The new Women’s Super League season gets under way with the opening round of fixtures taking place on Sunday. Here, the PA news agency looks at some of the talking points heading into the action. Champions chase more glory After securing their fourth WSL title in a row last season – and third successive FA Cup – the simple question regarding Chelsea ahead of 2023-24 is can they keep their dominance up? While skipper Magda Eriksson and Pernille Harder were notable departures over the summer, there have been eye-catching signings such as Catarina Macario and Ashley Lawrence joining a Blues squad featuring stars like Sam Kerr, Millie Bright and Lauren James, who shone so brightly at times for England at the World Cup. With Fran Kirby back in the fold after injury as well, Emma Hayes’ side appear as primed as ever to hunt down further success. Another big United push? Manchester United had a landmark campaign last term, proving Chelsea’s closest rivals in the title race before ending up two points behind in second, as well as runners-up to them in the FA Cup – the best they have fared in both. It will be fascinating to see how the Red Devils get on in their attempts to build upon that in the WSL this season, particularly should they get through their qualifier with Paris St Germain to join Chelsea in the Champions League group stage. Either way, they will be without England striker Alessia Russo after she opted to leave and sign for Arsenal – but goalkeeper Mary Earps, her fellow Lioness, has been retained. Attacking options added to Marc Skinner’s squad include Geyse, Melvine Malard and World Cup Golden Boot winner Hinata Miyazawa. Arsenal and City in the mix? Two teams who definitely will not have Champions League football to contend with this term are Jonas Eidevall’s Arsenal, who crashed out in the first qualifying round earlier this month after coming third in the 2022-23 WSL, and Gareth Taylor’s Manchester City, fourth last season. That could be a significant factor as both aim to be firm contenders for the league title this time around. As well as Russo added to their ranks, plus the likes of Australia midfielder Kyra Cooney-Cross, Arsenal have Beth Mead returning from an ACL injury, with Vivianne Miedema and Leah Williamson to follow. City have the huge threat of Khadija Shaw in their attack, while the signing of former Arsenal player Jill Roord has boosted their midfield. Vibrant Villa Outside the aforementioned ‘big four’, a team that has been drawing considerable attention is Aston Villa, last term’s fifth-placed finishers who opened their campaign by beating City and closed it with victory at Arsenal. England international Rachel Daly, scorer of 22 goals in as many WSL games last season to pip Shaw to the Golden Boot, is the leading light of the team, and Ebony Salmon, Lucy Parker and goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar are among the summer additions as the midlands outfit, managed by Carla Ward, look to make even more of a splash in 2023-24. They take on United at Villa Park in the first kick-off of Sunday’s curtain-raising games. Robins return Bristol City are back in the top flight after a two-season absence having claimed the Championship title under Lauren Smith. The bid to preserve their status could see them battle with Leicester – their opponents at Ashton Gate on Sunday – and Brighton, who finished 10th and 11th respectively last term, both five points clear of relegated Reading. The Foxes stayed up after bringing in Willie Kirk last November, while Melissa Phillips took charge at Brighton in April, following the departures of Hope Powell and then Jens Scheuer in a troubled campaign for the Seagulls. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

President Joe Biden often explains his simple theory of winning elections with his dad's fabled kitchen table wisdom: "Don't compare me to the Almighty, compare me to the alternative."

The Moon is a constant in the night sky, but all is not actually as it seems. It turns out that scientists have discovered the Moon is drifting away from Earth, and it’s changing everything we thought we knew about our planet’s relationship with its only natural satellite. It’s also having a very real impact on the length of days on our planet – albeit at an incredibly slow rate. By moving away from Earth over the course of millions of years, the Moon is simultaneously making the length of the average day longer. A study by a team at the University of Wisconsin-Madison focused on rock from a formation aged at 90 million years. By doing so, they were able to analyse the Earth’s interactions with the Moon 1.4 billion years ago. It turns out that the Moon is moving away from Earth at us at 3.82 centimetres a year. That means that, eventually, it’ll result in Earth days lasting 25 hours in 200 million years time. Stephen Meyers, who is a professor of geoscience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said: “As the moon moves away, the Earth is like a spinning figure skater who slows down as they stretch their arms out.” He added: “One of our ambitions was to use astrochronology to tell time in the most distant past, to develop very ancient geological time scales. “We want to be able to study rocks that are billions of years old in a way that is comparable to how we study modern geologic processes.” It’s not the only story that changes our understanding of the Moon recently. Scientists have also just uncovered billions of years’ worth of secrets buried beneath the surface of the moon – all thanks to China’s space programme, which has uncovered hidden structures which can help us start to piece together the Moon’s past. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings

The Chicago Bears released quarterback P

(Reuters) -Ukraine's military said on Friday that its troops have captured a village near Bakhmut, the eastern city that fell

By Paul Sandle and Kate Holton LONDON The long-running battle between Microsoft and Britain over the Activision Blizzard

Michael O’Neill has told his young Northern Ireland players to embrace the challenge of taking on Denmark in Copenhagen on Friday night. O’Neill said this Euro 2024 qualifier was not only the hardest fixture on paper but the “hardest fixture full stop” as Northern Ireland travel to take on the top seeds in Group H at the always noisy Parken Stadium. Jamal Lewis has been added to an already lengthy injury list which has robbed O’Neill of half a dozen of his most experienced players, and with Shane Ferguson also out there is a shortage of left-sided players. O’Neill will try to get as much experience as he can into his starting 11, but there will be no option but to rely on younger players too, with Conor Bradley and Shea Charles among the contenders to start. “This is a good game for us,” O’Neill said. “It’s a young squad, we’ve got seven under-21 players with us. We’ll rely heavily on our experienced players as well. It’s a game we can only gain from really. “Obviously we were disappointed with the home game against Finland (a 1-0 defeat in March), we felt we deserved more than we got, so we’ve got to try and make up points somewhere along the line. This is a hard place to play, but we’ll go with the intention of trying to find something from the game.” The 38,000-seater Parken Stadium can become an intimidating place for visiting teams, but while it might be unlike anything Northern Ireland’s younger players have experienced before, O’Neill does not want them to shy away. The thing I've enjoyed in working with the younger players is I see their attitude to the game, it's very positive, I don't think they'll have a fear Michael O'Neill “I think they should embrace it really more than anything else,” he said. “The message will be go out and enjoy playing in a stadium like this… “The thing I’ve enjoyed in working with the younger players is I see their attitude to the game, it’s very positive, I don’t think they’ll have a fear. “There’s a lot of self-belief and abilities in the likes of Shea Charles, Isaac Price, Conor Bradley, Trai Hume, they play in games where they’ve a lot of expectancy where they’re currently playing their football. “I think we have to have that mindset that we’ve got everything to gain from Friday night and not fear the atmosphere but look forward to it.” One key challenge for Northern Ireland will be limiting Manchester United midfielder Christian Eriksen’s ability to dictate play from the centre of pitch. “We understand we are dealing with a top level player here,” O’Neill said. “It’s brilliant seeing him back playing international football. “The days of man marking players is more difficult now but as a team we have made the midfield players in particular very aware of the Danish midfield and Christian Eriksen is the major player in that midfield. He is a hugely experienced player at international level. “I think to deal with players at that level it’s more about what we do as a collective as opposed to possibly that designated player to deal with that situation.” Both sides come into the game nursing disappointments from the last round of fixtures in March. Denmark suffered a shock defeat to Kazakhstan, blowing a 2-0 lead as their unfancied hosts scored three in the last 20 minutes, while O’Neill’s first game back in charge at Windsor Park ended in that loss to Finland. O’Neill insisted he was not interested in making any sort of statement by claiming a big scalp on Friday, but his mind is on making up for what he sees as lost points. “It would give us six points and it would make up for the disappointment of Finland,” he said. “I don’t think it’s about sending out a statement. I think this group could be very tight. Results have demonstrated that. “If you can take anything off the number one seed in the group it is a massive achievement.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Republic boss Stephen Kenny hopes to exorcise ghost of Cristiano Ronaldo Ashes rivals unite in honour of Nottingham victims on opening day of series Ben Stokes urges his England players to become a part of Ashes folklore

Dutch far-right populist Geert Wilders jumped to first place in the latest survey ahead of elections on Wednesday,

PacWest Bancorp has struck a deal to sell its real-estate lending arm to Roc360 for an undisclosed price,

There’s oil and water, and then there’s writers and organization…or so we thought. To our own surprise, us R29 Shopping writers are quite the organized bunch — and it’s all thanks to some top-notch, undeniably cute organization products we once upon a time added to our carts.

The neat two-story rows of white containers stretch right up to the towering cranes of the vast construction

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has wrapped up a trip to China, after seeking economic aid and voicing support for Beijing's repressive policies toward its Muslim minorities