Tottenham have appointed Roberto de Zerbi as their new head coach after the Italian signed a five-year contract with the club.

The former Brighton boss has seven games to save the club from relegation to the Championship.

If they do go down, he does not have a relegation clause that would allow him to walk away.

In two months’ time, Spurs’ third boss of the season will have either secured his place as a hero at the club, or be forever connected to one of the worst campaigns in their history.

He said: “I am delighted to be joining this fantastic football club, which is one of the biggest and most prestigious in the world.

“In all my discussions with the club’s leadership, their ambition for the future has been clear – to build a team capable of reaching great achievements, and to do that playing a style of football that excites and inspires our supporters. I am here because I believe in that ambition and have signed a long-term contract to give everything to deliver it.

“Our short-term priority is to climb the Premier League table, which will be the complete focus until the final whistle of the last game of the season.”

De Zerbi has been the overwhelming first choice to become the club’s new permanent head coach.

BBC Sport reported on Sunday that De Zerbi was the man Spurs wanted to replace Igor Tudor, who officially left the club by mutual consent over the weekend.

Talks have been ongoing since Sunday and those discussions have been successful.

De Zerbi was always open to taking the Spurs position, but it is understood he initially showed a reluctance to accept the job before the end of the season.

But the coach, who left Marseille earlier this year, has been persuaded to take the job immediately.

Tottenham are 17th in the Premier League, just one point outside of the relegation zone and without a win in the competition in 2026.

Should they fail to beat the drop, it would go down as one of the league’s most remarkable relegations.

Sporting director, Johan Lange, said: “Roberto was our number one target for the summer and we are very pleased to be able to bring him in now.

“He is one of the most creative and forward-thinking coaches in world football, and brings with him a wealth of experience at the highest level, including in the Premier League.”

After guiding Brighton to European qualification during his stint in the Premier League between 2022 and 2024, De Zerbi took Marseille to second in Ligue 1 last season before leaving in February.

The Italian’s first match as Tottenham boss will be a trip to Sunderland on 12 April, followed six days later by a home game against his former club Brighton. Their remaining fixtures are home matches against Leeds and Everton, and trips to Wolves, Aston Villa and Chelsea.

“He will be having his own way – he’s quite a character,” former Tottenham goalkeeper Paul Robinson told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“He’s a very outspoken manger. He’s a manager in a similar way to Jose Mourinho or Antonio Conte that Tottenham have had in the past.”

Emergency services were called to Gillygate, near its junction with Bootham, around 1pm today (Tuesday, March 31).

The cordon, which extends from Sore Thumb Retro Games to Fusion Hair and Beauty in the street, includes a First Bus – thought to have been involved in the incident.

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Police have closed a lane of Gillygate, with officers currently at the scene co-ordinating traffic.

A First Bus is believed to have been involved in the crash (Image: Newsquest)

A staff member at nearby business Love Cheese said of the crash: “We didn’t actually see anything as it has been so busy.

“The police popped in because we have a camera pointing in the general direction.

“There were ambulances at the scene but officers said everyone was ok, so that’s good.”

A police car and officers remain on the scene (Image: Newsquest)

A member of the public said a person is believed to have been involved in the crash, and that police had been seen questioning potential witnesses and had taken fingerprints.

Police said that no further information could be released at this time and an appeal for further information has yet to be launched.

Business along the road remain open, with Mali Thai Food – which is included in the cordon – operating a takeaway service to avoid any interruptions to the investigation.

Manchester United’s summer signing Senne Lammens has enjoyed a stellar debut season for the Reds and is destined to go to the World Cup

Manchester United’s fanbase have arguably never been so torn as when the club finally announced David de Gea would be leaving at the end of the 2022/23 season. The final player remaining from the Reds’ last Premier League title winning season was unceremoniously released after weeks of uncertainty.

As one of the club’s elder statesman, De Gea was a high earner and United were keen to reduce his salary if he were to stay. This was because Erik ten Hag wanted a new goalkeeper who could play out from the back and were the Spaniard to remain, he would have to settle for being second choice.

Towards the end of that season, De Gea was under increased scrutiny after a number of shaky performances. His display in the 2023 FA Cup final defeat to Manchester City sealed his fate and, while there were conflicting thoughts as to whether the decision was right or not, everyone agreed De Gea deserved a better exit.

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Once the decision was made, all eyes were on the future and Andre Onana’s arrival was greeted warmly. The Cameroon international arrived having helped Inter reach the Champions League final and was renowned for playing out from the back.

However, what no one took into account was how few shots Onana faced at Inter. They were a dominant side in Italy and their strong defensive structure protected the goalkeeper. At Old Trafford, the Champions League finalist was found out.

In the 2022/23 season, the Reds conceded just 43 Premier League goals. This shot up to 58 in Onana’s debut campaign and dropped slightly to 54 last season, albeit goal scoring was sacrificed to shore up the defence.

With the jury firmly out on Onana in the 2023/24 season, many United fans were calling to bring back De Gea. The goalkeeper took the unconventional step of taking a year out of the game to spend time with his family while keeping in shape by regularly training at local National League club Altrincham.

De Gea was not getting any younger and re-signing him would have made United look desperate. What they needed to accept was Onana’s limitations.

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He was not consistent enough for the Premier League, especially for a team who conceded so many shots to the opposition. Only at the start of the 2025/26 campaign did United realise the error of their ways.

An injury for Onana in pre-season allowed Altay Bayindir to take on the No.1 role. And, after another disappointing Onana performance against League Two Grimsby Town, Ruben Amorim finally pulled the trigger and signed another goalkeeper to take on the role of first choice.

Senne Lammens was a risk when he arrived. He had never played in one of the top five European leagues and he only had one full season to his name in senior football.

And yet, the Reds have discovered a goalkeeper who has reassured the defence with his composure and competence. Whether Lammens will go on to have the career of De Gea remains to be seen.

But we are no longer agonising over goalkeeper errors week in, week out as we were throughout Onana’s time as first choice and even during the final months of De Gea’s spell. Lammens has proven to be not only cheap but consistent.

United know what they are getting with him in goal. It has taken three years but finally United have managed to prove their decision to release De Gea was right.

Anthony Slaughter, Zack Polanski, and a sea of candidates gathered in what is normally an antiques fayre to formally launch the Green Party’s Senedd election campaign. West Wharf Gallery in Cardiff was fitted out with plants and disco balls for the event.

The Greens are going into this election promising to freeze rent, abolish the current tax system and bring bills down. And the Mr Polanski and Mr Slaughter told the optimistic gathering they would be “the kingmakers” of the upcoming election.

The most recent YouGov poll projects the party will take home 12% of the vote, which projections suggest would translate into 10 seats. If the poll projections are repeated on election day on Thursday, May 7, it would represent a staggering breakthrough for the party which have never had a member of the Senedd elected before. For the biggest stories in Wales first sign up to our daily newsletter here.

Although Mr Slaughter was reluctant to quote the exact number of seats the latest poll projects, preferring to say ‘at least six or seven’, the second-placed candidate for his constituency, Tessa Marshall, was more than happy to quote the figures and was met with applause.

One of the party’s best results in Wales was two years ago at the 2024 General Election when Anthony Slaughter came second to Labour’s Stephen Doughty in the Cardiff South and Penarth constituency, collecting 14% of the vote.

The result that has energised the Welsh side of a party which has been buoyed by the popularity of new leader Zack Polanski. Their pitch to voters is that they are only the real left-wing option on the ballot paper.

The boom the party has experienced has also changed Mr Polanski’s ‘number one priority’. The leader of the party in England and Wales said when he was elected his key goal was getting Mr Slaughter elected to the Senedd in Caerdydd Penarth. Now he’s dreaming bigger.

When asked whether this potentially newfound success could lead to a split of the current England and Wales party, both Mr Slaughter and Mr Polanski refused to rule out the possibility of the party forming their own Welsh set-up. Mr Polanski said that if the party were to approach him and say they wanted to do so, his reaction would be, ‘understood, how can I help’.

While the mood was positive, some people had apparently headed to the Cardiff University sparc building where the launch was originally planned to take place. One person also said to the person he was sat next to, ‘I hope I get a copy of the manifesto’, which was wishful thinking given it was a campaign launch not a manifesto launch.

What are the party promising to deliver in the Senedd?

• To replace the broken council tax system.
• An immediate rent freeze moving on to rent controls.
• Build social housing at the scale and pace needed.
• Put Welsh Water back into public ownership.
• Bring in a £1 bus fare.

While their full manifesto is yet to be announced housing and bills appear to be central to their plans, rather than any future talk of independence for Wales.

Mr Slaughter said: “We’ve got to make Wales better for people before we have this conversation about devolution in the future.”

Mr Polanski added: “Before we even talk about independence the much more important conversation right now is making sure we get Green Senedd members into the Welsh Government who can be there to fix the problems that are facing people today that are not problems of independence but of high bills and needing better political representation.”

After Ms Marshall said the party would “bring bills down from day one”, Mr Slaughter said they planned to do so through rent controls, insulating homes, and bringing in an immediate rent freeze.

Explaining how they’d do so, he said: “We need rent controls but we know they can be complicated and they can have unexpected consequences. That’s why we’ll be calling for a rent freeze on day one. Just for a limited period of time a rent freeze would give us some breathing space while we figure out how to deliver fair rent controls.

“We’ll start with a programme of retrofitting and insulating people’s homes to get their bills down. The cheapest energy is the energy you don’t use. Some of these things will take time but people will see a real difference in their material lives at the end of the four days.”

Ms Marshall added: “We need to devolve water to Wales because we need to bring Dwr Cymru into public ownership and make sure they are no longer polluting our rivers and making the people in Wales pay some of the highest water bills across the UK.”

Mr Polanski also refused to agree with Nigel Farage that the Senedd vote was “a referendum on Keir Starmer’s premiership”. Mr Polanski said: “I’m never going to take the opportunity to agree with Nigel Farage. What this election is about is people in Wales – their bills and having a better standard of living.”

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The TV presenter and adventurer travels around China in his new Channel 5 documentary

Ben Fogle has confessed he captured footage the authorities “won’t be happy with” while making his new documentary about China.

The TV host and explorer travelled across the country for his Channel 5 programme Ben Fogle in China, which begins next week (April 6), and told Radio Times it was “the most interesting travel journey” he had ever undertaken, the Mirror reports.

However, the New Lives in The Wild star added: “I’m reconciled to the fact I might not be returning to China any time soon.

“We had to think very carefully, because there are a number of things we filmed that the authorities there won’t be happy with. We did have a government-assigned observer with us, but they’d often disappear when the temptation of tea and cakes arose.”

“So our documentary is a pretty accurate insight into our ‘lived experience’ out there,” the presenter remarked.

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In the programme, Ben visits The Great Wall, appears as an extra in a production filmed at the world’s largest outdoor film studio, and discovers Chinese medicine markets.

He visits a cockroach farm where the creatures are used to produce products such as toothpaste and shampoo, and he also witnesses the rice terraces at Longji. The presenter also tours a facility preparing giant pandas for reintroduction into the wild during his expedition.

“I’ve travelled to some of the most remote corners of the world, but China is a place I’ve never explored until now,” he commented when the programme was announced.

“This was an incredible opportunity to go beyond the headlines and the stereotypes and discover the real China through the people who are shaping its future. I went in search of friends and came back with some incredible stories that haven’t been told before.

“This was a challenging series, but I’m really proud of it and can’t wait to share the adventure on 5.”

Fans expressed their excitement after Ben teased the programme on Instagram, with one person writing: “Great to hear, looking forward to seeing this Ben.”

“Really looking forward to this,” another viewer posted on the platform. “Ben is the best travel/life presenter.”

“I literally CAN’T WAIT for this,” remarked someone else.

Ben Fogle in China begins on Monday April 6 at 9pm on Channel 5.

Israel has passed a law making the death penalty by hanging the default punishment for West Bank Palestinians convicted of murdering Israelis.

The UK, Germany, France and Italy said the move was “de facto discriminatory” and “Israel risks undermining its commitments to democratic principles”.

A joint statement called the death penalty “an inhumane and degrading form of punishment without any deterrent effect”.

UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper posted the statement on X, adding: “The death penalty is wrong and we oppose it around the world.”

Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who wore noose-shaped lapel pins in the run-up to the vote, has campaigned for tougher punishments for Palestinians convicted of nationalistic offences against Israelis.

“We have made history,” Mr Ben-Gvir said, in a post on X. “Any terrorist who goes out to kill should know – he will be sent to the gallows”.

He was also scathing about criticism from the European Union, adding: “We are not afraid, we do not yield”.

The Palestinian ministry of foreign affairs said the law “constitutes a decision to carry out institutionalised extrajudicial killings according to racist standards”.

“The ministry affirms that Israel has no sovereignty over Palestinian land and that Israeli laws do not apply to the Palestinian people,” it added.

Opponents of the bill, under which executions should be carried out within 90 days of sentencing, said it was racist, draconian and unlikely to deter attacks by Palestinian militants.

Critics include Israelis and Palestinians, international rights groups and the UN, some of whom fear the death penalty could be applied solely to Palestinians convicted of murdering Jewish citizens of Israel.

The sentence will be applied by a military court to anyone convicted of murdering an Israeli “as an act of terror”.

Such courts try only West Bank Palestinians, who are not Israeli citizens. The bill says military courts can change the penalty to life imprisonment in “special circumstances”.

Israel’s courts, which try Israeli citizens, including Palestinian citizens of Israel, can choose between life imprisonment or the death penalty in cases of murder aiming to harm Israeli citizens and residents or “with the intent of rejecting the existence of the state of Israel”.

‘Discriminatory by design’

Amichai Cohen, a senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute’s Centre for Democratic Values and Institutions, said the distinction is discriminatory as it means, in effect, Jews “will not be indicted under this law”.

In addition, the West Bank is not sovereign Israeli territory, so under international law, Israel’s parliament should not be legislating over it, Mr Cohen said.

The Association of Civil Rights in Israel said it had petitioned the country’s highest court to challenge the law, calling it “discriminatory by design” and “enacted without legal authority” over West Bank Palestinians.

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Israel has the death penalty on its books, but the country hasn’t put anyone to death since Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in 1962.

The bill will not apply retroactively to any of the militants Israel currently holds who attacked the country on 7 October 2023.

Police said no one was injured

A lorry and two cars were involved in a crash in the Fens on Monday, March 30. Police were called at around 5.45pm with reports of the crash on Isle of Ely Way in Wimblington.

The vehicles were recovered and the road was cleared by 8pm. Cambridgeshire Police has confirmed that there were no serious injuries.

A spokesperson for Cambridgeshire Police said: “We were called yesterday (30 March) at about 5.45pm with reports of a collision on Isle of Ely Way, Wimblington involving a lorry and two cars. No serious injuries sustained. Road was clear and vehicles recovered by 8pm.”

Keir Starmer’s deal to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius has been dealt another major blow after a judge ruled that islanders expelled in the 1960s have the right to live there.

The landmark court ruling is a further setback to the beleaguered prime minister, whose efforts to resolve the future of the Chagos Islands, which houses the crucial US-UK airbase on Diego Garcia, have been turned against the government, undoing almost six decades of previous legal judgements on the islands.

The deal was already in trouble because of opposition from Donald Trump after a row over whether the US could use the airbase for attacks on Iran, but now, the judgment handed down by Justice James Lewis, the judge for the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) Court, could finish off the deal altogether.

The case was brought after four Chagossians occupied one of the islands earlier this year in a bid to reclaim their homes, and the BIOT governor attempted to have them removed.

One of them, Louis Misley Mandarin, who said he was elected first minister of the Chagossian government-in-exile last December, told the court: “We are Chagossians… We have long wanted to return, and we had sought permits to visit, but no one answered us, so we have come here to prove we would still like to return.”

In his judgement, Justice Lewis overturned a 2004 law for the islands brought in by Tony Blair’s government to prevent a return to the islands by Chagossians. He has also reversed previous rulings by the Law Lords on their original removal in the 1960s and 1970s.

He concluded that the government’s previous case that there could not be a return to the islands on national security or defence grounds no longer applies because the proposed deal with Mauritius means that the government now accepts the islands can be populated.

He also stated that the cost to the UK taxpayer of the Mauritius deal, which he estimates to be £51bn – higher than any other previous estimate of £35bn over 99 years – means that the argument that it is too costly to enable Chagossians to return has also been invalidated.

Justice Lewis drew on the UK’s United Nations obligations to conclude that the islanders have a “right of abode” on their homeland, which makes it almost impossible to give the islands to Mauritius.

The government has already lodged an appeal against the judgment, which has been granted and will be heard by the BIOT Court of Appeal.

The original decision to negotiate a deal with Mauritius came from a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which was not binding on the UK, but stated that the islands belonged to Mauritius.

However, this ruling was based on Mauritius being the former colonial administration centre for the islands. Other parts of the British Empire that had been administered from Mauritius gained independence because they were populated.

James Tumbridge, the lawyer acting for the Chagossians, has told The Independent: “Once a population is established on the islands, it changes the entire legal status and means that they should be looked at as their own entity.”

The return of the Chagossians to the islands came in an expedition funded by Reform’s biggest donor, Christopher Harborne and led by former Tory MP and Reform defector Adam Holloway.

But in his ruling, Justice Lewis appears to be critical of Nigel Farage and others from Reform, specifically stating that they do not have the right to go to the islands. Mr Farage had tried to join the four Chagossians last month.

In response to the court’s ruling, Mr Mandarin said: “Today justice has finally begun to catch up with history. For generations, we have lived with exile, with loss, and with the denial of our most basic rights. This judgment restores not just a legal principle, but our dignity as a people.

 “We have returned peacefully to our homeland. We ask only to live, to remember, and to belong. Today, the law has recognised what we have always known, that our connection to these islands cannot be erased.”

Mr Tumbridge added: “This judgment shows justice works when people are given the chance to be heard. The decision to forcibly remove British subjects from British land, for the Crown to take away the right of abode, should never have been allowed. Today we can start to right that wrong.”

Claire Bullivant, chief executive of the Great British PAC, which has led the campaign supporting the Chagossians, said: “This is a historic victory. For decades, Chagossians have been denied the most basic right, the right to live in their own homeland. Today’s judgment confirms that the legal basis for that exclusion cannot stand.

“It is hard to overstate the importance of this moment. The government’s entire approach to Chagos, built over more than twenty years, has been fundamentally called into question.”

Shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel MP said: “Keir Starmer’s £35 billion Chagos Surrender is a complete betrayal. And throughout the process, he has sought to sideline the Chagossian people, treating them as nothing but an inconvenience.

“Chagossians, many of whom have no desire to see the islands handed over to an ally of China, ended up taking matters into their own hands. And now this latest humiliation has further undermined the government’s case.

“Starmer needs to face reality and abandon this appalling deal cooked up by Peter Mandelson and Jonathan Powell.”

Ammanford moved to within two games of top‑flight football after a convincing 5–1 win away at Treowen Stars in the JD Cymru South.

An own goal, added to finishes from Chris Bell, Dan John, Matt Delaney and Matthew Fisher, who marked his 400th appearance for Town, secured a vital three points.

The hosts, unbeaten at Bush Park since October, threatened inside the opening minute. A defensive slip on the right allowed a shooting chance which forced Luke Martin into a fingertip save, pushing the ball over the bar.

After absorbing that early spell, Ammanford had a golden opportunity to strike first when Gavin Jones was brought down by Cael Jones in the box. The striker dusted himself off to take the penalty, but slipped on contact and touched the ball twice.

Undeterred, Jones went close seconds later when Dan John released him, only for his fierce drive to thunder off the post.

He remained at the heart of the action, latching onto a long pass before being brought down by the Stars goalkeeper. The referee showed a straight red, and with no replacement keeper available, Macsen Evans was forced to take over between the posts. To his credit, he dealt well with his first test, gathering Callum Thomas’ free‑kick.

Ammanford’s numerical advantage lasted only 15 minutes. Gavin Jones received a red card shortly before the break for kicking out at an opponent.

Town struck almost immediately afterwards. Owain Davies’ free‑kick deflected off Craig McDonnell and rolled into the bottom corner. The lead was doubled just two minutes after the restart when Thomas’ delivery was glanced on by Bell and straight past Evans.

The Stars continued to push forward, but a midfield marshalled by Adam Orme and Delaney held them back before Dan John combined neatly with Thomas before slotting home his 15th of the season.

McDonnell made amends for his earlier own goal by nodding in a cross from the right to give his side a consolation.

But the scoring wasn’t done. A second penalty was awarded to Wyn Thomas’ side when Dan John was brought down again. This time there was no reprieve, as Delaney hammered his effort straight down the middle to restore the three‑goal cushion.

The gloss was added in stoppage time when Fisher lashed the ball into the net.