asked Nadia the reason she had her glasses on and opted for a no-makeup look. Nadia joked that in the past, if she wore her glasses, then people would think she was hungover, before she explained that her face felt ‘bruised’ due to her stress levels.
She explained that at first, she thought it was an allergy before saying, “My lovely doctor Zoe came and saw me, I had my own appointment with her in my dressing room, and I told her, honestly Zoe, I think it’s stress,” and she later said, “I think it’s an allergy.”
READ MORE: Frankie Bridge fumes ‘it’s not about me’ after Michael McIntyre’s subtle digREAD MORE: Strictly’s Vicky Pattison fights tears as she receives emotional message on It Takes Two
Nadia outlined Zoe’s suggestion for deep breaths and some “time out.” Nadia continued, “I cry a little bit and then I stop,” adding that she hadn’t cried properly in “two or three years.” That is what I, for real. Why do we believe that stress doesn’t affect our bodies? She continued to thank Zoe and called her a “special woman.”
The Loose Women panellist also shared a video on her Instagram page where she revealed her sister couldn’t believe she was going on live TV ‘looking like that’. Nadia revealed her sister said she looked like she ‘had three bottles of sauvignon blanc’ and had ‘fallen asleep in a hedge’.
One fan wrote, “Bless you Nadia, I hope it clears up quickly;” while another, “Ohhh Nadia, I love how strong and humble you are. Even with puffy eyes, you are gorgeous inside and out. Hope things improve.
It follows after Nadia recently opened up on her 23-year marriage, revealing that it nearly ended over her husband’s intense jealousy. The 60-year-old married husband Mark Adderley in 2002 and has previously opened up about hurdles in their relationship.
Nadia spoke in the past about her husband achieving sobriety after struggling with alcohol for many years and being diagnosed with Bipolar II disorder and depression back in 2021. Now, the TV personality has revealed that after quitting alcohol, Mark began to suffer with jealousy.
Nadia told the ITV show: “My kids hate it what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger but I think that it probably has with Mark and I. I think about when things have been really tough in our marriage and we’ve thought, ‘God we’re not going to get through this’ but then we do.
For him, it would have been during my menopause, when I screamed banshee nutter. I had a lot of trouble and was awful.
Nadia criticized him for his behavior, saying that “he’s been brilliant with his sobriety and then he’s been cross-addicted to jealousy and the jealousy was just awful.” It was terrible.
I told couples’ counselors that we wouldn’t survive unless we worked on this. I love him even more because he has worked on that, which is something that has made me love him.
