Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night television show has been taken off air “indefinitely” after the host was criticised for comments about the motives behind the killing of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk, ABC said.
“Jimmy Kimmel Live will be preempted indefinitely,” an ABC spokesperson told AFP, using a television industry term for when a show is replaced or removed from the schedule.
Kirk, a close ally of US President Donald Trump, was shot dead last week during a speaking event on a Utah university campus.
Authorities said 22-year-old Tyler Robinson used a rifle to shoot Kirk with a single bullet to the neck from a rooftop. He was arrested and has been formally charged with his murder.
On Monday, Kimmel spoke about the shooting in his popular late-night show’s monologue.
“We had some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and with everything they can to score political points from it,” said Kimmel.
“MAGA” refers to the president’s “Make America Great Again” movement.
The White House this week said it would be pursuing an alleged left-wing “domestic terror movement” in the wake of Kirk’s killing, prompting alarm that such a campaign could be used to silence political dissent. (France24)
President Donald Trump relished the glow of a British royal spectacle as he opened a two-day state visit Wednesday, calling the hours of pageantry with King Charles III “truly one of the highest honours of my life” while also making time for a quiet tribute at Queen Elizabeth II’s tomb.
The grandeur-loving president soaked up all the revelry, from the largest guard of honor in living memory, with 120 horses and 1,300 troops, to carriage rides, an air show and a Windsor Castle dinner.
After the pomp comes the real work Thursday, when Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer meet to talk trade, technology and geopolitical issues.
No US president, or any other world leader, has had the honour of a second UK state visit; Trump’s first was in 2019, during his previous term. The display of regal splendor was meant to bolster ties with Trump at a time when his America First policies are putting pressure on trade and security arrangements around the globe.
Prince William and his wife, Kate, met the presidential helicopter in the private Walled Garden on the vast Windsor estate, then walked Trump and first lady Melania Trump over to be greeted by Charles and Queen Camilla. A gigantic royal standard – the flag used for official celebration days – flew from the Royal Tower.
The guests travelled to the castle in a procession of horse-drawn carriages, past ranks of soldiers, sailors and aviators. The king and the Republican president chatted in the Irish State Coach during the short journey to the castle quadrangle, where both inspected an honour guard of soldiers in red tunics and bearskin hats.
They continued to chat and joke as the day progressed, with the king occasionally putting his hand on Trump’s back. The president stepped in front of Charles during a review of troops after the king gestured for him to do so. The king’s invitation avoided a violation of protocol, which was not the case in 2019, when Trump stepped in front of Queen Elizabeth.
Part of the day was spent at St. George’s Chapel on the castle grounds, where Trump placed a wreath in honour of Elizabeth, who died in 2022.
The president and Charles toured the Royal Collection Display in an ornate room where officials laid out five tables of artifacts on US-British relations.
Among the items were 18th-century watercolours and documents on the United States seeking independence from King George III. There were materials from the first trans-Atlantic cable, including messages between Queen Victoria and President James Buchanan, as well as a 1930s hot dog picnic that a young Elizabeth wrote about, and a large glass vessel that President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave the queen during a 1957 state visit.
The president walked a red carpet on the castle’s East Lawn to watch the Beating Retreat, a military parade ceremony that featured 200-plus musicians, dates to the 1600s and was once used to call patrolling soldiers back to their castle at day’s end.
A scheduled flyover by F-35 jets from the UK and US militaries was scrapped because of poor weather conditions. But the Red Arrows, the Royal Air Force’s aerobatics display team, thundered overhead, leaving streaks of red, white and blue smoke in their wake and drawing a visible reaction from both Trumps.
Charles and Camilla also presented the president and first lady with a handbound leather volume celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, as well as the Union flag that flew above Buckingham Palace on the day of Trump’s inauguration in January. The royals also gave first lady Melania Trump a silver and enamel bowl and a personalised handbag by British designer Anya Hindmarch.
Trump gave Charles a replica of an Eisenhower sword, and Camilla received a vintage Tiffany & Co. gold, diamond and ruby brooch.
The history, tradition and celebrity of the royal family give it a cachet that means presidents and prime ministers covet joining them. In his talks with Trump, Starmer will promote a new UK-US technology agreement. The British government hopes the deal, and billions in investment from U.S. tech companies, will help show that the trans-Atlantic bond remains strong despite differences over Ukraine, the Middle East and the future of NATO.
Trump and Charles walked together, leading a procession for the evening banquet. Trump wore white tie while his wife was in a yellow gown. Charles was in white tie with a blue sash, and Camilla in a blue gown with a tiara.
Beefeaters in traditional red uniforms and ruff collars lined the entrance to the castle’s St. George’s Hall for the dinner, which featured 100 staff members attending to 160 guests. The grand Waterloo table was set with 1,462 pieces of silver sparkling in the light from 139 candles and elaborate floral arrangements handpicked from the castle grounds.
The guest list included Apple’s Tim Cook, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Open AI’s Sam Altman and US Masters-winning golfer Nick Faldo. Also appearing was publishing mogul Rupert Murdoch, whom Trump recently sued for $10 billion over The Wall Street Journal’s report on a sexually suggestive letter purportedly written by Trump for disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
The menu featured Hampshire watercress panna cotta with Parmesan shortbread and quail egg salad, along with Norfolk chicken ballotine. Dessert was vanilla ice cream bombe with a raspberry sherbet interior and lightly poached Victorian plums.
Trump avoids alcohol, but the bar offerings included a cocktail known as a Transatlantic whiskey sour infused with marmalade, Warre’s 1945 Vintage Port – Trump is the 45th and 47th American president – and Hennessy 1912 Cognac Grande Champagne. That was the year Trump’s mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, was born in Scotland.
The musical playlist included the theme from the James Bond movies and pop and rock staples, as well as top showtunes, often featured at Trump’s campaign rallies.
In his toast, Charles saluted Trump’s British roots and his recent visits to the UK In a nod to the president’s favourite sport, he said, “I understand that British soil makes for rather splendid golf courses.”
Trump read from prepared remarks and was on his best behaviour, declaring, “This is truly one of the highest honours of my life” and sneaking in only one dig about his predecessor, Democratic President Joe Biden, by saying the US was “sick” a year ago.
Trump also touched on Britain’s contributions to literature, history and the arts and said “special” does not begin to do justice to his country’s relationship with the UK.
“Together we’ve done more good for humanity than any two countries in all of history,” he said.
Thousands of demonstrators marched through central London on Wednesday to protest Trump’s visit. Some held banners that said “No to the racism, no to Trump.” Though the activities were smaller than during Trump’s visit in June 2019, they included mini versions of the giant Trump baby blimp, an orange-tinted caricature of the president in a diaper that made a big impression during those demonstrations six years ago.
In Windsor, protesters projected an image of Trump and Epstein on a tower at the castle, a reminder of the president’s relationship with the late American financier. Police said they arrested four people. (France24)
US President Donald Trump arrived in Britain on Tuesday for an unprecedented second state visit, with the UK government rolling out a royal red carpet welcome to win over the mercurial leader.
“A lot of things here warm my heart,” the 79-year-old Republican told reporters after he arrived with First Lady Melania Trump. “It’s a very special place.”
King Charles III will host Trump at Windsor Castle for a lavish banquet and carriage ride on Wednesday, before Trump meets Prime Minister Keir Starmer at his country residence on Thursday.
In a sign of the pomp and pageantry to come, a guard of honour greeted the Trumps as they stepped off Air Force One at Stansted Airport near London.
Trump then expressed his admiration for the British monarch.
“He’s been a friend of mine for a long time, and everyone respects him, and they love him,” Trump said as he arrived by helicopter at Winfield House, the US ambassador’s residence in London, where he will spend the night.
“Tomorrow’s going to be a very big day.”
Trump is the first US president to be invited for two state visits, after previously being hosted by Queen Elizabeth II during his last term in office in 2019 — as Britain tries to keep the so-called special relationship alive.
The British government has been unapologetic about its efforts to get on the right side of Trump, whose mother was Scottish and who owns a number of golf courses in the UK.
But the British public will be kept far away from Trump, with the visit taking place entirely behind closed doors and heavy security.
A large anti-Trump demonstration has been called in London on Wednesday, while protesters projected images of Trump and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein onto the towers of Windsor Castle late Tuesday.
The shadow of the Epstein scandal has hung over Trump for weeks after his administration declined to release files on the issue.
It has also embroiled British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who sacked his ambassador to Washington Peter Mandelson on the eve of the visit over the envoy’s emails to Epstein.
Starmer’s government is however counting on the sheer scale of the state visit to keep Trump onside, despite his unpredictability over everything from tariffs to Ukraine and Gaza.
In Windsor on Wednesday, Trump will get a ceremonial carriage ride and a flypast by both UK and US jets in what officials call the largest military show for a state visit in living memory.
In the evening King Charles will host Trump for a lavish state dinner where both men will give speeches.
Trump may also relish the royal part of the visit as a chance to escape a turbulent period at home, where the killing of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk has caused turmoil.
Politics will take over again on Thursday when Starmer hosts Trump at his country residence Chequers for talks focusing on trade and the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
The visit has been timed to line up with announcements of several investments in Britain — the latest being a pledge by Microsoft to spend $30 billion over four years.
Starmer needs the visit to go well after a miserable few days in which some in his Labour party have openly questioned whether he can remain as leader over the Mandelson resignation.
Downing Street has said Trump’s visit would see the “unbreakable friendship” between the countries “reach new heights”.
The visit is “a huge moment for both” men, said Evie Aspinall, director of the British Foreign Policy Group think-tank.
“For Trump, the state visit is an opportunity to revel in the pomp and ceremony he loves,” she told AFP.
“For Starmer, the visit is a chance to distract from domestic discontent and shift the limelight onto international issues where he has had greater success.” (France24)
Robert Redford, the dashing actor and Oscar-winning director who eschewed his status as a Hollywood leading man to champion causes close to his heart, has died, according to his publicist Cindi Berger, Chairman and CEO of Rogers and Cowan PMK.
He was 89.
“Robert Redford passed away on September 16, 2025, at his home at Sundance in the mountains of Utah–the place he loved, surrounded by those he loved. He will be missed greatly,” Berger said in a statement to CNN. “The family requests privacy.”
Known for his starring roles in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” and “All the President’s Men,” Redford also directed award-winning films such as “Ordinary People” and “A River Runs Through It.”
His passion for the art of filmmaking led to his creation of the Sundance Institute, a nonprofit that supports independent film and theater and is known for its annual Sundance Film Festival.
Redford was also a dedicated environmentalist, moving to Utah in 1961 and leading efforts to preserve the natural landscape of the state and the American West.
Redford acted well into his later years, reuniting with Jane Fonda in the 2017 Netflix film “Our Souls at Night.” The following year, he starred in “The Old Man & the Gun” at age 82, a film he said would be his last – although he said he would not consider retiring.
“To me, retirement means stopping something or quitting something,” he told CBS Sunday Morning in 2018. “There’s this life to lead, why not live it as much as you can as long as you can?”
In October 2020, Redford voiced his concern about the lack of focus on climate change in the midst of devastating wildfires in the western United States, in an opinion piece he wrote for CNN.
That same month, Redford’s 58-year-old son died from cancer.
David James Redford – the third of four children born to Robert Redford and former wife Lola Van Wagenen – had followed in his father’s footsteps as an activist, filmmaker and philanthropist.
Born in Santa Monica, California, near Los Angeles, in 1936, Redford’s father worked long hours as a milkman and an accountant, later moving the family to a larger home in nearby Van Nuys.
“I didn’t see him much,” Redford recalled of his father, on “Inside the Actor’s Studio” in 2005.
Because his family couldn’t afford a babysitter, Redford spent hours in the children’s section at the local library where he became fascinated with books on Greek and Roman mythology.
Yet Redford was hardly a model student.
“I had no patience … I was not inspired,” Redford recalled. “It was more interesting to me to mess around and to adventure beyond the parameters that I was growing up in.”
Drawn to arts and sports – and a life outside of sprawling Los Angeles – Redford earned a scholarship to play baseball at the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1955. That same year, his mother died.
“She was very young, she wasn’t even 40,” he said.
Redford said his mother was “always very supportive (of my career)” — more so than his dad.
“My father came of age during the Depression and he was afraid to take chances … so he wanted the straight and narrow path for me, which I was just not meant to be on,” he said. “My mother, no matter what I did, she was always forgiving and supportive and felt that I could do anything.
“When I left and went to Colorado and she died, I realized I never had a chance to thank her.”
Redford soon turned to drinking, lost his scholarship and eventually was asked to leave the university. He worked as a “roustabout” for the Standard Oil Company and saved his earnings to continue his art studies in Europe.
“(I) lived hand to mouth, but that was fine,” Redford said of his time in Europe. “I wanted that adventure. I wanted the experience of seeing what other cultures were like.”
Shy and closed off, Redford said he didn’t fit in with the other drama students who were eager to show off their acting skills. After a performance in front of his class with a fellow student that ended in frustration and disaster, Redford said his teacher pulled him aside and encouraged him to stick with acting.
In 1959, Redford graduated from the academy and got his first acting role on an episode of “Perry Mason.” His acting career was “uphill from there,” he said.
His big acting break came in 1963, when he starred in Neil Simon’s “Barefoot in the Park” on Broadway – a role he would later reprise on the big screen with Jane Fonda.
Around this time, Redford married Lola Van Wagenen and started a family. His first child, Scott, died from sudden infant death syndrome just a few months after his birth in 1959. Shauna was born in 1960, David in 1962, and Amy in 1970.
As his acting career was taking off, Redford and his family moved to Utah in 1961 where he bought two acres of land for just $500 and built a cabin himself.
“I discovered how important nature was in my life, and I wanted to be where nature was extreme and where I thought it could maybe be everlasting,” he told CNN.
Redford made a name for himself as a leading man in 1969 when he starred opposite Paul Newman – already a major star – in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” The Western about a pair of outlaws won four Academy Awards.
Redford said he “will forever be indebted” to Newman, whom he credited with helping him get the role. The two actors had great on-screen chemistry, became lifelong friends and reunited in “The Sting” in 1973, which won the Academy Award for best picture.
Redford starred in a string of hit movies throughout the 1970s: “Jeremiah Johnson”; “The Way We Were,” co-starring Barbra Streisand; “The Great Gatsby”; and with Dustin Hoffman in 1976’s “All The President’s Men,” about the Watergate scandal.
Teaming up with director Sydney Pollack on “Jeremiah Johnson,” Redford fought with the studio to get the film made the way he wanted – a precursor to his career as a director and his support for independent filmmaking.
“It was a battle from the get-go,” Redford told “Inside The Actor’s Studio.” “They (the studio) said … ‘You’ve got $4 million, put it in the bank in Salt Lake City, you can shoot wherever you want, but that’s it. If it goes over, it comes out of your hide.’”
With spare dialogue and stunning scenery, the film tells the story of a Mexican War veteran who has left the battlefield to survive as a trapper in the American West.
It was released more than three years after it was made because, according to Redford, the studio’s sales chief thought the film was “so unusual” that it wouldn’t find an audience.
“Jeremiah Johnson” ended up grossing nearly $45 million. It wasn’t the only time Redford’s passion for the art of filmmaking put him at odds with the studios that funded his work.
“The sad thing you have to work against, as a filmmaker, is held opinions about what works or doesn’t work,” Redford said. “Sports movies don’t work, political movies don’t work, movies about the press don’t work – so I’ve done three of them.”
Redford made his directing debut in 1980 with “Ordinary People,” a drama about an unhappy suburban family which earned the Academy Award for Best Picture and another one for him as best director. He continued starring in hit films such as “The Natural” in 1984, which tapped into his passion for baseball, and 1993’s “An Indecent Proposal,” which paired him with a much younger Demi Moore.
“I didn’t see myself the way others saw me and I was feeling kind of trapped because I couldn’t go outside the box of … good-looking leading man,” he said. “It was very flattering, but it was feeling restrictive … so it took many years to break loose of that.”
Redford and Van Wagenen divorced in 1985. He married artist Sibylle Szaggars Redford in 2009.
Redford’s passion for the environment and independent filmmaking merged when he founded the Sundance Institute in 1981. The nonprofit supports “risk-taking and new voices in American film” as well as theater, and Redford’s Sundance resort in a canyon above Provo, Utah, hosts annual workshops for playwrights and screenwriters.
Each year Redford’s institute holds the Sundance Film Festival in Utah – the largest annual showcase in the United States for independent film. Many young filmmakers got their big breaks at Sundance, including Steven Soderbergh with “Sex, Lies, and Videotape” in 1989, Quentin Tarantino with “Reservoir Dogs” in 1992 and Ryan Coogler with 2013’s “Fruitvale Station.”
Redford’s lifelong impact on the film industry was recognized in 2002 with an honorary Oscar.
In his later years, Redford never lost his passion for storytelling through film and remained an outspoken champion of environmental causes. He frequently demurred when asked about retiring.
“I want to make the most of what I’ve been given,” Redford told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in 2015. “You keep pushing yourself forward, you try new things and that’s invigorating.”
Redford is survived by his wife, daughters Shauna Redford Schlosser and Amy Redford, along with seven grandchildren. (CNN)
As the world’s attention was focused on Israel’s attack on Hamas leaders in Doha, Israeli forces continued their unrelenting bombardment of Gaza, killing more than 50 people on Tuesday.
Among the dead are nine Palestinians, who had gathered in the enclave’s south seeking aid. Israel pressed on with its offensive in Gaza City after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened Palestinians to flee to the south for their lives.
The Wafa news agency reported that a drone strike on a makeshift tent sheltering displaced families at Gaza’s port killed two civilians and injured others. Warplanes also hit several residential buildings, including four homes in the al-Mukhabarat area and the Zidan building northwest of Gaza City, it reported.
Another house was reportedly bombed in the Talbani neighbourhood of Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, while two young men were killed in an attack on civilians in the az-Zarqa area of Tuffah, northeast of Gaza City.
Al Jazeera’s Sanad fact-checking agency confirmed footage showing an Israeli strike on the Ibn Taymiyyah mosque in Deir el-Balah. The video captured a flash of light before the mosque’s minaret was enveloped in smoke. Despite the blast, the minaret appeared to remain standing.
Israel issued new evacuation threats on Monday, releasing maps warning Palestinians to leave a highlighted building and nearby tents on Jamal Abdel Nasser Street in Gaza City or face death. It told residents to move to the so-called “humanitarian area” in al-Mawasi, a barren stretch of coast in southern Gaza.
But al-Mawasi itself has been repeatedly bombed, despite Israel insisting it is a safe zone. At the start of the year, about 115,000 people lived there. Today, aid agencies estimate that more than 800,000 people – nearly a third of Gaza’s population – are crammed into overcrowded makeshift camps.
Philippe Lazzarini, the chief of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, described al-Mawasi as a vast camp “concentrating hungry Palestinians in despair”.
“There is no safe place in Gaza, let alone a humanitarian zone. Warnings of famine have fallen on deaf ears,” he said.
The Palestinian Civil Defence warned that “Gaza City is burning, and humanity is being annihilated”.
The rescue agency said that in just 72 hours, five high-rise towers containing more than 200 apartments were destroyed, leaving thousands of people homeless.
More than 350 tents sheltering displaced families were also flattened, it added, forcing nearly 7,600 people to sleep in the open, “struggling against death, hunger, and unbearable heat”.
More than 64,000 Palestinians have been killed, some 20,000 of them children, in the Israeli offensive, which has been dubbed a genocide by numerous scholars and activists. The International Criminal Court has also issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu for alleged war crimes.
The Government Media Office in Gaza said that more than 1.3 million people remain in Gaza City and surrounding areas, despite Israeli attempts to push them south. It described the evacuation orders as an effort to carry out “the crime of forced displacement in violation of all international laws”.
More than 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced multiple times in 23 months of genocidal war, and an Israeli curb on aid entry, including food items, has led to starvation deaths. Last month, a UN agency declared famine in Gaza, affecting half a million people.
On Tuesday morning, Palestinians in central Gaza staged a protest against the latest evacuation orders.
Reporting from Deir el-Balah, Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary said that demonstrators carried banners reading, “We will not leave”, and “Not going out”.
“The primary goal of the [Israeli] occupation is displacement,” said Bajees al-Khalidi, a displaced Palestinian at the protest. “But there’s no place left, not in the south, nor the north. We’ve become completely trapped.”
Violence also flared in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli forces killed two teenagers in the Jenin refugee camp, according to the Wafa news agency.
Mourners on Tuesday buried 14-year-old Islam Noah, who was shot while attempting to enter the besieged refugee camp. A funeral was also held for another 14-year-old, Muhammad Alawneh. Two others were wounded in the same incident.
Israel sent missiles at Doha as Hamas leaders were meeting in the Qatari capital for talks on the latest ceasefire proposal from the United States to end the war in Gaza. Hamas said five people were killed, while Qatar said a security official was also among the dead. Hamas said its leadership survived the assassination attempt.
Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani condemned Israel’s “reckless criminal attack” in a phone call with US President Donald Trump. Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani called the attack “state terrorism”.
The Qatari prime minister said Doha would continue to work to end Israel’s war on Gaza, but raised doubts about the viability of the most recent talks. “When it comes to the current talks, I don’t think there is something valid right now after we’ve seen such an attack,” he said.
Qatar has sent a letter to the UN Security Council, condemning what it calls a cowardly Israeli assault on residential buildings in Doha.
The Doha attack has drawn global condemnation, with the UN chief calling it a “flagrant violation” of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Qatar.
The White House claimed that the US had warned Qatar of the impending strike, but Doha rejected that account, insisting the warning came only after the bombing had begun.
Trump later said he felt “very badly about the location of the attack” and that he had assured Qatar that it would not happen again.
“This was a decision made by Prime Minister Netanyahu, it was not a decision made by me,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Unilaterally bombing inside Qatar, a Sovereign Nation and close Ally of the United States, that is working very hard and bravely taking risks with us to broker Peace, does not advance Israel or America’s goals.” (AlJazeera)
Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has announced he is stepping down after less than a year in the role, following two major election losses.
The move comes a day before his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) was expected to vote on whether to hold an internal leadership vote that could have forced him out.
The LDP has governed Japan for most of the past seven decades, but under Ishiba it lost its majority in the lower house for the first time in 15 years and then lost its majority in the upper house in July.
Japan, the world’s fourth-largest economy and a key US ally, now faces a period of political uncertainty as tensions rise with China and regional insecurity mounts.
“Now that a conclusion has been reached in the negotiations concerning the US tariff measures, I believe this is precisely the appropriate time,” Ishiba said, referring to a deal signed last week to ease tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump on Japanese cars and other exports.
Until Sunday, he had resisted calls to resign, saying it was his responsibility to settle the dispute with Washington before stepping down.
“I have strongly believed that negotiations concerning the US tariff measures, which could be described as a national crisis, must be brought to a conclusion under our administration’s responsibility,” he said.
The 68-year-old said he would continue his responsibilities “to the people” until a successor was selected.
The LDP will now choose a new leader, who will become prime minister following a vote in parliament.
Ishiba, who took office in October 2024 promising to tackle rising prices, struggled to inspire confidence as the country faced economic headwinds, a cost-of-living crisis and fractious politics with the US.
Inflation, particularly the doubling of rice prices in the past year, was politically damaging.
Public support further slid after a series of controversies, including criticism of his decision to appoint only two women to his cabinet and handing out expensive gifts to party members. (BBC)
World No 1 Aryna Sabalenka, on Saturday, successfully defended her US Open title with a thrilling 6-4 7-6 (7-3) win over Amanda Anisimova in New York, United States.
Sabalenka sealed a hard-fought victory against Anisimova at Flushing Meadows, making her the first woman to win the tournament in consecutive years since Serena Williams in 2014.
The Belarusian picked up the fourth Grand Slam title of her career as a result, all on hard courts – having now added two New York triumphs to her pair of Australian Open trophies.
Both women were looking to bury recent scar tissue, with Anisimova back in a major final 56 days after her Wimbledon whitewash, while Sabalenka suffered heart-breaking defeats at the Australian Open and French Open – forced to apologise after an ungracious press conference towards winner Coco Gauff at the latter.
Sabalenka also lost to Anisimova in the semi-finals at Wimbledon, putting her in the strange position of being by a distance the best player in the world but without a major trophy in 2025, but she quelled a fightback from her opponent to secure the silverware.
The set was threatening to run away from Anisimova in a similar fashion to Wimbledon, but she told herself above all this tournament to be brave and she powered winners into opposite corners to finally get on the board.
Having won one game, she quickly made that three in a row, the crowd greeting every winner with a huge cheer.
The American was dominating both the winner and error count and it was the latter that climbed again as Sabalenka responded with four games in a row to take the opening set.
Anisimova, who was struggling with the roof lighting on her ball toss, was too inconsistent to apply any solid pressure.
Anisimova slammed a ball down in frustration when a backhand pass from Sabalenka gave her another break in the third game of the second set and, although she fought back to level, the eighth seed’s serve was too much of a liability.
Sabalenka forged ahead again to lead 5-3 and soon found herself serving for the title.
Perhaps it was inevitable that it would not be straightforward. Anisimova somehow dug out a backhand lob that Sabalenka dumped into the net to give herself a chance to level and more huge hitting made it 5-5.
If there was a moment for the demons to resurface, it was now, but Sabalenka took the set to a tie-break, where she has been untouchable this season, and this time finished the job.
Anisimova’s final tally of 29 unforced errors, including seven double faults, was ultimately too many, but the American, who started the year ranked outside the top 30, will have the consolation of being a top-four player on Monday.
Reacting to her win, Sabalenka, who fell to her knees after clinching victory with an unreturnable serve and jumped up and down with her coaches in the stands in a scene of utter joy, said, “I want to thank everyone who came here, who flew in to be there in my box.
“I’m going to reach a lot more finals and I don’t care where you are in the world I want you in my box.”
Also speaking after her loss, Anisimova, who was left in tears yet again after the heartbreak of her 6-0 6-0 drubbing in the Wimbledon final two months ago, said, “It’s been a great summer, losing in two finals in a row is great but it’s also super hard.
“I didn’t fight hard enough for my dreams today.”
She later admitted having problems seeing the ball with the glare of the roof causing her issues when serving.
“I haven’t played on the court during the day with the roof closed. It was literally white, and I couldn’t see the ball when I was serving the whole match.
“It started from the warm-up. I was like, ‘this is really going to be a problem for me’. I didn’t know what to do.
“There was no way of adjusting, because I could not see the ball when I was serving, and that was a huge shock to my system, because I knew if I can’t hold my serve, it was going to be very tough to stay in the match,” she said. (Punch)
US President Donald Trump is directing that the Pentagon be known as the Department of War.
He will sign an executive order on Friday for the Department of Defense to use the new name as a secondary title and for Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth to be known as Secretary of War.
The Pentagon – which oversees the US armed services – is the successor to the War Department, which was first established as a cabinet-level agency in 1789 and existed until 1947.
The responsibility of creating executive departments rests with the US Congress, meaning that an amendment would be required to legally change the department’s name.
The BBC has seen the text of the executive order, which says: “The name ‘Department of War’ conveys a stronger message of readiness and resolve compared to ‘Department of Defense,’ which emphasizes only defensive capabilities.”
Trump has repeatedly floated the idea of the name change, arguing that the US had “an unbelievable history of victory” in both world wars under the previous name.
He has also expressed optimism that lawmakers would support such a change.
“I’m sure Congress will go along if we need that. I don’t even think we need that,” the president said last week. “But, if we need that, I’m sure Congress will go along.”
Trump and Hegseth have sought to refocus the department on “warfighting” and a “warrior ethos”.
They have argued that the department has become too focused on diversity, equity and inclusion programmes and “woke ideology”. (BBC)
US officials have further restricted visitor visas for Palestinians, by denying them to almost all applicants who use a Palestinian passport, media reports say.
The development comes days after 80 Palestinian officials were denied visas ahead of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Earlier in August, visitor visas were paused for people hoping to travel from the Palestinian territory of Gaza. This newly-reported decree would affect a wider group – including people living in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The Department of State did not explicitly confirm the move but said it was “taking concrete steps in compliance with US law and our national security”.
The decision was issued in a diplomatic cable dated 18 August, the New York Times and CNN reported.
US consular officers were told to refuse non-immigrant visas to “all otherwise eligible Palestinian Authority passport holders”, the communication was quoted as saying.
That would apply to Palestinians hoping to come to the US for a range of purposes, including for business, study or medical treatment.
The move meant that officials would be required to perform a further review of each applicant, which amounted to a blanket ban on issuing visas to Palestinians, the New York Times added in its report.
Palestinians who are able to make visa applications using other passports were said to be unaffected.
It is not clear what prompted the reported move, though the Trump administration has been steadfast in its support for Israel’s military campaign against Hamas in Gaza.
The news also follows last month’s announcements by a number of other US allies – including the UK, Canada and France – that they would recognise a Palestinian state on certain conditions. US Vice-President JD Vance has said Washington has “no plans” to follow suit.
The Trump administration has also cracked down on pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses.
The move represents a further toughening of the president’s stance on visas, following two earlier measures.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was among a group of dozens of Palestinian officials who were recently blocked from attending the UN General Assembly session in New York later this month, after US officials revoked his visa and accused the Palestinian Authority and Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), both of which Abbas leads, of undermining peace efforts.
And the Department of State said on 16 August it had paused approvals of visitor visas for Palestinians from Gaza specifically, so that a review could take place.
Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist group by the US, governed Gaza when hundreds of its armed fighters attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. The attack triggered a massive and ongoing Israeli military offensive, in which at least 63,459 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
The US visa policy has effectively been extended now to include people from the West Bank and wider Palestinian diaspora.
Asked about the latest move, a Department of State spokesperson’s statement said: “The Trump administration is taking concrete steps in compliance with US law and our national security in regards to announced visa restrictions and revocations for PA (Palestinian Authority) passport holders. We refer you to those public announcements for more information on those restrictions and revocations.
“Every visa decision is a national security decision, and the State Department is vetting and adjudicating visa decisions for PA passport holders accordingly.” (BBC)
The Trump administration has moved to terminate almost 500 employees of federally funded news organisation Voice of America (VOA).
The step is the latest in President Donald Trump’s drive to strip back the outlet, which the White House has accused of being “radical”.
Acting CEO of VOA’s parent agency, Kari Lake, said the decision would “help reduce the federal bureaucracy, improve agency service, and save the American people more of their hard-earned money.” A union representing employees called the step illegal in a statement to the New York Times.
VOA was set up during World War Two to counter Nazi propaganda, and has become a major global broadcaster.
The outlet is overseen by the Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which said a total of 532 positions would be eliminated. The majority of those employees are from VOA, which would be left with 108 staff, according to a court filing.
In June, Lake announced 639 employees would be terminated, although the notices were later rescinded due to paperwork errors. Some employees also filed lawsuits to block the terminations.
The announcement late on Friday night came a day after a judge ruled the Trump administration had not followed proper procedures in its attempt to fire VOA’s director, Michael Abramowitz. The judge also ordered Lake to sit for a deposition, where she would be questioned by lawyers.
The lawsuit was brought by a group of agency employees trying to block attempts to close down VOA.
“We find Lake’s continued attacks on our agency abhorrent,” they said in a statement to the BBC’s US partner CBS News.
“We are looking forward to her deposition to hear whether her plan to dismantle VOA was done with the rigorous review process that Congress requires. So far we have not seen any evidence of that, and as such we will continue to fight for what we believe to be our rights under the law.”
Most of VOA’s journalists have been on administrative leave since March but some Farsi-speaking staff were called back as war between Israel and Iran broke out this summer.
The notices will also not affect journalists working in its Office of Cuba Broadcasting division, which broadcasts news in Spanish from Miami.
Critics say Trump’s attempts to strip back VOA amount to an attack on press freedom, and impacts America’s ability to exercise soft power abroad. The administration has accused the outlet of being “anti-Trump” and “radical”.
VOA broadcasts TV, radio and digital content in almost 50 languages. (BBC)
English