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Euro 2022 winner Jill Scott has voiced “disappointment” that the World Cup kiss saga has detracted attention from the Spanish women’s team win. The former England midfielder told The Independent that issues within Spanish football have “overshadowed” the team’s “great football”. Her comments come after the president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation Luis Rubiales has come under sustained criticism for kissing player Jenni Hermoso on the lips after Spain secured their 1-0 win over England last month. Rubiales, who was also condemned for grabbing his crotch after Spain won the women’s world title for the first time in history, has refused to step down over his behaviour but was suspended by Fifa. It comes as Jorge Vilda, head coach of Spain's women’s team, was fired on Tuesday after he was among those who praised Rubiales’ refusal to step down. Scott said she felt “disappointment” that the kiss has been “the main talking point”, rather than Spain actually winning the World Cup. “I know that there were girls that decided not to go to the World Cup because they weren’t happy with the way things were going. And that for me is just so sad to hear because it’s a dream to play in a World Cup. “I was so fortunate that I got to do that four times, and it’s something that you dream of from being a young girl, and to think that was taken away from them. First and foremost, that is sad.” Speaking to The Independent in a wide-ranging interview, the Lioness also discussed the bullying she endured as a young girl playing football at school. She said people often thought she was a boy because she played football and questioned how girls could play the game. The 36-year-old said it was “unusual” to see girls playing football back then and said she sometimes suffered worse bullying from parents rather than her classmates. “Sometimes for parents, if a young girl back then – I’m going back 30 years – beat their son, it was a bit of an embarrassment,” she added. Scott said she would attend football camps where she was the one girl alongside 50 boys, as well as going to football tournaments where she was the only girl. The former footballer said even though she was better at football than some of the boys she “never wanted special treatment for being a girl”. Scott added: “I just wanted to play football and as a young kid, I didn't understand why it was such an issue that I just wanted to play football.” She continued: “Once I stepped over that white line, that was where I wanted to be. I could escape everything.” Her comments come as new research by Starling Bank found three in 10 girls stop playing football when they get to their late teenage years – a far higher proportion than the one in ten boys who give up the sport. Researchers, who polled 2,000 11 to 16-year-olds in the UK, found that over a quarter of girls quit football over pressures to perform well at school. Meanwhile, 14 per cent stop playing because of insecurities about their body image and eight per cent bow out of football for being bullied for playing the game. Scott, who is an ambassador for the bank, said social media pressure was partly to blame as it puts pressure on girls to make them feel like they should look a particular way. “It’s kind of this perfect world isn't it, in a sense,” she reflected. “And I think we're all guilty of doing it. We don't want to post a picture unless you look good or if it’s filtered.” Scott explained she has coached football to girls aged between 13 and 15 and you can see they do not want to get “stuck into a tackle” or do not “want to get sweaty” due to anxiety about how they will look. Read More Spanish FA chief blames player for World Cup kiss and shouts ‘I am not resigning!’ in chaotic press conference Spanish soccer federation fires women's national team coach Jorge Vilda amid Rubiales controversy ‘He wasn’t raping her’: Woody Allen offers staggering defence of Spanish football boss Luis Rubiales ‘History in the making’: Lionesses’ Euros success sparks booming interest in women’s football Lioness Demi Stokes says misogynistic abuse online ‘really affected’ England players’ game

Elon Musk has threatened to sue the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) for billions of dollars after quixotically blaming the Jewish rights organisation for spreading antisemitism on his social media platform X. The self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist”, who has amplified and reinstated neo-Nazi and far-right accounts since acquiring X, formerly known as Twitter, for $44bn last year blamed the ADL for “destroying” $22bn in the company’s value in a series of posts on Monday. “Since the acquisition, The ADL has been trying to kill this platform by falsely accusing it & me of being anti-Semitic,” Mr Musk wrote. He claimed that the site’s United States advertising revenue was down 60 per cent “primarily due to pressure on advertisers by ADL”. “If this continues, we will have no choice but to file a defamation suit against, ironically, the ‘Anti-Defamation’ League.” An ADL spokesperson told The Independent in a statement that it did not comment on legal threats, but added that Mr Musk was helping to boost a coordinated “Ban the ADL” campaign being waged by self-declared antisemites. “ADL is unsurprised yet undeterred that antisemites, white supremacists, conspiracy theorists and other trolls have launched a coordinated attack on our organisation. This type of thing is nothing new,” the ADL spokesperson said. “Such insidious efforts don’t daunt us. Instead, they drive us to be unflinching in our commitment to fight hate in all its forms and ensure the safety of Jewish communities and other marginalised groups.” Mr Musk’s threats to sue the ADL, a century-old NGO that describes itself as the “leading anti-hate organisation in the world”, were met with anger and disbelief from some commentators on X. “In his pursuit of some kind of utopian free speech universe, Elon Musk has turned Twitter / X into a free-for-all for Neo Nazis and White Extremists to unleash a torrent of unprecedented antisemitism and Jew hatred,” wrote Israeli human rights lawyer Arsen Ostrovsky. NYU professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat posted: “So it's the Jews manipulating others. Elon Musk that is so original!” Since Mr Musk’s takeover, advertisers have fled the platform or reduced their ad spend as hateful content was allowed to spread unchecked. Mr Musk, the world’s richest person with an estimated net wealth of $248bn, fired an estimated 80 per cent of its workforce, including most of its content moderators, and reinstated previously banned accounts. X’s US advertising revenue over a five-week period from April to May this year came to $88m, a 59 percent decrease from one year ago, according to the New York Times. In August, X filed a lawsuit against the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) after it published a report showing that moderators had failed to take action on 99 out of 100 examples of harmful content by verified “blue check” users that the organisation had flagged. “Musk is trying to ‘shoot the messenger’ who highlights the toxic content on his platform rather than deal with the toxic environment he’s created,” CEO Imran Ahmed said in a statement. “CCDH has no intention of stopping our independent research – Musk will not bully us into silence.” The Independent attempted to reach Mr Musk through X, Tesla and via a personal email address but did not hear back. Read More Elon Musk calls Burning Man ‘best art on Earth’ amid chaos that saw thousands stranded and one dead Elon Musk promotes transphobic content as hate speech surges on his far-right platform X threatens to sue researchers who accused Twitter of allowing ‘hate to prosper’ on platform

By Svea Herbst-Bayliss and Helen Coster NEW YORK Investors in the blank-check acquisition company that plans to merge

Irish police say they observed 865 drivers speeding over the course of 24-hours.

The NFL may be king, but it isn't King James.

Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges in Georgia connected to a sprawling case surrounding Donald Trump’s attempts to subvert the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. John Eastman, a Trump-linked attorney and chief architect of a plot to unlawfully swap presidential electors for Joe Biden with Trump loyalists, and former assistant US Attorney General Jeffrey Clark have also pleaded not guilty and waived their Fulton County court appearance that was scheduled for 6 September. They join 16 other defendants in the case, including the former president, who have pleaded not guilty to the mountain of charges against them, including an alleged racketeering scheme prosecuted under the state’s RICO statute. Only Misty Hampton, the former elections director in Georgia’s Coffee County, has yet to enter a plea. Former Coffee County Republican Party chair Cathy Latham, former Georgia Republican Party chair David Shafer, and current state Senator Shawn Still – all of whom were among the 16 fake electors – also entered not guilty pleas on 5 September and waived their appearances. The former president and his 18 co-defendants were formally booked earlier this month on a range of charges connected to an alleged criminal enterprise orchestrated by then-President Trump and his allies to overturn election results, one of the largest criminal cases yet against the former president to date for crimes allegedly committed while he was in office. Last week, Mr Meadows testified in US District Court in Atlanta as part of his effort to move the state case out of Fulton County and into federal court, marking one of the first courtroom battles between the 19 defendants and prosecutors under Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. It also marked some of his first public statements in months, and his first as a criminal defendant. His surprise testimony in federal court on 28 August comes two weeks after a grand jury indictment presented the largest and most significant case yet facing Mr Trump and others who allegedly “knowingly and willfully joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election” to ensure he remained in power. He faces two counts in the sprawling 41-count indictment outlining dozens of acts that encompass the conspiracy: one count of violating Georgia’s RICO statute, and one count of solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer. Attorneys for Mr Meadows have asked for the “prompt removal” of the case from Fulton County, citing federal law that allows US officials to remove civil or criminal trials from state court over alleged actions performed “under color” of their offices, with Mr Meadows performing such acts during his “tenure” as White House chief of staff, they wrote in court filings. The Georgia case is separate from the US Department of Justice investigation and federal charges against Mr Trump for his efforts to subvert the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. US District Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington DC set a tentative trial date in that case for 4 March, 2024 – one day before Super Tuesday primary election contests. This is a developing story Read More Trump hits back at push to ban him from 2024 race: Live updates Trump angrily refutes claim that 14th amendment disqualifies him from being president again Ashli Babbitt’s mother makes death threat against officer who shot daughter on Jan 6 and Nancy Pelosi Mark Meadows grilled on witness stand over Trump’s Georgia call to ‘find’ votes and false election claims Georgia official told by Trump to ‘find’ votes testifies phone call was ‘extraordinary’

Convicted killer Alex Murdaugh is demanding a new trial for the murders of his wife and son – claiming that mysterious “newly discovered evidence” has come to light since his conviction. In a bombshell motion filed on Tuesday, his attorneys Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin allege South Carolina Clerk of Court Rebecca Hill tampered with the jury at his trial – because she was driven by fame and a desire to secure a book deal. Details will be revealed at a press briefing at the South Carolina State House near the Court of Appeals in Columbia at 2.30pm local time. The latest development comes one week after the convicted killer lost some of his inmate privileges after he fed information to Fox Nation documentary “The Fall of the House of Murdaugh” without permission from prison officials. In it, Murdaugh’s only surviving son Buster also broke his silence to give his first TV interview. He insisted that he still believes his father is innocent but admitted that he may be a psychopath. Murdaugh is behind bars at the McCormick Correctional Institution where he is serving two life sentences for the 7 June 2021 murders of Maggie and Paul. Read More Alex Murdaugh claims mystery evidence will prove need for new murder trial Convicted killer Alex Murdaugh loses prison privileges over recorded phone call for documentary Buster Murdaugh breaks silence on Stephen Smith killing – and calls father Alex a ‘psychopath’

Convicted killer Alex Murdaugh has accused a South Carolina court clerk of tampering with the jury at his high-profile double murder trial – because she was driven by fame and a desire to secure a book deal. The disgraced legal scion and double murderer filed a motion on Tuesday requesting a new trial on the basis that Walterboro Clerk of Court Rebecca Hill allegedly pressured jurors on the case. In the motion, Murdaugh’s attorneys Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin claim that Ms Hill “tampered with the jury by advising them not to believe Murdaugh’s testimony and other evidence presented by the defense, pressuring them to reach a quick guilty verdict, and even misrepresenting critical and material information to the trial judge in her campaign to remove a juror she believed to be favorable to the defense”. Specifically, they claim that the clerk instructed jurors not to be “misled” by evidence presented by the defence and told jurors not to be “fooled by” his testimony. The motion also claims that Ms Hill had frequent private conversations with the jury foreperson – with the pair often disappearing to private rooms for five to 10 minutes at a time. “During the trial, Ms Hill asked jurors for their opinions about Mr. Murdaugh’s guilt or innocence,” the motion reads. “Ms Hill invented a story about a Facebook post to remove a juror she believed might not vote guilty. “Ms Hill pressured the jurors to reach a quick verdict, telling them from the outset of their deliberations that it ‘shouldn’t take them long.’” Murdaugh’s attorneys claim that she “betrayed her oath of office for money and fame” and, off the back of her work on the case, secured a deal for a book titled “Behind the Doors of Justice”. “She did these things to secure for herself a book deal and media appearances that would not happen in the event of a mistrial,” the motion claims. Just hours after they returned a guilty verdict, his attorneys allege Ms Hill flew with jurors to New York as some of the panellists waived their anonymity to appear on NBC’s Today show. In conclusion, they claim that the court clerk’s actions violated “Murdaugh’s constitutional right to a fair and impartial jury”. Further details are expected to be shared by Murdaugh’s attorneys at a press conference on the grounds of the South Carolina State House in Columbia at 2.30pm local time on Tuesday afternoon. The duo – who are longtime friends of the killer and represented him at his high-profile murder trial – had announced on Monday that new evidence had come to light since his March conviction over the brutal 7 June 2021 slayings. Murdaugh is currently behind bars at the McCormick Correctional Institution in South Carolina where he is serving two life sentences for his wife and son’s murders. Last week, it emerged that Murdaugh had lost some of his prison privileges after he fed information to a Fox Nation documentary without permission. South Carolina Corrections Department officials said on Wednesday that, during a jailhouse phone call on 10 June, Mr Griffin had recorded him reading aloud entries from the journal he had kept during his double murder trial. Mr Griffin had then handed over the recordings to producers working on the new Fox Nation documentary about his high-profile case titled “The Fall of the House of Murdaugh”. Prison policy prohibits inmates from talking to the media without permission because the agency “believes that victims of crime should not have to see or hear the person who victimized them or their family member on the news,” state prisons spokesperson Chrysti Shain said in a statement. The media interview violation, along with another violation for using a different inmate’s password to make a telephone call, are prison discipline issues and not a crime, Ms Shain said. As a result, the disgraced legal scion has had his phone privileges revoked and his prison tablet computer confiscated. Murdaugh also lost his ability to buy items in the prison canteen for a month. He will now have to get permission from prison officials to get another tablet, which can be used to make monitored phone calls, watch approved entertainment, read books or take video classes, the prison spokesperson said. Mr Griffin was also issued a warning from prison officials that if he knowingly or unknowingly helps Murdaugh violate rules again, he could lose his ability to talk to his client. Phone calls between lawyers and prisoners are not recorded or reviewed because their conversations are considered confidential. But prison officials said they began investigating Murdaugh after a warden reviewing other phone calls heard Murdaugh’s voice on a call made in a different inmate’s account. Murdaugh claimed that his phone password had not been working. He also told the prison investigators about the recorded journal entries, according to prison records. Murdaugh’s use of a jailhouse tablet previously hit headlines when selfie images he took on the device were obtained in a Freedom of Information request by FITS News. In many of the images, the convicted family killer appeared topless. South Carolina prison officials later clarified that the photos are automatically taken as an inmate uses their tablet that is individually assigned to them – as part of inmate monitoring. Now, Murdaugh has lost the use of his tablet indefinitely due to his unauthorised communication with the documentarymakers – which marks his first media interview of sorts since his conviction. His eldest – and now only surviving – son Buster Murdaugh also broke his silence speaking out in his first TV interview as part of the three-part series. In the interview, Buster insisted that he still believes his father is innocent of the murders of his mother and brother – but admitted that he may be a psychopath. Maggie and Paul were found shot dead on the family’s 1,700-acre Moselle estate back on 7 June 2021. Alex Murdaugh had called 911 claiming to have found their bodies. During his high-profile murder trial, jurors heard how Paul was shot twice with a 12-gauge shotgun while he stood in the feed room of the dog kennels on the affluent family’s 1,700-acre Moselle estate. The second shot to his head blew his brain almost entirely out of his skull. After killing Paul, prosecutors said Murdaugh then grabbed a .300 Blackout semiautomatic rifle and opened fire on Maggie as she tried to flee from her husband. During the dramatic six-week trial, Murdaugh confessed to lying about his alibi on the night of the murders but continued to claim his innocence of the killings. The jury didn’t agree and the disgraced legal scion was convicted in March of the brutal murders. Beyond the murder charges, Murdaugh, 55, is also facing a slew of financial fraud charges for stealing millions of dollars from his law firm clients and his dead housekeeper’s family. He is expected to plead guilty on 21 September to federal charges – marking the first time he has pleaded guilty to a crime in court. Murdaugh is also facing around 100 financial charges in state court as well as charges over a botched hitman plot where he claims he paid an accomplice to shoot him dead. Murdaugh’s high-profile conviction also shone a spotlight on some other mystery deaths tied to the South Carolina legal dynasty. Following Maggie and Paul’s murders, investigations were reopened into the 2018 death of the Murdaugh’s longtime housekeeper Gloria Satterfield and the 2015 homicide of gay teenager Stephen Smith. Meanwhile, at the time of his murder, Paul was also awaiting trial for the 2019 boat crash death of Mallory Beach. Read More Alex Murdaugh’s attorneys to unveil ‘mystery evidence’ as he demands new murder trial – live updates Buster Murdaugh breaks silence on Stephen Smith killing – and calls father Alex a ‘psychopath’ Convicted killer Alex Murdaugh loses prison privileges over recorded phone call for documentary

Soccer superstar Leo Messi's arrival in America has sparked a surge in ticket prices, apparel and now, streaming subscriptions.

The ManningCast will not have a third host. It did provide a Tom Brady joke.

WASHINGTON Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has waived a formal arraignment and pleaded not guilty

Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and five other defendants charged in the election interference case in Fulton County pleaded not guilty Tuesday and waived their arraignments in new court filings.