By LEWIS BROWNING, SPORTS REPORTER and IAN HERBERT AT PHILADELPHIA STADIUM

Updated: 22:40 BST, 4 July 2026

There is a festival atmosphere in Philadelphia today, as the birthplace of the United States hosts Paraguay vs France in the last-16 of the World Cup on Independence Day. Les Bleus have cruised to this stage of the competition with a machine-like inevitability, swatting Senegal, Iraq and Norway to one side in the groups before easing to a 3-0 defeat of Sweden in the last-32. Their unparalleled attack is dominating the scoring charts, with Kylian Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele and Michael Olise already racking up 19 goal involvements between them with four matches played.

The trading standards team at Bolton Council were handed the Anti-Counterfiting Group award after high-profile operations, including seizing £2M worth of illegal goods earlier in June.

The team also succeeded in seizing more than 200,000 illegal vapes in March this year and in August 2025 seized several potentially dangerous fake Labubu dolls.

Council cabinet member for the environment and regulatory services Cllr Robert Morrisey said: “Bolton Council continues to prioritise enforcement and proactive work to safeguard communities, working closely with partners to tackle illegal trading and protect public safety.

“This latest achievement demonstrates the council’s ongoing commitment to high standards of consumer protection and reinforces its reputation for excellence in trading standards.”

Goods were seized after a despite between a landlord and a tenant (Image: GMP)

The award was handed to the trading standards team to recognise its work tackling intellectual property and product safety crime.

Back in August last year, the Labubu dolls were seized from a shop in Bolton after they were found to have loose parts that could pose a choking hazard to young children.

The stitching was also found to be loose, exposing the filling which could be another choking hazard.

Some of the vapes seized in Halliwell (Image: Bolton Council)

This was followed by another high-profile operation in March when trading standards officers seized 30 pallets containing 211,606 illegal single-use vapes from a warehouse in Halliwell.

The single-use vapes, which have been banned from sale in the UK since June 2025, were estimated to have had a street value of £1M.

The June raid came about after concerns were raised during a landlord and tenant dispute which led to the authorities looking closer at goods they had found on site.

Trading standards officers then discovered a range of suspected illicit items, including perfumes, clothing, cosmetics, chemicals, vape liquids and fragrance products.

The three 40-tonne lorry loads of products are believed to have had a street value of more than £2M.

The award, a national rather than regional one, celebrates outstanding efforts across the whole of the UK trading standards service, placing Bolton’s team among the very best in the country.

The recognition highlights the team’s significant contribution over the past year in protecting residents and businesses from counterfeit goods and unsafe products.

It also honours them for disrupting criminal activity linked to IP and safety offences.

Since giving birth, Bolton-born Sophie, who will this month be hosting the prime time BBC programme Sewing Bee, has been, like many mums, showing adorable pictures of Elijah and illustrating her new role as a mum.

Now she has said she will be sharing no more baby pics alongside news footage explaining the terrifying dangers of posting pictures of youngsters.

Parents were this week warned over posting images of their children online as they could be used to create AI-generated sexual abuse material, the National Crime Agency (NCA) has said.

Posting on Instagram stories, Sophie, the star Alma’s Not Normal, said: “So no more baby pics from me. This is terrifying.”

New guidance on protecting children against the rise of AI child abuse imagery has been issued by the NCA and the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) as part of a new campaign aimed at parents and carers, the NCA said.

It comes after a UK school was targeted by criminal gangs who used publicly available pictures of pupils to create sexual images of the children using AI technology, then threatening to release the images unless a payment was made, according to the IWF.

The organisations have also raised the alarm over a sharp rise in the use of AI tools to create child sexual abuse imagery, with 3,440 AI-generated videos found by IWF analysts in 2025 compared to just 13 in 2024.

The new campaign aims to help parents and carers make informed decisions about their children’s images, consider image consent, and discuss the dangers of AI and “deepfake” sexual images with children, the NCA said.

“The threat is disturbing,” Kerry Smith, chief executive of the IWF, said.

“If someone’s imagery is online, they could be easy pickings for criminals and anyone, especially children, could find themselves being targeted.

“We don’t want to say don’t share your children’s images with the people you love and trust, but we want everyone to be aware of the potential risks and make an informed decision with the full facts at their disposal.

“These are not hypothetical threats, they are real,” Ms Smith added.

“The impact of this imagery can be devastating.

“The harms are very real. And the potential for lasting damage is something which I think every parent would do anything they can to prevent.

“We want to give them back that power, and start a public conversation about whether we should be sharing imagery online as a default.”

Criminals who previously blackmailed a UK school created more than a hundred sexual images of its pupils using images from a school website, the IWF warned.

Though the IWF managed to stop the images from being uploaded, the fear remains that more schools could be targeted in the future.

AI-generated child sexual abuse images are becoming more widespread and realistic as technology improves, the IWF and NCA have also warned.

AI is also used to create more violent content, with 65% of the 3,443 AI-generated child sexual abuse videos identified in 2025 classified as Category A – the most severe legal category under UK law, which encompasses offences such as rape and sexual torture.

By comparison, 43% of non-AI criminal child abuse videos seen by the IWF in 2025 were Category A.

The IWF also identified 8,029 AI-generated images and videos of realistic child sexual abuse in 2025 – a 14% increase in criminal AI content on the previous year.

The new guidance suggests creating a “close friends” group for parents and carers who still want to share images of their children online, or adjust privacy settings on social media posts so that only a selected number of people can see them.

It also contains advice on speaking to children and young people about AI and image consent, and what to do if they are targeted or imagery of them is made or shared online.

Parents have also been encouraged to inform children and young people that nude or semi-nude images of under-18s can be reported and removed online – including those created or altered using AI.

The Report Remove service, which is run by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) and the IWF, also offers mental health support for young people.

Tim Wright from the National Crime Agency said: “Artificial intelligence tools are becoming more powerful, more widely available and easier to use, and we are seeing offenders exploit them to target children in new ways.

“Images shared online, even everyday family photos, can be stolen and manipulated to create sexualised content without a child or parent’s knowledge.

“While we and policing colleagues tackle offenders, prevention remains vital.

“We encourage parents and carers to take a few simple steps today: review the privacy settings on social media accounts; think carefully about who can access images of their children; and talk openly with family, friends, schools and clubs about image sharing and consent.

“Most importantly, if something does go wrong, stay calm, reassure your child that they are not to blame, and report concerns to the police or CEOP so action can be taken as quickly as possible”

Images and videos of child sexual abuse are illegal in the UK, whether they have been made or altered using AI or not.

The IWF has also urged tech companies to evaluate and safeguard their AI models before releasing them to make it harder for criminals to use generative AI to create child abuse material.

“He wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, was driving on a provisional licence without someone accompanying him, didn’t have any ‘L’ plates displayed and had no insurance”

A learner driver was caught going 98mph on a Northern Irish motorway while unaccompanied, police say.

In a statement on social media, NI Road Policing and Safety officers said a vehicle was recorded driving without ‘L’ plates, without a full driver’s licence, and without a seatbelt on the motorway between Lurgan and Moira.

In Northern Ireland, drivers with a provisional licence are not permitted to drive on motorways. He driver was stopped on Saturday morning.

A PSNI spokesperson said: “Road Policing Officers stopped the driver of this car in the last hour. He was detected travelling at 98mph on the motorway, between Lurgan and Moira.

“Not only that, but he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, was driving on a provisional licence without someone accompanying him, didn’t have any ‘L’ plates displayed and had no insurance.

“The driver will have to attend court in the near future.

“His friend, who was the owner of the car and had allowed him to drive, will also have to attend court for permitting no insurance.

“Drivers like this pose a risk to all of us on the roads; we will continue to deal with them robustly.”

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A warning was issued by a council on Friday, July 3

Officials at a Cambridgeshire council have warned residents about text messages which falsely claim that people have been issued with a parking fine. Huntingdonshire District Council shared a warning on Friday, July 3, stating they are aware of residents being targeted by “fraudsters” who are claiming people had been issued with a parking fine or a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN).

The local authority has assured it would not contact residents by text message about parking fines. The council has asked anyone who has received one of these messages to not click any links or share any personal or financial details.

A spokesperson for Huntingdonshire District Council said: “We are aware of fraudsters targeting residents with text messages claiming that a parking fine needs to be paid.

“Please be aware that HDC would not contact you by text message about a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN), as we do not hold residents’ mobile phone numbers for this purpose.

“If you receive a text message about an unpaid parking fine, do not click any links or provide any personal or financial information. If you’re ever unsure whether a communication is genuinely from us, please get in touch and we’ll be happy to help: https://orlo.uk/Sruq8.”

Morocco’s evolution into a top football nation was ⁠no better exemplified than their comprehensive 3-0 win over Canada in the World Cup last 16 on Saturday as they absorbed pressure before inflicting three hammer blows on their opponents.

Morocco took 50 minutes to break the deadlock as Azzedine Ounahi scored twice and Soufiane Rahimi added a late third, but never looked flustered nor deviated from their plans.

Canada were on top in a frenzied opening and created several chances ⁠to score, but were wasteful and made to pay.

By contrast, Morocco had four shots on target in the 90 minutes and netted from three of them, economical in their chance creation but clinical with their finishing.

“As well as we played, Morocco bent a ‌little bit but did not break,” Canada ‌coach Jesse Marsch told reporters.

“The smallest details in a match can make a big difference. And if you do not take your chances when you are on top, that will cost you.”

It is a hallmark of a top team that Morocco are able to soak up the pressure placed on them, not panic and trust that chances will come their way.

“It’s a World Cup match and these are difficult games with teams playing for their lives,” Morocco coach Mohamed Ouahbi said. “We reacted very well in the second half in the second balls and the duels.

“I have to recognise that Canada were impressive they played a top match. It was no surprise for us but in the second half we were able to profit from the space they left us that was the key.”

More than that, Morocco believe they will have the quality in attack to take those opportunities when they come along. It is the kind of “big team energy” that sets the top teams apart ‌and the Atlas Lions have discovered it.

There have been several other examples in this World Cup, including Brazil’s performance against Japan and England’s comeback victory over the Democratic Republic of Congo. Morocco were World Cup semi-finalists four years ago, but ⁠this is an arguably better team, more balanced and with more attacking threats.

The win over Canada took them to number six on the world rankings and a team brimming with talent has worked out the street smarts needed to go deep into major tournaments.

Every time she releases a new album, journalists and social media commentary insist that Madonna is over. They are usually, eventually, proven wrong.

This debate has emerged again now Madonna is on the promotional circuit for her new album Confessions II. Despite the positive response to the music released so far, she is drawing controversy for her appearance and performances – surprise.

Madonna’s contribution to music was never simply the hit records. It was demonstrating that a woman at the centre of popular culture could have an audacity that matched any applauded (male) rockstar.

Now, just as it was back in the 1980s and early 1990s, that quality feels scarce in contemporary mainstream pop music. There are many more female artists in the 2020s, but there is no one as iconoclastic as Madonna, more than 40 years on from her debut.

This is not to say today’s female artists lack talent. Quite the opposite. Popular music is filled with extraordinary singers, writers and performers (see Sabrina Carpenter, Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande et al). They are well-oiled, slick, inoffensive and easy to imagine the parental approval of teenage fans.

Madonna built her career by refusing precisely that approach.

From 1984’s Like A Virgin until the present day, she has made art that potentially jeopardised safe commercial success that became culturally significant because of its audacity.

Some projects did not perform as expected: 2019’s Madame X did not connect with many. Some attracted furious criticism: 2005’s Hung Up created a cultural debate about the ageist sexism in early 2000s music. Others were misunderstood for years before being reassessed: 2003’s American Life was ahead of its time with its critique of George W. Bush and early noughties US society.

The point is not that every provocation succeeded artistically. It is that she accepted the possibility of failure as the price of remaining culturally significant and having the audacity to say something beyond the solid harmonies and fantastic melodies. Madonna had a message and meaning.

For women, significance beyond representation

The music industry has never been especially comfortable with women exercising power over both their image and their business. Female artists continue to encounter double standards around ageing, sexuality and ambition that male performers rarely experience.

Madonna did not dismantle these structures. Instead, she repeatedly exposed them. The imagery for the Confessions II album shows Madonna in outfits she would have worn 35 years ago, and her refusal to acquiesce to society’s views of what a 68-year-old woman should wear, is exactly the reason she has an army of female fans supporting her, and why she matters.

It isn’t the simple fact she is a woman, and improves the quota of female artists, it is the fact she is a woman with opinions and a provocative mind that matters.

Her importance to queer audiences

Long before LGBTQ+ identities gained mainstream acceptance, Madonna treated queer culture as a source of artistic innovation and fought for the community. She employed queer dancers, collaborated with gay creatives during the Aids crisis and brought elements of queer “ballroom” culture into mainstream visibility through Vogue.

Those choices have since generated important debates about appropriation and cultural credit, particularly regarding the Black and Latino communities that created ballroom culture. Those criticisms deserve serious attention. But they should not obscure the fact that Madonna used unprecedented levels of mainstream visibility to platform queer aesthetics and queer people to audiences who might otherwise never have encountered them.

Now, 35 years on and her new Confessions II album is positioned directly to her gay audience; the project is sponsored by queer dating app Grindr and she is tapping into Pride month performances to launch the record.

This strategic partnership with Grindr is a first for the music industry, and given the salacious perceptions of the app, and the music videos and performances so far, it is clear this album is audaciously using a “sex sells” strategy for a 68-year-old female artist with a large gay audience. This is quintessential Madonna, and her gay audience is loving it.

Why she matters now more than ever

Every moral panic surrounding her career revealed less about Madonna herself than about society’s anxieties about female autonomy. Whether discussing gender, religion, sexuality, material consumerism or ageing, she has both ignited and contributed to society and culture’s big conversations.

In her recent interview with Graham Norton for the BBC, her audacious nature shows no signs of slowing down; she persistently pushed back on his questions, and was quite clear when she did not want to answer.

It is rare to see anyone be so confident and assured in their own skin. Many would want to appear likeable and hope for a positive reception so the audience would be warmed up to buy the record, but Madonna is less polished popstar and more confident rockstar, her answers felt more like those of Ozzy Osbourne, Jonny Rotten and Liam Gallagher in their swag and attitude.

Not every artist should aspire to be Madonna. But every generation needs an iconoclast: someone prepared to risk popularity in pursuit of possibility and to ignite debate and conversation.

You might love her or hate her, but in an age increasingly governed by algorithms, metrics and carefully managed authenticity, that may be Madonna’s most relevant legacy of all: queer-infused female audacity. There is no one like her, and she is needed now more than ever.

A Lake District village once described by Wordsworth as ‘the loveliest spot that man hath ever found’ is under siege… from a kebab shop.

Residents of Grasmere, a former civil parish located in the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, are furious over plans to turn a restaurant into a Turkish takeaway.

Outraged locals complained to the council over the proposals to transform Goody Blakes on Stock Lane into Grasmere Kebab Shop, which led the local authority to refuse planning permission. 

The restaurant’s owner, Shwan Khder, had originally sought approval to install a ‘discreet’ new chimney on the rear wall in addition to smaller changes to facilitate a grill.  

Lakes Parish Council recommended refusal, noting in its response that a kebab shop would ‘introduce a level of activity and operational intensity that is out of keeping with the surrounding residential and sensitive village context’ and ‘undermine the established character and function of this part of the village’. 

The local authority also warned of additional noise pollution and vehicle congestion, saying Grasmere’s ‘tranquility’ could be ruined. 

However Mr Khder has said he will fight the decision in order to deliver Grasmere’s first-ever kebab shop – and in the meantime operate the venue as a restaurant. 

He has pledged that ‘customers can eat in or take out, but it won’t be a takeaway’. 

Poet William Wordsworth once described the village as ”the loviest spot that man hath ever found’ – but residents now fear a takeaway shop could turn Grasmere into a ‘nightmare’ 

Residents, however, are fuming over the ‘appalling’ plans, with one calling the prospect of a kebab shop in the village a ‘nightmare’, while another said the eatery would be an ‘eyesore’. 

But not all are opposed, with one local declaring he ‘believes in free enterprise’ and another saying: ‘I’d definitely try a kebab once’. 

Poet William Wordsworth once described Grasmere, where he lived and was buried, as ‘the loviest spot that man hath ever found’. 

But Mr Khder, 38, a British-Iranian Kurd, believes that if he were alive today, Wordsworth would have been a customer. 

He told The Telegraph: ‘There are no other takeaways in Grasmere and it is a busy place, especially at this time of year.

‘If Wordsworth was alive today, of course he would [be one of my customers]. He needed energy and he needed food, especially if it’s fresh, homemade food like my kebabs. Everybody back then would have wanted one.’

The restaurant owner described the backlash from residents as ‘absolutely unbelievable’ before saying he will ‘have to apply again for a change of use to a takeaway’. 

Bookseller Julian Hyde, 59, decried the prospect of a kebab shop in Grasmere as ‘appalling’, suggesting it could lead the quaint village down the path of destruction by encouraging a ‘fish and chip shop (to open) next to it – then a Tesco Express’. 

Pictured: Goody Blakes on Stock Lane, where the proposed kebab shop will be developed 

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The plans have split the community, with residents having voiced opposition for and against the takeaway

He also expressed concern for the environmental impact, saying that litter from the takeaway could ‘get out of hand’. 

John Lowther, who owns puzzle retailer Barney’s Newsbox and lives on a private road shared with Mr Khder’s restaurant, said a kebab shop in Grasmere ‘is going to be a nightmare’. 

The 71-year-old, who has lived in the village for over 40 years, said a takeaway ‘simply does not fit in with this beautiful village’, before adding: ‘Being a vegan, I wouldn’t go there’. 

His verdict was that Grasmere ‘doesn’t need a kebab shop at all’. 

And Kyle Wyness, who owns the flat above the restaurant, complained to the Lake District National Park Authority that the takeaway would be ‘an eyesore that is completely out of keeping with the nature of what is a mainly residential area’.

Co-owner J Wynass wrote in a separate letter that it would have ‘a detrimental impact on our business and the value of the property’.

However some residents have voiced support for the plans, with bartender Leah Sky saying that as she works late into the evening, there is nowhere else open in the village to grab dinner after her shift. 

Art dealer Tim Hardy, 60, also said ‘I just believe in free enterprise’, adding that ‘everyone will be against it’ because residents like to keep Grasmere ‘as a museum’. 

And Paul Abbot, who runs a distillery in the village, said he would ‘definitely try a kebab once’. 

The Daily Mail has approached Lakes Parish Council and the Lake District National Park for comment.