• Plans afoot for global league with eight franchise teams
• But RFU insists anyone who signs up won’t be in Test side

Steve Borthwick’s ailing national side could be decimated by England players signing up to a breakaway global league, with the Rugby Football Union adopting a view that they would be sacrificing their Test careers if they did so.

Plans are afoot for a new league featuring eight franchise teams and about 200 players which would take matches around the world across major cities. Twenty players are said to have signed up in principle for the league, which is believed to be backed by US and Middle East money and due to begin in 2026.

Ruling coalition in crisis amid claims of racist remarks and speculation government may collapse

The violence that erupted on Amsterdam’s streets last week has triggered a political crisis in the Netherlands, with the ruling coalition in turmoil over alleged racist remarks made by government officials during a closed-door meeting to discuss the events.

Nora Achahbar, the Moroccan-born secretary for benefits from the centre-right New Social Contract (NSC) party, part of the ruling coalition, is expected to announce her resignation over allegedly inflammatory and racist remarks by colleagues about Dutch citizens from ethnically diverse backgrounds. Other NSC members are also considering resigning in protest, the Dutch state broadcaster NOS reports.

In this week’s newsletter: The much-loved bear’s revival as a refugee not just from Peru but from a more genteel age was a genius move. Can he survive in a culture of throwaway children’s films?

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Like an awful lot of people , I went to see Paddington in Peru this weekend and – anaemic reviews be damned! – I had a pretty good time. Paddington’s third outing is definitely a drop off from the first two (though those, especially the second , set an almost impossibly high bar). It missed the lightness of touch of director Paul King, who just has a writing credit this time around. The jokes weren’t quite as precise, the baddies not quite as memorable, and the plot – involving ancient Peruvian relics, magic bracelets and steamboat captains haunted by the failures of their ancestors – felt a little convoluted.

Still, it was preferable to the E-number waterboarding that watching most children’s films feels like. The film is bright-eyed, inventive, charitable – and is about something, gently probing at the idea of what constitutes “home” for people who have migrated. The franchise seems to be settling into a comfortable, family friendly middle-agedness – there will probably be at least another three of four instalments, and we’ll soon struggle to find much to say about them.

One popular brand boasts the supplement can ‘revive whole body health’. But can an aesthetically packaged powder actually achieve that?

Wellness influencers have a new obsession: bovine colostrum. Goop and Poosh (Kourtney Kardashian’s version of Goop) have covered it, and celebrities Sophia Richie and the Kid Laroi include it in their signature Erewhon smoothies .

But what is it? Colostrum is a form of milk that mammals produce in the days after they give birth. What does this mean for the body? According to one popular brand , their bovine colostrum supplement can “strengthen your skin, lung and gut barriers, rebuild your microbiome, and activate cellular health and performance to revive whole body health”.

Axel Scheffler says he hopes Wuschel auf der Erde will encourage more children to learn his first language

Axel Scheffler, the illustrator behind the international children’s bestseller The Gruffalo, has launched a book to help primary school pupils learn German.

Wuschel auf der Erde: A New Adventure in Learning German tells the story of a friendly alien called Wuschel arriving on Earth from a distant planet with a mission to learn German. Through Scheffler’s distinctive illustrations, children are introduced to their first German words, such as mouse (die Maus) and playground (der Spielplatz), in a fun and interactive way.

The Oscar-winning actor, writer, director, musician and star of Bad Santa, Armageddon and The Man Who Wasn’t There is ready to answer your questions

What is Billy Bob Thornton’s most iconic role? Some may say the taciturn barber in the Coen brothers’ The Man Who Wasn’t There, others might contend it’s the learning disabled killer in his early film Sling Blade. But we all know the truth: it’s the sex-addicted alcoholic Father Christmas in Bad Santa who is obsessed with the “three Bs” (look it up, this is a family publication).

Be that as it may, Thornton has had a stellar Hollywood career since emerging in the mid-90s. Sling Blade, the independent 1996 film he wrote, directed and starred, won him a best adapted screenplay Oscar – though his directing career went into hibernation after a difficult time adapting Cormac McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses a few years later. However, he became a stalwart of mainstream and independent acting in that period, with roles in Armageddon, A Simple Plan and Monster’s Ball.

Black Sea separatist region is backed by Moscow but recognised as part of Georgia by most of the world

Protesters have stormed the regional parliament in Abkhazia, forcing the government to halt an investment deal with Russia that some fear will spoil the breakaway Georgian region’s natural beauty.

The Black Sea separatist region is backed by Moscow but recognised as part of Georgia by most of the world.

• Zverev overcomes Spanish world No 3 7-6 (5), 6-4
• Fritz has beaten Zverev in two slam meetings this year

Alexander Zverev continued his strong form at the ATP Finals by moving into the semi-finals in Turin with a commanding 7-6 (5), 6-4 win over the third seed Carlos Alcaraz.

After winning the Paris Masters in his previous tournament, Zverev, the second seed, is on an eight-match winning streak following his wins over Alcaraz, Casper Ruud and Andrey Rublev in Turin.

Inspectorate aims to replace single headline grade such as outstanding with assessment of 10 key areas

Schools could be judged on a five-step scale of colours or descriptions across 10 separate areas, such as inclusion and belonging, according to proposals by England’s schools inspectorate.

The proposals by Ofsted aim to replace inspection reports that culminate in a single headline grade such as outstanding, which Labour pledged to scrap after a coroner’s report said Ofsted’s inspection had contributed to the death of headteacher Ruth Perry last year.