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Joe Hart, Chris Sutton and Adam Crafton are with Mark Chapman to look ahead to the Premier League season, can they cover all 20 clubs in this episode of the Monday Night Club? That depends on whether you count Chris Sutton’s predicted Premier League table.

They reflect on Manchester City’s performance in their Community Shield defeat to Arsenal, what it takes to defend a Premier League title, and whether Xabi Alonso can repeat Antonio Conte’s feat of taking Chelsea from a club that finished tenth to title winners in the following season.

Plus, Hull City assistant head coach Dean Holden discusses their preparations for a return to the top flight.

01:39 – Takeaways from Manchester City’s Community Shield defeat
17:28 – What is so difficult about defending a Premier League title?
21:47 – Can Chelsea challenge for the title?
32:00 – Hull City assistant Dean Holden
38:50 – Coventry and Ipswich’s survival hopes
43:03 – Will Aston Villa start the season with two ‘starting’ goalkeepers?
45:13 – Which club has the most potential to under deliver this season?

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Espionage, sabotage, cyberattacks, and covert operations are a ‘constant reality’, says Germany’s interior minister.

Germany is facing daily “hybrid warfare” attacks from abroad, an official has said, days after an explosive-laden drone was discovered at Leipzig/Halle Airport.

Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt told the local newspaper Bild am Sonntag on Sunday that foreign powers wanted to subdue Germany politically and socially by stirring up fear.

“We’re not at war, but we are the daily target of hybrid warfare,” Dobrindt said.

“Espionage, sabotage, cyberattacks, or covert operations by foreign powers aimed at destabilising Germany or inflicting direct harm are a constant reality.”

He did not identify any countries behind the alleged attacks.

The minister’s comments come after a drone loaded ‌with explosives was discovered at the Leipzig/Halle Airport in eastern Germany on Tuesday.

Some German lawmakers pointed the finger at Russia, which has been at war with Ukraine since its full-scale invasion of the country in 2022.

The Russian embassy in Berlin on Friday dismissed the Leipzig event as a “fabricated provocation”, saying it was another example of unsubstantiated accusations against Moscow.

Germany plans to boost anti-drone capacity

Germany is planning to strengthen its ability to counter drones amid concerns over the threat, Bild reported, citing government sources.

The newspaper said Dobrindt’s ministry wanted to double the federal government’s team of anti-drone experts from 150 to 300 and increase its network of related bases from four to eight.

Germany’s armed forces said on Saturday that two drones were spotted late on Thursday over a German military base site in Mechernich, in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Separately, a drone exploded on Saturday in Bulgaria near the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline.

Bulgaria’s defence ministry said there was no reason to suspect the incident was intentional. Ukraine said it was working with Bulgarian authorities to clarify the circumstances.

The drone incidents across Europe have renewed concerns that Russia’s war in Ukraine could increasingly affect neighbouring NATO states.

NATO and European Union officials have blamed Russia for previous drone sightings. Russia has rejected all the allegations.

The actress opened up about the horrific abuse she suffers on a daily basis from cruel trolls.

Coronation Street star Cherylee Houston has opened up about the horrific abuse she receives daily.

The actress has played Izzy Armstrong in the ITV soap since 2010, and elsewhere plays Maz in BBC Radio 4 series Tinsel Girl.

During an appearance on Good Morning Britain on Monday, August 3, Cherylee opened up about her life away from the spotlight and the abuse she receives daily.

Cherylee was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome when she was 23, and now uses a wheelchair.

According to the NHS, the condition can affect people in different ways, and for some, it can be disabling.

Opening up about her experience, Cherylee told GMB hosts Kate Garraway and Richard Madeley: “A couple of times I’ve been on television and my chair hasn’t been on view, I’ve been bullied for that. People are very easily ready to call out…”

She went on to say that trolls tell her she is “making it up”, and faces the abuse “on a daily basis”.

Cherylee added: “My friend and I were wheeling down the street, and a man was shouting out about how much benefits we got and stuff, and how we make it up. It happens all the time.”

Richard shared: “I have to say, anyone that sees your chair on screen and then puts their fingers on a keyboard to say you’re pretending or you’re seeking sympathy or something, I think they’re a bit thick.”

Cherylee replied: “Yes and no, because I think some of it is about our representation and an understanding.”

She continued: “There’s so much lack of understanding because we’re 1 in 5, but we’re not on screen, our stories aren’t told.”

Cherylee received an MBE for services in the disabled community in 2022, after raising awareness, working to remove barriers for disabled people, and speaking about welfare cuts in Parliament.

She was also involved in a Coronation Street storyline that shone a light on the difficulties disabled people experienced during the pandemic, and the pressures of working remotely while shielding, in scenes filmed in her home.

She said at the time: “I have been unbelievably fortunate that my employers enabled me to continue shielding after the official shielding guidance ended in March. I’ve been so supported by ITV, but I’m aware that many of my disabled peers who were previously shielding haven’t had that safety and have been forced to make the decision to earn money to survive whilst facing the real fear of death or serious illness through Covid.”

Coronation Street Producer Iain MacLeod added: “We had to think outside the box in order to tell this story, devising new protocols and ways of scripting scenes that would allow Cherylee to film the scenes herself in her home. It certainly helped that her partner, Toby, is a fabulous actor!

“Despite all the technical challenges we had to overcome, this was a story that needed telling, and I hope it will resonate with millions of people who have found themselves in a similar position to Izzy, and perhaps open the eyes of millions of others who had little awareness of the issues facing disabled people during COVID.”

Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV1 and ITVX.

Day nine highlights:

A huge 44 gold medals to be won across two sessions of athletics, boxing, track cycling and judo.

All 14 of the men’s and women’s boxing finals take place at the SEC Centre – with seven English fighters seeking gold medals.

The men’s mile is the highlight of the athletics schedule, with Scotland’s world record holder Josh Kerr favourite to take the gold

Plus, 2018 champions England face New Zealand in the netball semi-finals.

Schedule (all times BST and subject to change):

08:30-14:00 – bowls and Para-bowls

09:00-11:00 – netball – England v New Zealand semi-final

10:00-13:30 – track cycling and Para-track cycling

10:00-14:00 – athletics and Para-athletics – eight gold medals

11:00-14:00 – judo – last 16, quarter-finals and semi-finals

11:00-14:30 – boxing – seven gold medals

13:00-15:00 – netball – Australia v Jamaica semi-final

15:00-19:15 – track cycling and Para-track cycling – six gold medals including men’s sprint final

15:00-20:45 – bowls and Para-bowls – semi-finals

16:00-18:45 – judo – five gold and bronze medal contests

16:30-22:00 – boxing – seven gold medals

18:30-22:00 – athletics and Para-athletics – 11 gold medals including 4x100m relay finals from 20:15, men’s 800m final at 20:45, men’s mile at 20:55, mixed 4x400m relay final at 21:20 and the women’s mile at 21:45

The diplomatic spat is rooted in the ongoing dispute between China and the Philippines over sovereignty in the South China Sea.

The Philippines has lodged a diplomatic protest with China over what it called the “racist depiction” of Filipinos in a series of videos published by state-backed newspaper China Daily.

The videos, which depicted Filipinos as monkeys, went “beyond political debate” and resorted to “demeaning, dehumanizing, and racist depictions of Filipinos,” the Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Friday.

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Maria Theresa Lazaro raised the issue directly with China’s ambassador to the country, while the department also lodged a formal diplomatic protest condemning the videos.

Its embassy in Beijing separately published an open letter addressed to the editor of China Daily, flagging the outlet for “breach of editorial norms and principles”, and urging the publication to “uphold dignity, respect, and truth” in public discourse.

China Daily describes itself as China’s most-read English-language newspaper. It claims a combined audience of more than 470 million people. It has more than 110 million followers on Facebook, where the videos were shared.

The videos were published as part of a series marking the 10th anniversary of the 2016 South China Sea arbitral award, in which an international tribunal ruled overwhelmingly in favour of the Philippines and found that China’s sweeping claims in the South China Sea had no legal basis under international law.

Beijing has rejected the ruling and continues to assert sovereignty over most of the South China Sea, where tensions have remained high.

The dispute centres on features including the Spratly Islands and Scarborough Shoal, both of which are claimed by China and the Philippines.

The South China Sea is estimated to have 11 billion barrels of untapped oil and 190 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

The dispute has led to repeated confrontations between Chinese coastguard vessels and Philippine ships, including collisions and the use of water cannon that Manila says have endangered its personnel and fishermen.

The Philippines has received diplomatic backing from the United States and other allies including Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom, which have repeatedly called for respect for the 2016 arbitral ruling.

In a joint statement released this month, the countries reaffirmed their support for what they described as the tribunal’s “legally binding” and “definitive” findings and warned against “unilateral actions including by force or coercion that threaten peace and stability in the region”.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and China Daily had not publicly responded to the Philippine protest at the time of publication.

Shops reopened and public transport services partially resumed in Pakistan-administered Kashmir after weeks of deadly clashes between police and protesters, who demanded economic and governance reforms.

The outbreak caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus strain has reached 782 confirmed cases.

The number of confirmed cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)’s Ebola outbreak has surged to 782, with 178 deaths, marking one of the largest daily jumps so far as regional conflict, patient escapes, and limited contact tracing undermine containment efforts.

The Ministry of Public Health confirmed 72 new cases on Sunday over the previous 24 hours, a record single-day increase, with 29 additional deaths.

The Bundibugyo virus strain has a 22.8 percent death rate so far, with 40 patients recovering, officials said.

“We remain committed to supporting affected countries until transmission is stopped. We call on partners and donors to urgently mobilise resources to strengthen the response and save lives,” Jean Kaseya, director general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, said on Sunday.

The outbreak stems from the rare Bundibugyo strain, which has no approved vaccine or treatment, unlike the Zaire virus responsible for the DRC’s previous 16 Ebola outbreaks.

Contact tracing coverage has plummeted to 56.5 percent, a sharp decline from the 95% target, Health Ministry officials said.

Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, warned that “no one knows the true scale” of the outbreak due to dangerous gaps in surveillance and testing.

Eastern Ituri province remains the outbreak’s epicentre, harbouring nearly 95 percent of all confirmed cases. The virus has since breached into North Kivu and South Kivu provinces and spread across the border to Uganda.

Ituri’s humanitarian crisis exacerbates the medical emergency. Nearly one million residents have fled overlapping armed conflicts involving multiple groups, including the M23 rebel movement that controls Goma, the capital of North Kivu province. The area has endured decades of instability, with United Nations reports documenting massacres of more than 100 civilians in gold-rich Ituri villages as various factions vie for control of the region’s mineral wealth.

Thousands of artisanal miners routinely shuttle between clandestine mining sites scattered across the mineral-dense region, creating transmission hotspots that evade health monitoring. The outbreak is believed to have originated in the mining-intensive Mongbwalu Health Zone in Ituri province.

The World Health Organization announced it is ramping up diagnostic testing and contact surveillance operations. However, MSF reports a critical funding gap of $21.5m hampering response efforts.