Manchester City striker Mary Fowler scored the only goal as Australia warmed up for the Women's World Cup by beating fifth-ranked France 1-0 Friday in front...

Wigan will start the League One season in August with minus-four points after the English Football League issued its latest sanction against the club for a failure to pay players’ wages. The EFL said a further four-point deduction was suspended until the end of the 2023-24 season. That suspended sanction will kick in if club owner Abdulrahman Al Jasmi fails to deposit an amount equal to 125 per cent of the club’s forecast monthly wage bill into a designated account by May 24. The additional four-point deduction would also be activated if the club fail to pay players on time at any point between now and June 2024. The club’s 2022-23 season points tally has also been reduced by three points, even though the Championship regular season is already over. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

Earnings season is helping US banks move on from the turmoil that shook the sector earlier this year,

Elon Musk formally renamed Twitter “X” in July, cementing the rebrand by bolting the symbol to the top of the social network’s San Francisco headquarters and replacing Larry the Bird, its mascot since 2012, with a grungy black logo soon afterwards. Linda Yaccarino, X’s new CEO, declared at the time of the rebrand: “X is the future state of unlimited interactivity – centered in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking – creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities. Powered by AI, X will connect us all in ways we’re just beginning to imagine.” Mr Musk had already renamed the company itself X Corp in March, six months after acquiring it for $44m, a purchase he described at the time as “an accelerant to creating X, the everything app”, his vision for a multipurpose competitor to China’s WeChat. The decision was just the latest example of the entrepreneur’s preoccupation with the 24th letter of the alphabet: his first business venture was X.com, he shortened the name of Space Exploration Technologies Corp to SpaceX, he launched the Tesla Model X and has a new artificial intelligence startup named xAI. He even calls his son X Æ A-12 just X for short. So what is the obsession about and where did it begin? His first venture, X.com, was an online banking and financial services platform launched in Palo Alto, California, in 1999 that would ultimately be merged with Confinity to become PayPal, which was in turn then sold to eBay for $1.5bn in 2002, Mr Musk using some of the capital he earned as its largest shareholder to found SpaceX. Julie Anderson Ankenbrandt, a former PayPal executive, explained how Mr Musk’s platform got its name in a Quora post in 2016. “Elon, the other founders of the company that was X.com… and I sat around a backroom table at a long-defunct bar called the Blue Chalk in Palo Alto, trying decide what the name of the company should be… and the question at hand was whether to be Q, X or Z dot com,” she wrote. “Finally, when the waitress/female server brought the next round of drinks Elon asked her what she thought, and she said she like[d] X.com. Elon pounded the table and said ‘That’s it then!’ and everyone laughed, but in the end that was pretty much how it was decided.” Not everyone was happy with the decision, according to Mr Musk’s biographer Ashlee Vance, who told NPR: “Everyone tried to talk him out of naming the company that back then because of the sexual innuendos, but he really liked it and stuck with it.” He liked the name so much he bought the X.com domain back from PayPal in 2017 and thanked the company in a tweet, explaining that it had “great sentimental value” to him. The domain now redirects to the social network that has since taken on its old moniker. Elsewhere, the Tesla Model X – a midsize luxury crossover SUV with falcon wing doors – was named so that, with three other models, the range would spell out “S3XY”, giving you an insight into Mr Musk’s gawky sense of humour. As for his son, the boy’s mother Grimes explained in a tweet of her own that the symbol is used in algebra to denote any unknown variable, perhaps suggesting the child is free to grow up to be whatever they choose to be. The rebranding of Twitter to X sparked a great deal of musing about the letter’s possible significance (or lack thereof), with Lora Kelly of The Atlantic writing: “The letter is associated with such varied contexts as Christian symbolism, middle-school-math equations, gender neutrality, pornography, a kiss.” In Psychology Today, Leon F Selzer discussed its “nihilistic” values, noting that it has associations with everything from the Nazi swastika to a skull-and-crossbones danger warning on a bottle of poison to Roman numerals, voting and Christmas (at least when abbreviated to “Xmas”) and therefore can mean everything and nothing. Meanwhile, in The New York Times, Stella Bugbee suggested the choice was arguably a bit dated and perhaps represented a case of Mr Musk showing his age as a member of, appropriately enough, Generation X. “For marketing purposes in the 1990s, X had a certain cool,” she explained. “It conferred a rejection of authority.” While that observations rings true of such turn-of-the-millennium cultural detritus as, say, the arrival of Microsoft’s XBox in 2001 or Vin Diesel’s action film XXX (2002), it has also been used in the same way before and since: think of country star Loretta Lynn’s notoriety-courting 1972 single “Rated X” or the cult 1980s Los Angeles punk band X, for instance, or the more recent Ti West horror film X (2022). As Lora Kelly observed: “X both reinforces absence and electrifies objects with meaning. It is sacred and profane.” Read More Elon Musk ‘borrowed $1bn from SpaceX’ at same time as Twitter acquisition SpaceX abandons YouTube for live streams of launches in favour of X/Twitter Elon Musk threatens to sue the Anti-Defamation League over lost revenue on X Elon Musk ‘borrowed $1bn from SpaceX’ at same time as Twitter acquisition Starship ‘ready to launch’, Elon Musk says Elon Musk vows to sue ADL for calling him antisemitic over X campaign

Gabriel Jesus continued his love affair with the Champions League with a fine goal and assist as he led Arsenal to victory over Sevilla. The Brazil forward may not boast the most prolific strike record but he has now scored an impressive 23 goals in 41 appearances in Europe’s elite club competition and he was the difference as the Gunners won 2-1. A piece of magic from Jesus set up compatriot Gabriel Martinelli to open the scoring on the stroke of half-time before he doubled the lead with a fine, curling finish of his own – although he later limped off having moments earlier held his hamstring. A thunderous Nemanja Gudelj header reduced the arrears on the hour but Mikel Arteta’s side saw out the closing stages to secure victory, moving top of Group B in the process. Arsenal’s chances were improved by Lens and PSV drawing in the other Group B game. England captain Harry Kane helped Bayern Munich strengthen their grip on Group A in the Champions League as he scored in a 3-1 win at Galatasaray. Kane scored his 11th goal in 13 games for the German side as he put them 2-1 up after Kingsley Coman’s early opener was cancelled out by Mauro Icardi’s penalty. The 30-year-old tapped home from close range in the 73rd minute and then Jamal Musiala made the game safe six minutes later to all-but seal qualification for the knockout stages. Jude Bellingham’s electric start to life at Real Madrid continued as he scored in a 2-1 Champions League win at Braga. The precocious England international scored his 11th goal in 12 games for his new club as Madrid took control of Group C, making it three wins out of three. Rodrygo put Madrid ahead in the first half before Bellingham doubled the lead on the hour, with Alvaro Djalo getting the Portuguese side back in it. Giacomo Raspadori’s goal for Napoli kept them on course for qualification as they beat Union Berlin 1-0. Inter Milan extended their unbeaten start in Champions League Group D with a 2-1 win over Red Bull Salzburg at San Siro. Oscar Gloukh gave the Austrians hope when he cancelled out an opener from Alexis Sanchez but Hakan Calhanoglu’s second-half penalty extended the fine form of Simone Inzaghi’s side. Brais Mendez’s 63rd-minute strike earned Real Sociedad a 1-0 win at Benfica. Read More Sean Longstaff pinching himself after change in fortunes at Newcastle Manchester City ‘not used’ to artificial pitch but must adapt – Pep Guardiola World Rugby to launch new international competition from 2026 Simona Halep files appeal with CAS against four-year doping ban Just Stop Oil protesters sentenced for aggravated trespass over Lord’s stunt It helps a lot – Dejan Kulusevski says Spurs must make absence from Europe count

Hours after former President Donald Trump announced that he was a “target” in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the efforts to overturn the 2020 election, Mr Trump told Sean Hannity that he was “bothered” by the news but it doesn’t “frighten” him. In a radio interview in Iowa though, the former president said he thought it would be “very dangerous” for Mr Smith to jail him prior to any trial because of his “tremendously passionate group of voters”. Mr Trump spoke to Mr Hannity in a pre-recorded town hall interview on Fox News. The former president faces a potential third indictment over the events of January 6 – on top of other ongoing criminal cases. He faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the Manhattan District Attorney’s case regarding hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels. The former president already faces a 37-count federal indictment in connection to his handling of classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago. The Fox News host suggested Mr Trump remained untroubled by the investigations: “It doesn’t seem to bother you like I think it would bother so many other people. What is it about you that it doesn’t?” “No, it bothers me. It bothers me for everybody in this incredible sold-out audience,” the former president disagreed, speaking to the people of Des Moines, Iowa. He added that the ongoing probes into him are an example of “election interference,” and that the Department of Justice is politicised. “They want to try to demean and diminish and frighten people,” Mr Trump said. “But they don’t frighten us because we’re going to make America great again. That’s all there is.” Mr Trump had written on Truth Social earlier in the day: “Deranged Jack Smith...sent a letter (again, it was Sunday night!) stating that I am a TARGET of the January 6th Grand Jury investigation, and giving me a very short 4 days to report to the Grand Jury, which almost always means an Arrest and Indictment.” In an interview with The Simon Conway Show on Tuesday after the news of the target letter broke, the former president was asked by host Doug Wagner (filling in for Conway) what his message to supporters would be should Mr Smith imprison Mr Trump ahead of any trial. Said Wagner: “Is it something that concerns you of the people making sure that they don’t go out of their right mind if something like that happens, if that, for example, they do say — Jack Smith says, OK, I’m going to put Donald Trump in jail?” The former president replied: “I think it’s a very dangerous thing to even talk about because we do have a tremendously passionate group of voters, much more passion than they had in 2020 and much more passion than they had in 2016.” He reiterated: “I think it would be very dangerous.” Mr Trump has a record of trying to whip up his supporters ahead of legal action against him, telling supporters before his first indictment in Manhattan over hush money payments to Stormy Daniels to “protest” and “take our nation back”. Later he warned of “death and destruction” if he were charged. Only a small number of supporters showed up in Lower Manhattan to protest. Read More All the lawsuits and criminal charges involving Trump and where they stand Trump news – live: Trump claims he’s ‘not frightened’ by Jan 6 target letter as potential indictment looms Trump probe ‘subpoenaed CCTV from Georgia 2020 ballot counting centre’ Undue influence? Anonymous donations to World Health Organization's new foundation raise concerns The US and North Korea have no diplomatic ties — but they still have ways to talk about US soldier Biden pushes a strong role for unions in tech jobs, even as potential strikes are on the horizon

Khloé Kardashian's has revealed her baby boy's name.

Russia's finance ministry on Thursday outlined proposals to tax people working remotely from abroad for Russian companies at

Good on Kirby Smart for not tipping his hand as to who will be the next starting quarterback for the Georgia football team.With Stetson Bennett IV now playing for the Los Angeles Rams, it will be a new era under center for the Georgia football program, alright.While most people expect for Ca...

Taiwan’s biggest financial conglomerate has cut back on its exposure to China as it braces for any deeper

European banks have enjoyed record levels of net interest income over the last year. That’s tempting some governments

Headphones and earbuds are perfect for enjoying music, podcasts, and making calls in a more