The Prime Minister has been accused of leaving the way open to another divisive Scottish independence referendum after refusing to rule out a vote during his time in office.

Speaking at a major address in Motherwell, Andy Burnham stopped short of rejecting the possibility of a second referendum, saying instead that his own position on independence “won’t be changing”.

The speech was Mr Burnham’s first major address in Scotland since he became Prime Minister. He delivered it at New College Lanarkshire’s Motherwell campus, which stands on the former Ravenscraig steelworks site.

Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay accused Mr Burnham of once again creating an opportunity for First Minister John Swinney to press for another independence vote.

“During his rare trip to Scotland, Andy Burnham should have been backing new [North Sea] drilling,” Mr Findlay said. “Instead, he was talking at length about theoretical constitutional arrangements and procedures. This is a huge distraction that will not create one job, aside from providing more work for the boys.”

A source close to the First Minister said Mr Swinney was “surprised” that the Prime Minister had not given a firm commitment to rule out another referendum.

Economy Secretary Stephen Flynn described the remarks as a “very significant moment in Scotland’s constitutional journey”.

After the speech, journalists asked Mr Burnham whether he would exclude the possibility of a second Scottish independence referendum for the entire period of his premiership.

He said he supported unions in every form, including trade unions, and argued that countries were stronger when they worked together. In his view, cooperation allows nations to face an increasingly difficult world with greater confidence.

Mr Burnham said he had already made his position known to Scottish First Minister John Swinney, while acknowledging that the two men disagreed. He urged both sides to recognise that difference and concentrate on areas where they could work together.

“My view won’t be changing,” he said, before calling for attention to shift towards issues where progress could be made.

Mr Flynn said the exchange showed that the Prime Minister had been asked directly about ruling out an independence referendum but had chosen not to do so.

He argued that Mr Burnham may have avoided a definitive refusal because it would appear hypocritical to support debate on a possible second referendum on European Union membership while denying Scottish voters a similar discussion about their constitutional future.

Mr Flynn added that the Prime Minister had again indicated he was not fundamentally opposed to a second independence referendum, building on previous comments made in the House of Commons. He said the position marked a “very significant moment” in Scotland’s constitutional debate.

In the Commons last month, Mr Burnham said the conditions for holding a second Scottish independence referendum should be “exactly the same” as those that would apply to a referendum on Irish reunification.

He subsequently appeared to take a firmer stance, describing a second Scottish independence referendum as “off limits”.

Mr Burnham’s visit coincided with the SNP’s annual conference in Aberdeen.

His speech centred on expanding devolution in Scotland. He called for an end to the “tribal politics” often seen between Holyrood and Westminster and urged Mr Swinney to look beyond the constitutional dispute, focusing instead on “solutions for people right now”.

Mr Burnham also described Scotland as “one of the most centralised nations in Europe” and called for significantly greater devolution north of the border.

He said: ‘Devolution was never supposed to stop at the doors of the Scottish Parliament.’

Mr Burnham said he would set out plans for a ‘new deal’ for regional economic development in the coming months. The proposals are expected to include an offer of further devolution from the Department for Work and Pensions.

He also called on Mr Swinney to transfer more powers from Holyrood to local areas.

The Scottish Government announced plans last month to overhaul regional governance, replacing the current 32 local authorities with six new regional authorities.

However, details of how the proposed system would operate have yet to be released. Trade unions and SNP councillors have raised concerns that the changes could reduce local accountability.

Mr Swinney said he was willing to work with the Prime Minister if he devolved more powers to Scotland.

He said: ‘I’m all for the Scottish Parliament having as many powers as it possibly can do, and I’ll work constructively to make sure we bring all those powers to Scotland.’

Mr Flynn also said Mr Swinney had written to the Prime Minister this week seeking greater powers for Holyrood, with employability powers listed at number seven on the list of requests.

Sam Wood’s transformation from The Bachelor favourite to fitness millionaire has been overshadowed by angry business partners, legal battles, tax troubles and allegations that he copied competitors’ recipes.

The former reality television star is currently being held in a Queensland jail while awaiting trial over domestic violence allegations involving his wife, Snezana. Meanwhile, fresh details are shedding light on the disputes that followed the growth of his health and fitness empire.

Wood sold his 28 by Sam Wood platform to Melbourne billionaire Dennis Bastas in 2022. The business was valued at more than $70 million, with Wood reportedly walking away from the deal with $15 million.

However, court records and past controversies suggest the road to that lucrative exit was considerably more complicated than it initially appeared.

Court documents obtained by Daily Mail detail one particularly bitter dispute with Loup, the company that helped launch Hollywood actor Chris Hemsworth’s Centr fitness platform. The commercial partnership between Loup and Wood broke down in September 2016.

At the heart of the disagreement were allegations that Loup, which was then known as The Health Consultancy, wanted to expand the 28 platform by bringing in other influencers and celebrities.

Sources who spoke to The Age’s Fiona Byrne said Wood insisted he remain the sole public face of the brand.

After about eight months of negotiations, the two parties agreed to go their separate ways.

What began as an amicable separation soon descended into a bitter legal battle.

Wood took Loup to the County Court of Victoria, alleging the company had failed to properly oversee posts in a Facebook group, used its customer database to promote influencer Tiffiny Hall’s competing TiffXO program and refused to provide exercise videos free of legal restrictions. He also claimed Loup attempted to charge him $50,000 for the assets.

The documents indicated Wood was also frustrated that Loup continued using his name and referring to his “crew” after he had left the business.

Loup rejected all of the allegations and launched a counterclaim. The company said Wood paid $425,000 when the partnership ended but failed to make four subsequent monthly payments of $100,000, leaving an alleged shortfall of $400,000.

Under the original agreement, Loup was tasked with capitalising on Wood’s profile from The Bachelor, negotiating with Channel 10 to relax commercial restrictions on his name and developing the online training venture.

Wood was to retain a 60 per cent share of the business, while Loup would own the remaining 40 per cent.

Wood argued he was not required to pay the outstanding money because of what he alleged were Loup’s contractual breaches.

The dispute was eventually resolved out of court. However, one source told Byrne the settlement was “less than satisfactory” for Loup.

The two parties no longer maintain an ongoing relationship.

It was not the only legal war Wood has been embroiled in.

In 2018, Melbourne businessmen George Moraitis and Jim Angelopoulos launched action in the Supreme Court of Victoria, claiming Wood had reneged on a deal that would have given them a 25 per cent stake in the 28 platform.

The men said they began work in July 2016 building the website, app and backend while Wood remained the public face.

But by November 2017, the partnership had collapsed.

Despite repeated requests, they claimed Wood refused to transfer the shares and cut them out completely after they had ‘worked long hours and well above and beyond’ normal employee expectations.

Wood denied any share agreement existed, insisting the pair were only entitled to 25 per cent of net profit after tax while they provided management services.

He dismissed their use of the word ‘partner’ on business cards as purely ‘colloquial’.

The case was listed for a two-week trial in March 2019 before it was ‘dismissed by consent’.

Adding to the growing list of controversies, Wood’s platform was also accused in 2018 of publishing recipes almost identical to those of rival fitness duo Steph Claire Smith and Laura Henshaw’s Keep It Cleaner program.

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A leaked internal email from 28’s creative and social manager Keira Rae reportedly showed her bragging that she ‘went in and downloaded all their good recipes … idiots xx’, complete with a link to a KIC chocolate fudge recipe, the Daily Telegraph reported then.

28’s almond butter nut cups closely mirrored KIC’s choc nut cups – which first appeared on the rival blog in 2016 – with only minor differences in name and recommended butter.

Leaked emails to the Telegraph also revealed staff had been trawling through Michelle Bridges’ 12WBT site for ideas.

Bridges had risen to fame as a tough-love trainer on The Biggest Loser in 2007 before appearing in various reality television programs. 

Smith, who had considered Wood a mate, told The Daily Telegraph at the time: ‘We didn’t want to believe it, but after seeing the imagery and method and recipes themselves, it’s blatantly obvious.’

Henshaw said they had spent hours developing and testing the recipe on their families: ‘We developed the choc nut cup recipe a year-and-a-half ago… which is what makes it so disheartening.’

Wood responded that his nutritionist and chef created the version after members requested it, having noticed KIC’s earlier recipe. 

He also posted a private Facebook message to his community addressing the claims.

Moving forward to November last year, Wood was embroiled in a tax evasion scandal.

The Deputy Commissioner of Taxation launched civil action against Wood in the County Court of Victoria seeking more than $7million in allegedly unpaid money for the tax periods ending June 30, 2022, June 30, 2023 and June 30, 2024. 

According to documents lodged with the court, the total amount of unpaid tax and interest charges due to the ATO was $7,349,264.86, the Herald Sun reported then. 

In February, with the matter set to land back in court, Wood claimed the ‘majority’ of the tax bill had been paid.

‘My lawyer has been in correspondence with the ATO regularly regarding the final payment being made,’ Wood told the publication.

Just days ago, it was revealed Wood planned to sell the couple’s multimillion-dollar Brighton home. 

The Woods bought the home for $7.15million in an off-market deal in September last year.

On Friday, it was revealed the couple could be set to lose more than $1million on it after listing the Brighton mansion for less than they paid for it.

The Hanby St home appeared online with a $6.5million-$7.15million asking price.

The five-bedroom house features a pool, tennis court, and spa and is on a 1,290sqm block.

In 2025, the Woods sold their Elsternwick house after putting it on the market with $6.6million price expectations.

However, the five-bedroom residence changed hands for $6.125million.

As it stands, Wood has far more serious issues to contend with. 

The 46-year-old was this week transferred from Brisbane Correctional Centre to nearby Wolston Correctional Centre. 

Wolston is a high-security facility which accommodates male protection prisoners who cannot be kept in the general prison population because their crimes or profiles make them particularly vulnerable.

Among its current residents are schoolboy Daniel Morcombe’s killer Brett Peter Cowan, and Gerard Baden-Clay, the Brisbane real estate agent jailed for the premeditated murder of his wife, Allison.

Another of Wood’s new neighbours is former childcare worker Ashley Griffith, who is serving a minimum of 27 years in jail for more than 300 sex crimes against children, most of them girls aged between three and five.

Wood has been behind bars since October 3 when he was arrested at Noosa on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast over the alleged attack on his wife.

Five-year-old Elliana Sapp was sitting on a railing aboard the Disney Dream cruise ship after her mother, Michelle, told her to climb up and pose for a photograph.

Moments later, Elliana fell backward through an open porthole. Her father, Keegan Sapp, immediately leapt over the side of the ship to rescue her from the icy Atlantic waters.

However, newly obtained law enforcement audio reveals that Michelle later suggested Disney should face scrutiny for nearly killing her daughter when questioned by a deputy investigating a possible child abuse case.

Michelle, a 38-year-old lawyer from Long Island, New York, told investigators she believed the porthole was covered with glass or plastic when she instructed Elliana to climb into it.

Instead, Elliana plunged 49 feet from the fourth deck into the ocean at 11.29am on June 29, 2025, as the ship traveled from the Bahamas back toward its port in Florida.

Keegan, a fit 38-year-old lawyer, jumped into the water roughly 45 seconds later. He kept both himself and his daughter afloat for 19 minutes before the ship’s crew reached them in an emergency skiff.

Michelle spoke with Broward County Sheriff’s deputies in Fort Lauderdale while her husband recovered from hypothermia, two spinal fractures and lactic acidosis.

She appeared incredulous when the deputy explained that the incident was being investigated as possible child abuse and neglect, insisting that neither she nor Keegan should be suspected.

“Like Disney abusing them?” Michelle asked. The couple had been celebrating their sixth wedding anniversary aboard the luxury cruise when the near-tragedy occurred.

“Because I think maybe having that window not covered or signs or ropes or better covering, I think that is endangering the children of that ship,” she said.

Michelle said Disney investigators told her husband the portholes were left open because the area formed part of a jogging track and became too hot when enclosed.

Showing the deputy a photograph of the portholes on her phone, she said: “It looks like right there these holes are the only ones without a covering. I don’t understand why that wasn’t.”

Michelle told investigators she had photographed Elliana beside the views through numerous windows and portholes during the cruise, saying they had always appeared to be covered.

“She took pictures in front of all of them, she laid in them… You assumed that there was a barrier there,” Michelle said.

“I didn’t even think about it,” she added.

Although Michelle admitted at one point that she also felt like “an idiot,” she otherwise did not accept responsibility for Elliana’s near-fatal fall and instead attributed the incident to the ship’s design.

Earlier in the interview, Michelle gave deputies a detailed account of what happened in the moments leading up to and immediately following Elliana’s fall through the porthole.

‘We were walking, we saw the portholes and we were like, I was like, let’s take a picture, like an idiot,’ she said, on the verge of tears.

‘She stood in front of it and… something caused her to lose her balance, so I’m thinking maybe the ship rocked or something.

‘She was sitting/standing on like the ledge in front of a porthole, and she just went back.

‘I was staring at her, taking a picture, waiting for her to fall into the plastic of the porthole, expecting something to catch her and she just kept going.

‘I went to the porthole and looked. I didn’t see her and then I started screaming.’

Keegan was walking 10ft ahead of his wife and daughter and didn’t know anything was wrong until he heard Michelle screaming.

‘I don’t remember seeing him jump in. I don’t know if I blacked that out. That’s all I saw and then I was running up and down saying like, why didn’t I jump in?’, Michelle told the interviewer.

‘She can’t swim [so] I’m assuming she’s like sinking into the bottom of the water. I don’t even know how she stayed afloat.’

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The deputy reassured her that: ‘Nobody’s in trouble for any of this, this is all purely an accident. 

‘I will say your husband undoubtedly is a hero.’

But in reality, Broward County Sheriff’s Office came to believe that Michelle was to blame, and detectives were collating evidence to file criminal charges.

Bodycam footage also obtained by the Daily Mail showed the lead investigator taking a dim view of her while chatting with Disney crew members the next day. 

‘The parent should have known that’s not a safe place for a child to be,’ the deputy leading the investigation said.

The ship’s investigator said ‘it really bugged me’ that Michelle kept saying she thought there was glass on the porthole windows. 

‘Firstly, there’s not a clean window on this ship’ and she would feel the wind, he said. ‘It would be 200 degrees down there’ if there weren’t open windows. 

The deputies swore in shock as they watched security camera footage of Elliana fall backwards through the porthole, followed by a stunned silence as Keegan tried to find help for about 30 seconds before diving in after his daughter. 

The crew explained to the Broward County deputies that Keegan told them he could see where his daughter was when he jumped. He got to her so fast she didn’t have any water in her lungs despite not being able to swim. 

Elliana told the crew she ‘landed on her butt’ but doctors couldn’t find any bruising on her despite the 49ft fall. She was observed for eight hours in sick bay, then released.

‘By the time that was up she was being a typical five-year-old busting at the seams ready to go,’ the ship investigator told the deputies.

‘Dad is still dealing with lactic acidosis (a dangerous build-up of lactic acid in the body) from the most intense workout – the exertion, the excitement, fighting the current… once he got her he’s fighting just to stay afloat and hold her.

‘He told me the swells were over his head.’

Keegan appeared to have made a full recovery as he was photographed standing and leaning over during Michelle’s birthday party in September last year. 

The deputy and the crew agreed the girl was lucky she wasn’t sucked under the ship, and it was a miracle she stayed afloat long enough for Keegan to reach her.

‘She doesn’t realize how lucky she is. There is a second railing on the side of the ship just below that section for the washing baskets,’ another crew member said.

‘She hits her head and that’s it,’ one of the cops replied.

Weeks later, detectives submitted their report to prosecutors recommending Michelle be charged with one count of child neglect without great bodily harm.

‘This act facilitated by [Michelle] placed the child in a life-threatening situation. As a result, the child fell from the ship and into the water, in an avoidable accident,’ the report read. 

However, assistant state prosecutor Melissa Kelly declined to file charges as Michelle’s negligence was not deemed egregious enough. 

‘This was an isolated incident, and all available evidence shows that it was merely accidental,’ she wrote in a July 31 memorandum.

‘While the defendant’s conduct is arguably negligent and irresponsible, it does not rise to the egregious level of conduct necessary to establish criminal culpable negligence.’

Keegan has worked as an associate counsel for Long Island University since 2022 and teaches at Hofstra University. He was previously an employment lawyer.

The couple grew up on Long Island and got engaged on a trip to Paris in August 2017 and married on June 22, 2019. The cruise was to celebrate their wedding anniversary.

Their second child, a boy now aged two, was also on the cruise but was not present when his older sister plunged into the Atlantic. 

Kim Kardashian turned heads in Hollywood on Thursday, arriving at a taping of Jimmy Kimmel Live in a striking all-black look that highlighted her signature curves.

The 45-year-old reality star and entrepreneur showcased her figure in a plunging black dress featuring a dramatic, sculptural hoop skirt.

During the late-night appearance, Kardashian discussed her ongoing efforts to qualify as a lawyer and revealed that she once investigated family friend OJ Simpson herself when she was 14.

Her visit to the show came shortly after she returned to the United States from Singapore, where she reunited with her boyfriend, Lewis Hamilton, at the Singapore Grand Prix.

Kardashian’s sleeveless gown featured a sculpted waistline that accentuated her hips before falling into a long, ankle-grazing skirt.

She finished the look with black peep-toe heels, leaving jewelry and other accessories behind. Her long, raven-colored hair was parted neatly down the middle.

Kimmel began the conversation by asking about Kardashian’s efforts to pass the bar exam. That discussion naturally led to her late father, Robert Kardashian, who gained national attention while representing his longtime friend OJ Simpson.

Kardashian said it felt surreal as a teenager to watch the Simpson murder trial dominate television coverage, then return home to witness the legal drama up close and without the filters of a news broadcast.

She also admitted that her fascination with the investigation prompted her to conduct some amateur sleuthing. While Simpson was staying in her sister Khloe Kardashian’s room, the teenage Kardashian searched through his luggage.

‘I just was so into it, and I saw everything from behind the scenes,’ she said.

‘After it had all happened, OJ came to stay with my dad at the house,’ Kardashian explained.

‘He had this Louis Vuitton luggage and brought it into the house,’ she recalled. ‘And I see everything on the news, but I see it in real life at my house, so I’m like, “I’m going to play investigator, and I want to go through his luggage and see if I can find anything!”‘

After opening the bags and looking through their contents, however, Kardashian became alarmed when she returned downstairs and saw a news report saying investigators planned to seize Simpson’s luggage.

‘I’m like, “Oh my God, my fingerprints are all over it!”‘ Kardashian recalled, prompting laughter from the audience.

But Kim concluded by explaining how her fear of being implicated helped inspire her to try to become a lawyer decades later.

‘It made me realize: people can be involved that aren’t involved. And I need to help them,’ she said to applause.

But Kimmel still couldn’t get over how close she came to such a controversial figure like Simpson.

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‘There’s a book about it!’ she jokingly interjected, referencing Simpson’s alleged tell-all, If I Did It, which was ghostwritten by Pablo Fenjves. 

The book’s planned release was canceled in 2006, but the following year the rights to it were awarded in bankruptcy court to the family of Ron Goldman, who was stabbed to death along with Simpson’s ex-wife Nicole Brown on June 12, 1994.

The revived book was published with the added subtitle ‘Confessions of the Killer.’

Kimmel joked that he hoped her mother had been wrong about Simpson if he was staying in Khloe’s room, referencing her admissions that she had suspicions that he might have killed Goldman and Brown, who was her friend.

‘I will always feel guilty that I didn’t pay more attention and didn’t speak up when I thought anything was wrong or asked her more, “Do you want to talk about it?” Jenner said in 2015 in an interview for the documentary The Secret Tapes of the O.J. Case: The Untold Story. 

Kimmel also had Kardashian clarify where she is in her years-long quest to hopefully become a lawyer. 

Kardashian, who plays a divorce attorney on her Hulu series All’s Fair, explained that California allowed people to become attorneys without graduating from a traditional law school.

However, they have to take two major exams along the way: the so-called baby bar that first-year law students take, followed by the final bar exam needed to become a lawyer. 

Kardashian clarified that she had already completed her studies and had passed the baby bar.

‘I’ve made it all the way through, except for the final one,’ she said. 

Kimmel joked, ‘So you are technically more of a lawyer than the White House press secretary,’ which got a laugh out of his guest.

Katie Zacharia – who made her much-ridiculed debut as White House press secretary on Tuesday – had been lambasted for repeatedly referring to herself as a lawyer despite having never passed the bar exam.

She claimed in an interview this week that she failed the exam because she had been distracted by her marriage and plans to move to China, and then when she was back in the US she never took the exam again because a surprise pregnancy took up all of her time. 

While giving her update, Kardashian elided the fact that she only passed the baby bar on her fourth try, and that she failed in her first attempt at the bar in 2025.

Afterward, insiders told TMZ that the Keeping Up with the Kardashians star had decided to skip a retake opportunity in February of this year, and she didn’t plan to take it when it was offered in July, meaning that she won’t try again until 2027 at the earliest.

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