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An Arsenal fan got an unexpected boost ahead of a job interview after receiving a message from player Vivianne Miedema. Dutch forward Miedema had a few words of encouragement for a nervous supporter after they shared their worries about the upcoming interview as it was on Zoom. A Twitter user by the name of Beth, who makes clear she’s a big fan of Arsenal Women’s FC, was looking for support – but she never would have expected one of her favourite footballers. “I got an interview for my dream job but i dont know if i can do the interview… its via zoom and the only people i can call are my girlfriend, mum and sister,” Beth wrote, without tagging anyone. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter To her amazement, Miedema replied out of the blue to Beth and had some inspiring words. “I’m pretty sure you will be just fine. Relax and just show them your qualities, good luck,” the 26-year-old. Not quite believing her luck, Beth replied: “thank you so much… oh my god I love you.” It’s not every day you get one of your favourite footballers encouraging you, and social media users were full of goodwill messages for her. “The way I checked to see if it's THE Vivianne Miedema,” one said, to which Beth replied: “pls so did i. i was so confused.” Another added: “If the GOAT has faith in you, you can smash it! Goodluck.” Meanwhile, Arsenal Women side narrowly missed out on the Women’s Super League title last season, finishing a point behind Chelsea despite losing just once all season and beating West Ham on the final day. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Tapestry Inc., the owner of brands including Coach and Kate Spade, agreed to acquire Michael Kors parent Capri

A Ukrainian attack drone blasted a Russian ammunition depot in central Crimea on Saturday, sparking a major explosion. Sergey Aksyonov, the Kremlin-appointed head of Crimea, said that there have been no immediate reports of casualties, but that authorities were evacuating civilians within a five-kilometre radius. The Ukrainian military seemed to confirm it had launched the drone strike, after it claimed that it had destroyed an oil depot and Russian arms warehouses in the Krasnohvardiiske region of Crimea, the Ukrainian territory that Moscow illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014. Local news channels posted videos showing plumes of smoke above settlements, as explosions rumble in the background. The drone attack comes just as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has said that the country’s counteroffensive to push back Russian forces in occupied Ukraine is set to “gain pace.” The much-anticipated effort began later than Kyiv had expected due to a lack of sufficient ammunition supplies from allied countries. But Mr Zelensky said yesterday that the now weeks-old counteroffensive is about to shift in momentum, with Ukraine set to receive more weapons. He called on his allies to provide the war-torn country with more long-range missiles as well as advanced fighter jets, as he addressed international leaders at the Aspen Security Forum. US national security adviser Jake Sullivan told the audience in Colorado that the results of Ukraine’s military effort would only become clear once Kyiv had fully committed its forces. “It is at that moment when they make that commitment that we will really see what the results of the counter-offensive will be,” Mr Sullivan said. Already, recent days have seen Ukraine flexxing its munitions capabilities, as videos have revealed the first confirmed use of US cluster bombs by Ukraine The US had announced previously that it would send the cluster bombs to Ukraine as a part of an $800m package. More than 100 countries have banned the use of these bombs as some of the bomblets may not explode and turn instead into mines on the battlefield, remaining a threat for a long time to come. The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region said on Saturday that Ukraine fired cluster munitions at a village near the Ukrainian border on Friday, but that there were no casualties or damage. Also on Saturday, Ukrainian authorities reported that overnight attacks from Russia on 11 regions had killed at least eight civilians and wounded others. At least four people, including a married couple, were killed as Russian forces on Friday night shelled the settlement of Niu-York, said the regional prosecutor’s office in the eastern Donetsk region. On Saturday morning, Ukraine’s interior ministry said that two civilians died as Russian forces Friday struck Kostiantynivka, a city in the Donetsk region, from multiple rocket launchers. In a post on its official Telegram channel, the ministry said that another civilian was wounded in the same attack, which also destroyed 20 private homes, cars and a gas pipeline. Two more people were also killed near the northern city of Chernihiv, some 100 kilometers from the Russian border, as Russian cruise missiles destroyed the local cultural center and damaged apartment blocks, the regional military administration reported on Saturday morning. Three civilians were wounded as Russian troops overnight shelled a town neighboring the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, local Governer Serhiy Lysak reported. Read More The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary Russia-Ukraine war – live: Arrest of war blogger who branded Putin a coward ‘likely to spark fury in army’ Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s fuel margins have more than doubled since start of Ukraine war Russia comes under pressure at UN to avoid global food crisis and revive Ukrainian grain shipments Russian strikes kill at least 8 civilians as fierce fighting continues in Ukraine's south and east Zelensky sacks Ukraine’s ambassador to UK over Wallace weapons row

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The best hope for a toddler missing in France is that “he’s been kidnapped and is alive,” the local mayor has said. Emile vanished from his maternal grandparents’ home in the quiet village of Le Vernet in the Alpes-des-Haute-Provence on Saturday and has not been seen since. After he was reported missing, a massive search operation to locate the two-year-old was launched but police admitted they had “no clue” what happened to Emile after five days of combing every part of Le Vernet. The physical search was called off on Thursday, after a final road was raked for clues about the boy’s whereabouts. In a new interview with French newspaper Le Figaro, Francois Balique has commented on the rescue efforts, that involved a helicopter broadcasting the voice of Emile’s mother over the region, the “curse” of the hamlet, and possible explanations for Emile’s disappearance. Mr Balique, who has been Le Vernet’s mayor since 1977, was asked about the likelihood of finding Emile alive – considering the boy’s age and the number of days that have passed since he was last seen. He responded: “Our only hope now is that he’s been taken and is alive. It’s the last thing we can hope for and it’s already terrible. “We could consider that someone wanting to cause harm to a child passed by the area, that he saw this beautiful little boy and took him away. He couldn’t survive alone in the wild, that’s for sure.” Elsewhere, Mr Balique said he never believed Emile’s disappearance to be a “sordid kidnapping because we see all the people who frequent the area”, adding that a “foreign car would have been noticed”. “It is difficult to favour one hypothesis over another,” he cautioned. “But the probabilities and the rationality would lead us to believe that we are dealing with an accident. “And since little Emile’s body has not been found, it means that he was not alone at the time. We can consider a car accident in which the driver would have panicked and concealed the body. That’s one hypothesis.” He also said the people of Haut-Vernet know that there are children in the area, and “they are careful on the road”. When asked about calling off the physical search for Emile, Mr Balique, 74, said the French military police (or the gendarmes) combed a combined area of one hundred hectares, “which is enormous”. “We did everything we could to find the child, alive or not. We found nothing,” he said. Locals speaking to the media in the wake of Emile’s disappearance said they wondered whether their hamlet may be “cursed” as a result of the tragedies which have taken place, including the murder of a cafe manager and a deadly plane crash. When asked about the “curse”, Mr Balique said “what is curious” are the facts of Emile’s disappearance – “not that it happened here”. Since the physical search was called off on Thursday, local prosecutor Remy Avon said investigators would now start sorting through all the evidence that has been collected to find new clues about what happened to the toddler. During a press conference on Friday, Mr Balique confirmed the last teams of gendarmes had left the village. Read More Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin ‘dead or in prison’ after Putin meeting, former US commander claims Land temperatures in Spain surpass 60C as deadly heatwave sweeps Europe Huw Edwards – latest: Former BBC journalists blast coverage ‘a disgrace’ as TV star in hospital Heatwave across Europe leaves Brits abroad sweltering: ‘I don’t cope well at all’ Watch: Macron and Modi give joint statement at the Elysee after Bastille Day parade Russia Ukraine war: Wagner forces training soldiers in Belarus after Prigozhin exile