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A petition to force Nike to make the kit of England goalkeeper Mary Earps available for public purchase during the Women’s World Cup has reached almost 35,000 signatures. England’s home and away replica kits are available for fans to buy but the Lionesses goalkeeper jerseys have not been put up for sale by clothing giant Nike – the team’s kit supplier. This is despite Earps being a genuine superstar of world football and arguably the best goalkeeper in the world – having been the Lionesses’s shot-stopper when they won the Euros last summer and being named Fifa’s Best Women’s Goalkeeper for 2022. The 30-year-old has been instrumental in England reaching the quarter-finals of the ongoing World Cup, making a number of crucial saves during both the 120 minutes of normal play and the penalty shootout in the nervy last-16 win over Nigeria on Monday. In fact, in the four games played by Sarina Wiegman’s side in the tournament so far, she has conceded just one goal – a consolation effort in the 6-1 group-stage thumping on China. England men’s goalkeeper Jordan Pickford’s shirt was available to buy during last year’s men’s World Cup, and Earps’s shirt for club side Manchester United sold well this past season, leading 16-year-old Emmy Somauroo from Northamptonshire to set up a petition demanding Nike produce a replica of the Lioness’s No 1 jersey. The petition on change.org, which has now reached more than 34,000 signatures, expresses the frustration at Nike’s decision: “We need to unite, and demand this decision is overturned. “We need to show togetherness and support Mary and ask Nike to rethink their decision. Let’s make them see just how important our female goalkeepers are. How respected they are and how many young girls aspire to join them in the future. “Any type of exclusion is unacceptable in this day and age and we need to show we will not stand for it. Mary and all female goalkeepers, we love and respect you. You are inspirational and we are behind you.” ITV Anglia also spoke to another young woman supporting the cause, 17-year-old Millie Winslett, from Clacton in Essex, who has written to the sportswear giant to ask the company to think again. “I heard that Nike had completely refused to produce the shirt,” she said. “And I thought I know that I’d like it. My sister would like it. And I was thinking, surely something can be done about it. They can’t just outright refuse to do it.” The letter stated that “every child deserves the right to feel represented by their favourite player, a player that resembles them.” She goes on to say that “you are a multi-billion pound company, even if you only sold one shirt, it would allow for one little girl to feel seen, and that is 100% worth it. We are meant to be moving forwards, not backwards.” Earps was initially alerted to the situation when England captain Millie Bright told her she wanted to buy her kit for her niece, only to find it wasn’t available for purchase. “I can’t really sugar-coat this in any way, so I am not going to try,” Earps told reporters ahead of England’s opening World Cup game against Haiti. “It is hugely disappointing and very hurtful. “My shirt on the Manchester United website was sold out last season. It was the third-best-selling shirt, so who says it is not selling?” “It is the young kids I am most concerned about. They are going to say, ‘Mum, Dad, can I have a Mary Earps shirt?’ and they say, ‘I can’t, but I can get you an Alessia Russo 23 or a Rachel Daly 9.’ “What you are saying is that goalkeeping isn’t important, but you can be a striker if you want.” Popstar Mel B has also since waded into the row, calling Nike’s decision not to stock the shirt “disgusting”. Read More Mel B supports Mary Earps over ‘disgusting’ World Cup kit controversy Mary Earps is an England superstar – even if fans can’t buy her shirt England goalkeeper Mary Earps hits out at Nike for refusing to sell her shirt Reaction as England reach World Cup quarter-finals – Monday’s sporting social Mary Earps: The England goalkeeper and world’s best in profile Mary Earps insists fearless England ready to avoid World Cup banana skin

Prolonging matches to tackle time-wasting is “changing the game we fell in love with”, the Professional Footballers’ Association chief executive Maheta Molango has said. Referees in competitions around the world have been instructed this season to more accurately measure time lost to stoppages such as substitutions, goal celebrations, VAR checks and injuries, after the approach was first adopted at last year’s World Cup in Qatar. It has already led to 13 minutes of time being added to the second half of Sunday’s Community Shield between Manchester City and Arsenal, and has sparked criticism from City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne and Manchester United defender Raphael Varane who say the move, combined with an already congested calendar, is pushing players to breaking point. PFA boss Molango says the focus should be on sanctioning individual players and teams who waste time, and told BBC Radio 5 Live: “This is not basketball, this is football. There’s probably a reason why the game was 90 minutes and not 60, and what we’re trying to do here is change the football that we all fell in love with. That’s not, in my opinion, what the fans want to see. “We all agree we need to deal with time-wasting. Whether the solution is to add more minutes to the game, I’m not sure. I think there are other ways to deal with that. The referee has the power to sanction the people who waste time. “If you look at the game on Sunday, these are two teams that do not waste time. There was no time-wasting whatsoever yet in the second half you end up with eight minutes added with two teams who do not waste time. “So you’re thinking when you see teams who use a different type of tactics, how long will the game be?” Molango says many players have echoed Varane’s concerns over the new approach and player workload generally when he has met with them over the summer. He says football must wake up and address the problems with the calendar, which appear set to get worse with UEFA’s club competitions expanding in the 2024-25 season. That campaign will also end with FIFA’s new 32-team Club World Cup in the United States. “This year’s Champions League final is a good example of how saturated the calendar is,” Molango added. “Watching the game as a fan it’s sad to see Kevin De Bruyne not able to finish the first half or to hear after the game Rodri say that they had cramps after 60 minutes. That’s just not what you want to see. What you want to see is players being able to show their best version. Even for those who just see this as a commercial venture, ultimately they are killing the product. Ultimately it will affect the game and viewership. Maheta Molango on football's crowded calendar “Those type of situations need to be a wake-up call to say you’re just not heading in the right direction and we need to do something about that if we don’t want to kill the product. “I’m using the word ‘product’ on purpose because even for those who just see this as a commercial venture, ultimately they are killing the product. Ultimately it will affect the game and viewership.” It has been reported that broadcasters are in talks with the football authorities over the new approach to added time amid concerns it will affect scheduling.

Global demand for Chinese goods has fallen as the cost of living and rising interest rates bite.

The parody song-turned-viral sensation ‘Planet of the Bass’ by the comedian Kyle Gordon is finally being released in full and fans are excited. Gordon’s track went viral after a 50-second snippet of the song in a TikTok caught people’s attention thanks to its catchy and hilarious Eurodance influence. The parody track took its inspiration from the 90s style of pop music by acts such as La Bouche and Aqua and has been viewed over 7.2 million times on TikTok. Now, fans of the TikTok video will be pleased to know they are being treated to a full-length version of the song, due to be released on Tuesday 15 August. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter The comedian made the announcement in an X post, writing: “Full song make a release next week - Aug 15!” Alongside the tweet, Gordon also shared a new video for the track that features a different female vocalist from the original viral video, replacing the person playing Ms. Biljana Electronica with the TikToker Sabrina Brier. Ahead of the release of the full track, people were obsessed with Gordon’s commitment to the Eurodance bit. One fan wrote: “A different person in every video like he truly understands the essence of Eurodance I’m tearing up.” Another said” “He’s actually doing the bit of having a different girl in each video he posts just like the 90s Eurodance videos he's parodying, this rules.” Someone else argued: “Original girl is still best but this is a wise choice.” A pre-save link for the song on Spotify, Apple, YouTube, Deezer and Amazon is available here. 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.

Chinese developer Country Garden Holding Co.’s stock and bonds plunged as noteholders said they haven’t received coupon payments

Italy’s right-wing government spooked markets with an unexpected tax on banks’ windfall profits, sending the country’s leading lenders

The won was the worst affected Asian currency amid last week’s bond market turmoil and some analysts expect

The “orderly” pullback in US stocks last week has reduced the risk of a chaotic selloff and set

The identity of the woman behind the ‘not real’ plane rant that delayed a flight for hours has been officially revealed. The bizarre incident unfolded on 2 July when a female passenger onboard an American Airlines flight was filmed freaking out over another passenger that was seated close to her. In the subsequent viral video, the woman, who had left her seat and walked towards the front of the plane, turned back and pointed to the passenger, shouting, “that mother f**ker back there is not real”. An investigation among people online began as they tried to confirm the identity of the woman, with two names flying around. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Now, it has been revealed that one of the names was correct, as the woman has been identified as Tiffany Gomas, a marketing executive from Texas. It is believed the incident started when Gomas had an argument with relatives she was travelling with over accusations they stole her AirPods headphones. According to The New York Post, which viewed documents linked to the incident, the 38-year-old refused to leave the plane despite suggesting in her rant that she wanted to get off. “The female then started claiming the aircraft was not safe and did not want the aircraft to leave due to her believing it would not make it to its destination,” the 2 July complaint read. “Due to the statements the flight attendants felt the aircraft needed to be rescreened. [The airline manager] explained that the passenger was denied boarding and they wanted her escorted to the public side.” All of the passengers on the plane were forced to get off the aircraft and be rescreened through security. The plane also underwent another screen. Gomas attempted to reboard the plane but was issued with a “verbal criminal trespass notice” and was escorted away to the public side of the airport. Despite this, she tried multiple times to come back through security to reach the boarding area. Police eventually located Gomas waiting for an Uber outside the terminal. She refused to sign a criminal trespass notice, refused to show police her ID and was never formally arrested. 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.

By Nell Mackenzie LONDON Bullish gasoline positions have hit their highest since the day Russia invaded Ukraine and

The teenage cousin of the gunman responsible for the 2022 Uvalde, Texas, school shooting was arrested Monday on suspicion of threatening to "do the same thing" to a school, according to court documents obtained by CNN.

European stocks fell after Italy surprised investors with a new tax on bank profits, sending lenders’ shares plunging.