England reached a Women’s World Cup semi-final for the first time on this day in 2015 after holding on to beat tournament hosts Canada 2-1 in Vancouver. Early goals from Jodie Taylor and Lucy Bronze set the Lionesses up for a historic win, but they were forced to dig deep after Christine Sinclair pulled one back for Canada just before half-time. It was the first time a senior England side – men or women – had reached the World Cup’s last four since 1990. The Lionesses had won a World Cup knockout game for the first time by defeating Norway 2-1 in the last-16 and followed it up against the Canadians in front of a crowd of 54,027 at BC Place. Taylor gave England an 11th-minute lead when she pounced on Canada skipper Lauren Sesselmann’s slip and raced on to drill a low angled finish into the bottom corner. The Lionesses extended their lead three minutes later. Fara Williams’ diagonal free-kick into the penalty area picked out Bronze and the full-back’s header bounced down over the line after hitting the crossbar. Canada lifted the home support by reducing the deficit three minutes before the interval when England goalkeeper Karen Bardsley failed to hold on to Ashley Lawrence’s cross and Sinclair turned home the rebound. Taylor was denied a second goal after the restart as her goal-bound curling effort forced a brilliant save from Canada goalkeeper Erin McLeod. England’s World Cup dream was halted in agonising fashion in their semi-final, as defender Laura Bassett’s stoppage-time own goal clinched a 2-1 win for Japan, who went on to lose 5-2 to the United States in the final. The Lionesses secured a third-place finish after beating fellow semi-final losers Germany 1-0 after extra-time thanks to Williams’ 108th-minute penalty. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

Artificial intelligence often induces fear, awe or some panicked combination of both for its impressive ability to generate unique human-like text in seconds. But its implications for cheating in the classroom — and its sometimes comically wrong answers to basic questions — have left some in academia discouraging its use in school or outright banning AI tools like ChatGPT.

Minnesota Timberwolves All-Star guard Anthony Edwards has been fined $50,000 by the NBA for a postgame outburst following the team’s ouster from the playoffs in Denver

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Formula 1 returns to one of its most famous races - the Monaco Grand Prix - after the unfortunate cancellation of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, with a crucial qualifying session to be held this afternoon. F1 was forced to cancel the Imola race weekend due to adverse weather and flooding in the region, with the event at this stage unlikely to be rescheduled amid the congested 2023 calendar. Yet teams and drivers will now turn their attention to the tight twists and turns of the world-renowned Circuit de Monaco for the next round of the season. PREVIEW: Monaco Grand Prix offers best chance yet of end to Red Bull supremacy Red Bull’s Sergio Perez won last year’s race in wet conditions, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in second and Max Verstappen third. Hometown favourite Charles Leclerc has never been on the podium at his home race, while Mercedes will be eyeing improvements as they introduce upgrades to Lewis Hamilton’s and George Russell’s cars. Carlos Sainz was quickest in first practice on Friday with Max Verstappen top of the timesheets in FP2. Follow F1 qualifying live with The Independent - FP3 is at 11:30am before qualifying at 3pm (BST) Read More Monaco Grand Prix offers best chance yet of end to Red Bull supremacy Lewis Hamilton has shut the door on Ferrari – will he come to regret it? Lewis Hamilton hoped for more from Mercedes updates in Monaco

Four Armenian separatist fighters were killed Wednesday in the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region by Azerbaijani fire, rebels said, as Baku and Yerevan held peace talks...

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