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The moment I knew: I was devising a plan to set up Martha with my friend – and realised I’d fallen for her myself

by Steve Sherwood on July 11, 2026 at 8:00 pm

After meeting in then-Zaire in the 1980s, Steve Sherwood and Martha Meares became good friends. But when she planned to leave for England, he decided he wanted something more

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It was 1986, I was 26, had been travelling for two years, and was making my way through Africa. I was camping in the grounds of a run-down hotel, the only camp site in Kisangani, a city in what was then known as Zaire. On my first day in town I asked when the next River Congo ferry would leave. Tomorrow, they said.

Overland trucks would arrive and spend two to three days in town. A truck travelling from Kenya to the UK came, and its passengers put their stools in a circle to eat dinner. I asked to sit with them. Martha from Sydney sat beside me on the last spare stool. We spent most of that night chatting and laughing and got on really well.

South Africa prove too strong for enterprising Scotland in Nations Championship

by Michael Aylwin on July 11, 2026 at 6:10 pm

South Africa 42-28 Scotland
Scots run in four tries to earn bonus point

A breathless match, all the more so given the thin air of Pretoria, but the upshot is, for all Scotland’s wit and energy, South Africa march on with another full house of points. The visitors were brilliant in scoring their four tries, their pace and skill regularly making mugs of their hosts, but power remains the thing the Springboks do better than anyone. At this altitude, it is very hard to stop.

They were unanswerable in the middle of each half, scoring five of their six tries around then, but Scotland scored two apiece in the second and fourth quarters. They were within sight of a losing bonus point with 10 minutes to go. They even looked as if they might score again. But Jesse Kriel’s late score meant they had to settle for one.

Linda Noskova fends off Muchova fightback to win first grand slam title at Wimbledon

by Tumaini Carayol at Wimbledon on July 11, 2026 at 6:09 pm

Ninth seed beats fellow Czech 6-2, 5-7, 6-3
Muchova falls short in second major final

As one of her worst nightmares on a tennis court appeared to be unfolding before her disbelieving eyes, Linda Noskova walked solemnly to her chair with both index fingers plugged into her ears. She was attempting to block out the roars of a booming Centre Court crowd, which had erupted in jubilation at her failure to convert no fewer than five championship points. But the 21-year-old knew deep down that what she truly needed to block out were her own fatalistic thoughts.

Noskova’s hopes of capturing her first Wimbledon title were in freefall by that point. She had lost five consecutive games, her easy 6-2, 5-2 lead crumbling to dust as she found herself in an unwanted final set. Having betrayed all of her tension and fears to her bloodthirsty compatriot, victory seemed much further away than the scoreline suggested.

Spain’s Mikel Merino enjoys happy knack of scoring late winners

by Sid Lowe in Dallas on July 11, 2026 at 5:33 pm

Midfielder has risen from the bench to come up with the decisive goal in past two games – Spain’s first World Cup knockout victories since they won the tournament in 2010

“I look behind me and I see Mikel Merino and I think: ‘I’m calm as can be,’” Luis de la Fuente said when at last the heart rates had returned to normal. Everyone else’s heart rates, anyway. In those moments when time is running out and the tension is running high, there’s something about Spain’s coach. And there’s certainly something about the midfielder.

On the afternoon before Spain faced Belgium in their quarter-final, De la Fuente had an attack of the giggles as he recalled how when he was a kid only three television events gathered his family around the screen: the national team, Eurovision and the gloriously silly, inexplicably bizarre gameshow Un, dos, tres (whose UK version was 3-2-1).

Ann Widdecombe may have been killed 24 hours before her body was found

by Geraldine McKelvie on July 11, 2026 at 5:33 pm

Police working on assumption ex-politician, found dead at her Devon home on Thursday, was attacked on Wednesday afternoon

Ann Widdecombe: obituary

Ann Widdecombe may have been dead at her home for nearly 24 hours before her body was discovered, police believe.

In an update on Saturday afternoon, officers said they were working on the assumption that the 78-year-old former politician was attacked at about 12.30pm on Wednesday.

Venezuela quake death toll passes 4,300 as scale of recovery effort looms large

by Staff and agencies on July 11, 2026 at 5:23 pm

Nearly 17,000 injured and thousands more listed as missing amid calls by president Delcy Rodríguez and UN for financial help

The death toll in Venezuela’s devastating twin earthquakes has passed 4,300, the government said on Saturday.

At least 4,333 people were killed and 16,740 injured in the back-to-back quakes on 24 June that flattened entire districts in the coastal state of La Guaira, the Venezuelan parliament chief, Jorge Rodríguez, wrote on Telegram. Thousands more people are listed as missing.

Heatwave forces Tour de France organisers to shorten Sunday’s stage nine

by Jeremy Whittle in Bergerac on July 11, 2026 at 4:09 pm

Stage eight: Tadej Pogacar untroubled in overall lead
Merlier produces superb sprint win for second day

Sunday’s ninth stage of the Tour de France has been shortened by 30km due to a red heatwave alert in the Corrèze département of central France. The stage from Malemort to Ussel will now be raced over 155.5km instead of the scheduled 185.5.

In a statement the Tour said: “This decision aims to ensure that the race can take place under conditions compatible with the red heatwave alert.”

Elon Musk’s family foundation took Tommy Robinson to Russia, says Musk’s father

by Ben Quinn Political correspondent on July 11, 2026 at 4:04 pm

Errol Musk says far-right activist is ‘a fine young man’ and held meetings with Russian business figures

Elon Musk’s family foundation took Tommy Robinson to Russia, according to the billionaire X owner’s father, who was with the British far-right activist in Moscow as he encouraged anti-migration protests in Britain.

Robinson – whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – appeared last month in Moscow, from where he issued calls for supporters to take to the streets after a knife attack in Belfast. He shared video of himself in a luxury Moscow hotel with the older Musk, whose son has been a vocal supporter of Robinson.

Superior Sinner provides true measure of Zverev’s step up in Wimbledon final

by Tumaini Carayol at Wimbledon on July 11, 2026 at 3:46 pm

German’s long-awaited first slam title came in Paris after his rival wilted in the heat but was his triumph a turning point or a blip?

For a brief moment on the first day of Wimbledon, there was reason to believe that Jannik Sinner was still processing his collapse at Roland Garros. Any loss in Paris would have been significant, considering the certainty with which he had dominated the clay court season beforehand, but it was the manner of his defeat that stung.

Sinner, it cannot be repeated enough, had been leading the innocuous Juan Manuel Cerundolo by two sets to love and 5-1 in set three when he crumbled physically. No matter how Sinner tried to emphasise his satisfaction at his achievements in the entire clay court swing, this was an excruciating loss.

Pollock’s hat-trick powers England’s 11-try Nations Championship mauling of 14-man Fiji

by Robert Kitson at Hill Dickinson Stadium on July 11, 2026 at 3:30 pm

Fiji 8-73 England
Scrum-half Simione Kuruvoli sent off before break

To say England needed to shine in sub-tropical Liverpool is the understatement of this protracted season. Had they slipped to a sixth straight Test defeat it would probably have been the end of Steve Borthwick’s tenure as head coach. Instead a one-sided romp, their first win since February, has given the management a little respite as they prepare to head to Argentina for the last leg of their continent-hopping summer itinerary.

In all honesty, though, Fiji were so disjointed and ill-disciplined for lengthy periods that the game resembled something close to a training run. A litany of botched offloads, silly penalties and back-pedalling mauls had long since allowed England to cruise away over the horizon even before Simione Kuruvoli was sent off just before half-time with his side already 35-3 behind.