Lioness Ella Toone’s former PE teacher said it is “not a surprise” that the midfielder reached her first World Cup final after England beat Australia 3-1 on Wednesday. Chris Nuttall, PE teacher at Fred Longworth High School in Tyldesley, Wigan, who taught Toone from Year 9 to Year 11, said he saw the midfielder’s potential at school and “could tell” she would achieve great success in football. The sports teacher said it was a “surreal” experience watching Toone score the opening goal on Wednesday, but felt her success was expected after demonstrating a strong sporting ability at school. Mr Nuttal, 38, told the PA news agency: “It’s surreal to see Ella play in the World Cup semi-final, but it’s brilliant now (England) have got through to the final. “For myself and the rest of the department, it’s not a surprise for us because the way Ella conducted herself and how passionate she was about football throughout school, you could see how determined she was. “You could tell she was going to go onto great things in terms of her football career.” Mr Nuttall also describes the midfielder, 23, as a “role model” which began at her old high school after she encouraged more girls to pick up sports. He explained: “She was the type of student that was a dream for a PE teacher because she was involved in anything, any sport. “She was a role model in whichever sport that she did. “She was a big starting point and now we run a number of girls’ teams and we have a lot of girls join football teams, and that all started from Ella.” The PE teacher expressed his pride in seeing his former student make herself one of the heroes of the day with a brilliant first-half strike, making Lionesses fans believe they could make their first World Cup final. He said: “You always hope as a PE teacher that one of your students will continue that passion when they leave school. “For somebody to go onto the level that she has, breaking records… it’s unbelievable.” Mr Nuttall hopes that the Lioness will score again in England’s final against Spain on Sunday and expects the team to achieve the same result as the semi-final. He said: “Hopefully, she’ll play some part in that and carry on her goalscoring because she seems to pick up the goals at the most important times. “Hopefully she’ll score another goal (in the final).” You could tell she was going to go onto great things in terms of her football career Chris Nuttall, Ella Toone's former PE teacher Toone’s former teacher is confident the Lionesses, who won the Uefa Women’s Euro in 2022, will take home the World Cup trophy. Mr Nuttall said: “To get through the the World Cup finals is amazing for the country, especially after the Lionesses winning the Euros. “I think they’ll be ready for (the final). Having that experience at the Euros, they know how to prepare now for these types of matches.” He has wished his former student and the rest of the Lionesses “all the luck” ahead of the final. He said: “Good luck to Ella. We’re all really proud as a PE department so we wish her all the luck. “Good luck to the Lionesses – they’ve done the country proud.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Erling Haaland one of three Man City treble winners on shortlist for PFA award Football rumours: Liverpool ramp up bid for Crystal Palace’s Cheick Doucoure Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola sets sights on Club World Cup

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The little village of Ghajar has been a sore point between Israel and Lebanon for years, split in two by the border between Lebanon and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. But after a long period of calm, the dispute has begun to heat up again. Israel has been building a wall around the half of the village in Lebanese territory, triggering condemnation from the Lebanese militiant force Hezbollah, accusing Israel of moving to annex the site. A recent exchange of fire in the area raised alarm that the dispute could trigger violence. The growing tensions over Ghajar add to the jitters along the Lebanese-Israeli border, where Israel and Iranian-backed Hezbollah fought a destructive 34-day war in the summer of 2006. The two sides have studiously avoided outright battle ever since, despite frequent flare-ups of tension -- but each constantly says a new conflict could erupt at any time. The dispute over a small village in the green hills where Lebanon, Israel and Syria meet brings a new point of worry amid broader unrest. The West Bank has seen increased bloodshed the past week, with a major two-day offensive that Israel says targeted Palestinian militants. Within Israel, moves by the hard-right government to overhaul the judicial system have sparked large anti-government protests. “This is Lebanese land, not Israeli,” said Lebanese shepherd Ali Yassin Diab, pointing to the half of Ghajar being enclosed by the Israeli wall as he grazed his sheep and goats nearby. Members of the U.N. peacekeeping force UNIFIL watched from a distance. Yassin used to take his herds to drink at a pond there. He now has to buy water for his sheep. The village’s division is an unusual byproduct of the decades of conflict between Israel and its neighbors. Ghajar was once part of Syria but was captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war as part of Syria’s Golan Heights, which Israel occupied and later annexed, with little world recognition. In the 1980s and 1990s, Ghajar’s population expanded north into nearby Lebanese territory, held by Israel in its 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon. When Israel withdrew from Lebanon in May 2000, U.N. surveyors delineating temporary borders ruled that Ghajar’s northern part was in Lebanon, its southern part in the Golan, dividing it in two. Six years later, Israeli troops moved into the northern part of Ghajar during the Israel-Hezbollah war. They have occupied it since, preventing people from entering it from Lebanon. Under the truce that ended the 2006 fighting, Israel agreed to withdraw from Ghajar, but it wanted to clinch an arrangement to keep Hezbollah from entering the village. Most of Ghajar’s around 3,000 residents hold Israeli nationality — some of them alongside Lebanese — and they largely identify as Syrians. Last year, Israel started erecting a concrete wall around the northern part of the village. It also began encouraging Israeli tourism to the village. In apparent reply to the near finishing of the wall, Hezbollah set up two tents nearby, including one in the area of Chebaa Farms, which both Israel and Lebanon claim as its territory. It is not clear what is inside the tents. Israel filed a complaint with the United Nations, claiming the tents were several dozen meters (yards) inside of Israeli territory. Hezbollah says the tents are in Lebanese territory. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Lior Haiat told the AP that Israel has turned to UNIFIL and “other countries” to resolve the situation but did not identify the countries and did not immediately comment on the wall in Ghajar. On Monday, UNIFIL’s commander relayed an Israeli request to Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister and parliament speaker to remove the tent. They responded that Israel should withdraw its troops from the Lebanese part of Ghajar, according to Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bouhabib. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in a speech Wednesday night that Israel cordoned off Ghajar before Hezbollah set up its tents. “Over the past days, it became clear that they (Israel) have annexed it,” Nasrallah said. He added: “The land of Ghajar will not be left for Israel, and certainly not Chebaa Farms and Kfar Chouba,” another border area claimed by both countries. A female resident of Ghajar, speaking to the AP on condition of anonymity due to security concerns, said the villagers consider themselves Syrian but their main concern “is to stay in Ghajar, in this village, living in peace and security. No matter under who rules.” “There is a (border) line that was drawn by the United Nations. Why are they allowed to cross it while we as Lebanese citizens cannot?” Mohammed Rammal, the mayor of the nearby Lebanese border village of Oddeissi, said of Israel’s presence in Ghajar. Last week, an anti-tank missile was fired from Lebanon near Ghajar, with some fragments landing in Lebanon and others inside Israeli territory. Israel fired shells on the outskirts of the nearby village of Kfar Chouba. On Wednesday, an explosion elsewhere near the border slightly wounded at least three Hezbollah members. Nasrallah said the case is still under investigation. Late last month, Hezbollah said it shot down an Israel drone flying over a village in southern Lebanon. On Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with President Joe Biden’s special envoy for energy, Amos Hochstein, during which they discussed “regional issues,” according to the Israeli prime minister’s office. Some Israeli media said Netanyahu and Hochstein, who helped last year broker a maritime border deal between Israel and Lebanon, discussed tensions along the border with Lebanon. “We continue to monitor and engage with authorities in Lebanon and Israel on the issue of Ghajar,” UNIFIL spokeswoman Kandice Ardiel said. She added that UNFIL has repeatedly called on Israel to stop its works north of the line and that Israel’s occupation of northern Ghajar violates the U.N. Security council resolution that ended the 2006 war. Israel considers Hezbollah its most serious immediate threat, estimating it has some 150,000 rockets and missiles aimed at Israel. During a tour by an Associated Press team near Ghajar this week, more patrols by U.N. peacekeepers and Lebanese army along the border were visible. Residents in nearby villages appeared defiant and going on with life as usual during the summer season, when many expatriates come to spend time with their families. In Lebanese media, many analysts say neither side wants a new war. But Lebanese political analyst Faisal Abdul-Sater warned that the situation is very dangerous as Israel and Hezbollah are on alert. “Whoever fires the first shot will bear the responsibility for the consequences,” he said. ___ AP correspondent Josef Federman contributed to this report. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide AP Week in Pictures: Europe and Africa Stock market today: Asian shares buoyed by Wall Street's winning week as inflation eases For a group of Ukrainian women, painting is a form of therapy to help them cope with loss

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Longtime Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward said he believes former President Donald Trump “looks at democracy as enemy territory” during an interview on MSNBC. “The problem with Trump is, I think he looks at democracy as enemy territory, to be quite frank,” Mr Woodward told the network’s Ari Melber on Tuesday. Mr Woodward knows a thing or two about scandal-plagued presidents. He and Carl Bernstein’s reporting on Watergate at the Washington Post helped end Richard Nixon’s presidency more than five decades ago. More recently, Mr Woodward has reported extensively on Mr Trump. In 2018, Mr Woodward published a book called Fear: Trump in the White House on Mr Trump’s presidency and has since published several more books about the former president. The latest of those books — The Trump Tapes: Bob Woodward’s Twenty Interviews with President Donald Trump — featured transcripts of Mr Woodward’s 20 interviews with Mr Trump. The former president sued over the release of the tapes of the interviews, even though Mr Woodward’s publisher Simon & Schuster has maintained that the tapes were all on the record. Now, with Mr Trump establishing himself as the frontrunner for the Republican nomination for president for a third consecutive election, a number of Americans are fearful about what his potential return to the White House might mean for American democracy. As he runs for president, Mr Trump is actively under investigation for his participation in efforts to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election. He’s also under federal indictment for allegedly mishandling classified documents after leaving the presidency and is under indictment in New York City for his alleged role in a hush money payment scheme as well. Mr Woodward spoke to Melber for a special edition of Melber’s show The Beat, discussing not just Mr Trump’s lack of respect for democratic norms, but also his handling of the Covid-19 crisis. If Mr Trump does indeed advance to next year’s general election to face Mr Biden, it will be the first time two people who have already served as president have faced off in an election since Grover Cleveland defeated Benjamin Harrison all the way back in 1892. There hasn’t been a rematch for president at all since the second contest between Dwight Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson in 1956. Read More Trump slams DOJ for scrapping E Jean Carroll suit immunity as DeSantis balks at being his VP - latest Trump fumes about ‘crooked’ DOJ after losing immunity in E Jean Carroll case

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