• Head coach also insisted he is not ‘weak’ amid row

• Egyptian left out of squad for game at Inter

Arne Slot has cast further doubt on Mohamed Salah’s future at Liverpool by admitting he has “no clue” whether the forward has played his last game for the club. The Liverpool head coach also insisted his politeness should not be mistaken for weakness after leaving Salah out of the Champions League game against Inter on Tuesday.

Slot gave his first public reaction on Monday to Salah’s incendiary interview at Leeds when previewing Liverpool’s match at San Siro. He denied Salah’s claims that their relationship had broken down and said only the Egypt international knows who supposedly threw him under a bus and wants him out of the club.

• Draw also features League One Exeter at Manchester City

• Chelsea will travel to STōK Cae Ras to face Wrexham

Non-league club Macclesfield will host the FA Cup holders, Crystal Palace, in the third round of the tournament this season, in one of the standout ties of the draw.

Macclesfield, who are 14th in National League North, will face high-flying Palace, fourth in the Premier League, in a classic David and Goliath pairing when the fixtures are played on the weekend of 10-11 January 2026.

Norfolk county council wants to demolish a ‘beloved’ 1950s bus shelter in Sheringham, but campaigners are staging a 24/7 sit-in

It was about 4am on Monday, under the cover of darkness, when protesters camping at their town’s 1950s bus shelter were woken by the arrival of bailiffs. Days earlier, the council had served an eviction notice to those fighting to save the shelter, claiming their occupation was illegal.

This marked the latest escalation after a week-long sit-in at the Sheringham bus shelter on Station Approach near the heritage railway station, after the council announced its decision to demolish and replace the site due to accessibility and safety concerns.

Brendon McCullum’s regime may be unravelling but there is rarely any suggestion of what to do next and how the team can be improved

Overprepared. Overconfident. Overblown. Over there. And now just over . We know how this goes from here, don’t we? We know this cycle.

The days since England’s defeat in Brisbane have boiled down to a real-time competition to become the hate-click boss, to describe in the most sensual, eviscerating detail the depth of England’s badness, not just at cricket, but at the molecular, existential level.

Former UK leader loses out on key role in transitional authority after objections from Arab and Muslim nations

Tony Blair will not occupy a key position on Donald Trump’s Gaza “peace council” after Arab and Muslim nations were reported to have objected to the involvement of the former UK prime minister.

According to the Financial Times (FT), Blair has been quietly dropped from consideration for Trump’s “board of peace”, which Trump has said he would chair himself.

Hopes rise of a breakthrough in using £78bn of frozen Russian assets to bankroll Kyiv

European leaders rallied behind Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday night amid hopes they might finally achieve a breakthrough to allow Ukraine access to billions of pounds of frozen Russian assets.

Despite vociferous support for the Ukrainian president, who has come under heavy pressure from Donald Trump to cede territory in order to bring the war to a speedy end, there was still no agreement on the thorny question of turning immobilised assets into a loan for Kyiv.

Study of 11,000 births in New Hampshire shows residents’ reproductive outcomes near contaminated sites

Drinking water contaminated with Pfas chemicals probably increases the risk of infant mortality and other harm to newborns, a new peer-reviewed study of 11,000 births in New Hampshire finds.

The first-of-its-kind University of Arizona research found drinking well water down gradient from a Pfas-contaminated site was tied to an increase in infant mortality of 191%, pre-term birth of 20%, and low-weight birth of 43%.

Punchdrunk Enrichment Stores, London
This gentle and generous piece of immersive theatre combines captivating storytelling with moments of wonder

We’re on our way to see Fireside Tales and my five-year-old son, Benji, is full of questions. Will the fire be real? Where will we sit? Luckily, it doesn’t take long for Benji’s anxiety to settle. Punchdrunk Enrichment’s new show has, like its predecessors, been created with schools, communities and children in mind. It’s a gentle and generous piece of immersive theatre – one that often, quite literally, takes the children by their hands and invites them to become part of the story.

To start off, we’re invited to browse the “bookstore”, crammed full of intriguing trinkets to touch and play with. Anxiety quelled and curiosity piqued, it’s time to enter the Punchdrunk Enrichment store where the show proper begins. And what a store it is, designed with immaculate attention to detail by Mydd Pharo. The shelves spill over with quirky objects; clusters of feathers, boxes of globes, bundles of photos, twinkling lava lamps and dusty typewriters.

Labour leader remains bullish about defeating any challenge, but jostling for top job among rivals and their supporters continues

With Keir Starmer’s poll ratings getting worse and the Labour party alarmed by the prospect of wipeout at next May’s local elections, there is much speculation at Westminster about whether he can last the course.

The prime minister is bullish about the prospect of standing aside for another candidate, saying he has defied his detractors before and would do so again. But with many on his own side fearing that he doesn’t have what it takes to turn things around, he may not have the chance.