By ISABEL BALDWIN, US ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR and DANIEL MATTHEWS IN SEATTLE

Updated: 23:37 BST, 6 July 2026

France and Real Madrid star Kylian Mbappe has branded Paraguayan senator Celeste Amarilla ‘despicable and unworthy’ of her position after she directed a torrent of racist abuse at him

France superstar Kylian Mbappe has labelled Paraguayan senator Celeste Amarilla ‘despicable and unworthy’ of her position following a vile racist outburst on social media. The Real Madrid forward scored the only goal as Les Bleus claimed a 1-0 win over the South American nation in the Round of 16.

The ill-tempered encounter saw Didier Deschamps’ side battle through a bruising contest in which the Paraguayans remarkably escaped without a single yellow card despite a succession of reckless challenges on the World Cup favourites. France will now take on Morocco in the quarter-finals, yet the controversy surrounding Thursday’s match continues to rumble on.

Amarilla serves as a senator for Paraguay’s Liberal Radical Party, and the political figure has made no effort to hide her anger following her country’s exit from the tournament.

The 61-year-old unleashed a torrent of abuse across social media, directing a series of vicious posts laden with foul language and racial undertones directly at Mbappe.

Several days after France’s progression, with their attention firmly focused on securing a semi-final place at yet another World Cup, Mbappe publicly confronted Amarilla. He wrote in a tweet: “Madame Celeste Amarilla, you are a despicable woman and unworthy of your position.

“You do not represent Paraguay, that country which has sweated passion and honour throughout the competition. Through your recklessness and your brazen racism, the entire world has already forgotten the journey and the historic effort that your players accomplished during this World Cup, making way for an incompetent woman who gives the worst possible image of her country.

“I will never allow people like her the freedom to spread their hatred and racism across the world.”

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The French Football Federation condemned Amarilla’s comments, describing them as “utterly abhorrent and unacceptable” and confirmed they would be forwarding them to the public prosecutor’s office with a view to pursuing legal action.

In a statement, they said: “The racist remarks made by Paraguayan Senator Celeste Amarilla targeting Kylian Mbappé are utterly abhorrent and unacceptable. How can anyone make such comments?

“These remarks are criminal and deserve condemnation. They must be prosecuted, here and elsewhere. The FFF is referring the matter to the public prosecutor’s office with a view to legal proceedings.

“The Federation offers its full support to its captain, its players and, more broadly, to all victims of such hateful remarks. More than ever, the FFF remains committed to fighting racism and all forms of discrimination.

“These comments bring shame on those who make them and those who spread them. The players of the French national team represent France, it is our country that has been insulted.

“It appears that Amarilla’s social media activity against Mbappe isn’t an isolated incident, as she warned not to let her into the stadium, as she threatened to turn into a hardcore fan before expressing disdain towards the footballer.”

The aftermath from the unsavoury confrontation in New York has spilt over into the media, with Deschamps claiming he was subjected to abuse following the victory. Meanwhile, former Paraguay goalkeeper Jose Luis Chilavert sparked a racism row ahead of the fixture after suggesting that the tournament favourites are a ‘squad from Africa’.

Warning: Distressing description of animal cruelty.

An animal charity has described one of the ‘most distressing cases’ it has ever seen after it was called to a badly burned dog.

NSPCA inspectors are investigating the charred remains of a dog outside an estate in Ballymun, a suburb just outside Dublin.

The NSPCA has appealed to the public to help solve what it described as one of the worst cases of animal cruelty their officers have encountered

Inspectors ‘did everything possible’ to identify the animal, including scanning for a microchip on Thursday.

‘Tragically, the remains were so badly damaged that identification was not possible.

‘Inspectors also discovered what appeared to be a stick or pole lodged in the dog’s body,’ they said.

They added: ‘This is one of the most distressing cases our Inspectors have encountered. No animal should ever suffer or be treated in this way.’

The NSPCA is appealing to anyone who may have seen or heard anything that could assist in its enquiries, ‘no matter how insignificant it may seem’.

‘Your information could make all the difference,’ it said. Adding: ‘All information will be treated in the strictest confidence.’

Asked by Metro about rumours spread by Turning Point UK the dog had been eaten, a Garda spokesperson said the force ‘does not comment on material posted online, which cannot be verified’.

The force are investigating the death.

The NSPCA has been contacted for further comment.

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Trying is back on Apple TV after a two-year hiatus.

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Trying season five is arriving sooner than you might expect, continuing from that shocking cliffhanger.

Rafe Spall and Esther Smith return as couple Jason and Nikki, who have endured a rollercoaster fertility journey since the very beginning in the Apple TV and BBC comedy-drama.

At long last, they managed to adopt siblings Princess and Tyler, with the programme jumping forward to their teenage years where yet another twist emerged in season four’s closing moments.

As anticipation grows for its comeback, here’s everything you need to know before Trying season five.

Trying Season 5 release date

Trying season five debuts on Wednesday, July 8, on Apple TV with fresh episodes dropping every Wednesday.

The latest series will comprise eight episodes, with the finale scheduled to land on Wednesday, August 26.

An official BBC or BBC iPlayer release date is yet to be confirmed, though previous series have generally appeared roughly a year following its Apple TV launch.

What is Trying Season 5 about?

Trying Season 5 will pick up from the dramatic finale of series four when Princess and Tyler’s biological mother Kat turned up unexpectedly.

Her appearance throws a spanner in the works for their settled family life, with Jason and Nikki poised to confront even more fresh challenges as they navigate this enormous disruption.

Trying Season 5 cast

Under Salt Marsh star Rafe Spall and Cuckoo’s Esther Smith reprise their roles as couple Jason Ross and Nikki Newman.

They will be joined by Kat, Princess and Tyler’s biological mother, portrayed by actress Charlotte Riley, best known for her roles in Peaky Blinders, The Take and Wuthering Heights.

Newcomer to Trying for its fifth series is The Thursday Murder Club’s Celia Imrie, who takes on the role of Harriet, an “upper-class hoarder” whom Jason encounters while training for a new job.

The Paper’s Gbemisola Ikumelo steps in as Chrissy, a hard-pressed social worker, while Merlin and The Killing Kind’s Colin Morgan takes on the role of Kerry, Nikki’s easy-going colleague and confidante.

Trying Season 5 premieres on Wednesday, July 8, on Apple TV.

Streaming platform subscribers may qualify for part of a massive $50 million settlement that The Walt Disney Company has been ordered to pay to consumers.

Subscribers of YouTubeTV, DirecTV Stream, and FuboTV filed an antitrust class action lawsuit against The Walt Disney Company that argued it was engaged in “various forms of conduct to raise the prices of Streaming Live Pay Television.”

The plaintiffs argued that Disney tied live TV service programming it controls — like ABC, ESPN, and Hulu — to its basic streaming options as a way to “inflate prices marketwide by raising the prices of its own products,” according to NEXSTAR, citing the lawsuit.

The complaint points to Disney increasing its prices for its Hulu + Live TV package in late 2022 to $74.99 per month, up from $69.99 per month. In the months after Disney raised its prices, DirecTV and YouTubeTV followed suit.

The plaintiffs have asked for “damages as well as injunctive relief to halt and unwind Disney’s anticompetitive practices.”

The Independent has requested comment from Disney.

Disney has not admitted wrongdoing, but has agreed to pay out a partial settlement with YouTube TV and DirecTV, according to Yahoo Finance.

The settlement covers a period of seven years, meaning anyone who subscribed to YouTubeTV or DirectTV Stream between April 1, 2019, and March 31, 2026, are eligible for the settlement.

Those who are unsure if they are eligible can call 1-877-704-2517 for more information.

Eligible claimants have until September 8 to submit a claim. Qualifying subscribers were sent notices in the mail or by email. Those messages contain a unique ID that claimants will need to use to file their claims online.

The total amount claimants can expect to receive will vary based on a number of factors, including how many claims are filed, where the claimant lives, and how long the subscriber was paying for the eligible services.

The final approval hearing for the settlement is scheduled for January 14, 2027. Should the judge approve the settlement, payments typically will be made 90 days from that date.

FuboTV, while included in the original lawsuit, has yet to reach a settlement with Disney, which purchased Fubo in 2025. That portion of the lawsuit is still pending.

After four weeks of dazzling action on the pitch, it may be an off-field scandal that comes to define this summer’s World Cup. Fifa’s decision to allow America’s star striker, Folarin Balogun, to play in a last-16 match against Belgium, despite having been sent off in the previous game against Bosnia and Herzegovina, is in clear breach of the association’s own rules. The move has been greeted with outrage pretty much across the board.

Extraordinarily, Fifa, international football’s governing body, has not only so far declined to give any detailed reasoning for its decision to suspend what would be a standard one game ban following Balogun red card. The reversal appears to result from direct pressure from the White House. Media reports suggest that Donald Trump made three calls to Fifa, starting from Wednesday, to ensure that the red card was overturned. The White House has said that the call was made to understand why Balogun was sent off and the reason for the suspension.

Whether Balogun deserved to be sent off is debatable. It’s also of secondary importance when compared to the the potential reverberations of this seismic intervention from Fifa.

Naturally, the decision has been met with anger and bewilderment from the wider footballing community outside the US, not least by the Belgians, who must now prepare to face the US men’s national soccer team’s (USMNT) most dangerous player with 24 hours notice. The Belgian FA’s statement promising to explore “all potential options” in the name of “[safeguarding] the legitimate rights of all participating teams and to protect the fundamental principles of fair play in our sport”, suggests that they have no intention of taking this lying down.

Uefa, the governing body for football in Europe, has released a statement expressing “our disbelief at such an unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision”.

The statement said that the one-match suspension rule following a red card is “not a discretionary option”. “It is a principle embedded in regulations, which cannot be made subject to exceptions, let alone in the middle of a tournament where several other players have been in the same situation and regularly served their suspension.”

Zooming out from the immediate fallout, this episode feels like a microcosm for the health of global football more broadly. In simple terms, this appears to be a case where an apparently settled disciplinary decision has been reversed due to political lobbying. In that context, the White House’s alleged intervention has prompted familiar and uncomfortable questions about the disciplinary authority of Fifa, bringing ever more attention to the opacity of the organisation’s processes.

Scrutiny must particularly fall on Gianni Infantino. Keen observers will be aware of the Fifa chairman’s form when it comes to sucking up to the Maga regime. Despite maintaining an official stance of political neutrality, the build up to this World Cup has been defined by images of Infantino pandering to Donald Trump’s ego, by parading in Maga hats and awarding him concocted peace prizes.

But this latest act may finally prove a bridge too far. Infantino now appears to be actively undermining the sporting integrity of the very game he leads to keep in with the US president.

A question of trust

Ultimately, this story boils down to a question of trust and sporting integrity, two themes that sit at the heart of my own research into football support as a form of living heritage. Unlike monuments or historic buildings, living heritage survives because communities continually transmit specific values and experiences across generations.

The World Cup is one of the clearest examples of this phenomenon. Its cultural significance does not arise solely from unforgettable matches, moments and performances. Rather, it emerges from the rituals and shared experiences that surround the tournament: supporters travelling across continents, families gathering to watch matches together, stories passed between generations. And, most importantly, the collective belief that the competition not only represents the ultimate prize of international football – but a fundamentally fair one.

That belief in fairness is particularly vital here. The World Cup matters because billions of people accept that victories and defeats are earned within a legitimate competitive framework. They celebrate triumphs because they broadly trust the competition. They accept disappointment because they trust the rules. Those shared assumptions underpin the tournament as a form of living cultural heritage.

When Fifa so flagrantly departs from established procedures and appears to willingly submit to political influence, that foundation is fundamentally damaged.

Once supporters begin to question not simply the outcome of individual refereeing decisions, but the legitimacy of the system itself, it corrodes the implicit trust and uncomplicated beauty of the game itself. Once lost, those things are exceptionally difficult to rebuild.

That is why governance can never be dismissed as a dry administrative concern. Transparent procedures, accountable institutions and genuine independence are the pillars upon which the legitimacy of the World Cup and football at large rests.

Football’s greatest tournament derives its power from the belief that every nation competes according to the same rules. If Fifa is prepared to abandon that principle in the face of political pressure it risks sacrificing something far more valuable than its own credibility. It risks undermining the very trust that has made the World Cup the most important sporting event on Earth.

Folarin Balogun’s availability against Belgium may make headlines for a day or two. The far bigger story is that Fifa has invited the world to wonder whether the rules of the World Cup are still applied equally at all.

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It’s that time of year again: the school year is about to end, and as soon as it’s over it’ll begin again.

You might be thinking you have a long summer ahead of you, but in reality, you’ll blink and the back to school rush will be here.

Every year it’s the same thing: trying to meet the manic rush to buy school uniform before term time begins. And every year, it’s expensive.

Whether your little one grows faster than you can say ‘growing pain’ or they come home from school every day looking like they’ve been rolling around in a barn, you’ll know the struggle of buying enough school uniform to not break the bank and to stop yourself feeling like you work at a laundromat.

To save you from either fate, we’ve rounded up the best of the summer uniform that’s available to buy now, so you can start stockpiling ahead of the new school year.

From 20% off at M&S, to a pack of five school shirts for under £10, this is the most affordable school uniform to get your hands on now. Seriously, get moving.

Good afternoon and welcome to fourth-round coverage of Arthur Fery versus Grigor Dimitrov on day eight at Wimbledon.

This is a clash between two wild cards, as Fery, the last Briton standing, goes up against the  former world No 3 and 2014 semi-finalist.

Fery’s run to his maiden grand slam fourth round has been somewhat of a fairytale. The 23-year-old, who entered the tournament ranked 114 in the world, is inside the top 100 in the live rankings (91) after registering four-set victories against Damir Dzumhur and Otto Virtanen in rounds one and two respectively. 

The epic five-set victory against Belgium’s Zizou Bergs, the Eastbourne champion, in the third round on Saturday was the biggest win of Fery’s life. Fery came back from a set down to win 2-6, 7-5, 2-6, 7-6, 7-6 in four hours and 39 minutes on Court 18. 

The court assignment for the meeting with Bergs raised eyebrows, but as Fery’s two previous wins came on the atmospheric stadium, the call made sense and ultimately paid off. Centre Court now awaits for the Briton who said “it’s time to move on” after his epic victory on Saturday. “I will keep those great memories of Court 18,” said Fery. “Playing on a bigger court will be a new experience. Now that I’ve had a few matches I feel ready for it.”

Dimitrov was also involved in a five-set epic of his own in the third round. The 35-year-old Bulgarian was up two sets against 2021 runner-up Matteo Berrettini before eventually closing out the match 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 6-3. Dimitrov needed four sets to take down the 15th-seeded talented Czech Jakub Mensik in the second round and beat Australia’s Dane Sweeny in straights in round one.

On the prospect of facing Fery, Dimitrov said: I have seen him play. He’s a great competitor. He’s playing at home. I mean, second week, Wimbledon, big court. I can totally get it [smiling]. No, I’m going to approach this match as every other match. Nothing has changed on my side.

“I’m just really going to focus on my side of the net and what I want to be doing out there and achieving on the court. Try to find a way around that match. You know, that’s going to be for me, as I said, I have seen him play. He’s a great player. Yeah, I’m sure we are both going to be ready for that match.”

Madonna’s latest release looks poised to land the Queen of Pop her first UK number one album in more than a decade.

On Monday evening, the Official Charts Company revealed that the Grammy winner was on her way to top the UK albums chart for the first time since 2012’s MDNA (subsequent studio albums, 2015’s Rebel Heart and 2019’s Madame X were kept off the top spot by her future collaborator Sam Smith and Bruce Springsteen, respectively).

Her closest competition is newcomer Sienna Spiro, whose debut album was also released on Friday, and is currently on track to reach number two.

But a number one album isn’t Madonna’s only cause for “celebration” now Confessions II is out in the world.

Danceteria is said to be on track to peak at 20, which would mark her first solo song in the UK top 20 since Celebration back in 2009 (a collaboration with The Weeknd, Popular, did go top 10 back in 2023, though).

The new song is named after the former New York nightspot of the same name, and sees Madonna reflecting on her pre-fame days, name-checking many of the people she rubbed shoulders with in that era.

American actress Zendaya wore a shimmering white dress as she attended the world premiere of The Odyssey.

The Challenger’s star’s outfit was white at the top and silver at the bottom, giving a water effect, at the event in London’s Leicester Square.

She was greeted with a massive cheer as she appeared alongside her husband and co-star, Tom Holland, 30, who wore all black.

Her gown, designed by Schiaparelli, emulated Ancient Greece, with her corset mimicking a marble statue.

Other stars at the premiere included Anne Hathaway, who recently announced she is pregnant with her third child, and who wore a blue dress with a flower-like feature at the top.

Rope and pleating accessories were commonplace on the red carpet, in a nod to the film’s setting of Greece. No togas were spotted – much to our disappointment.

Matt Damon, who wore a grey suit, and Charlize Theron, who wore a black dress with long white gloves.

Twilight star Robert Pattinson, who also features in the film, wore a grey suit at the event, and Lupita Nyong’o, who plays both Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra in the movie, wore a white dress.

Director Sir Christopher Nolan was also at the premiere, wearing a black suit.

The epic fantasy action film, which is also written by Sir Christopher, is an adaptation of Homer’s ancient Greek epic The Odyssey.

Damon stars as Odysseus, the Greek king of Ithaca, and the movie chronicles his long and perilous journey home after the Trojan War and his encounters with mythical beings as he attempts to reunite with his wife, Penelope, played by Hathaway.

Holland plays Telemachus, Pattinson plays Antinous, Theron plays Calypso, and Zendaya plays Athena.

Sir Christopher said in an interview on US chat show The Late Show With Stephen Colbert that he first encountered The Odyssey during a school play.

He said it was a story that ‘we all kind of know a bit about’, but he had adapted it so fans could see it in a fresh light.

The Odyssey will be released in cinemas on July 17.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

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