Faith Kipyegon cemented her status as an athletics legend on Tuesday by winning her fourth world 1,500 meters title while Cordell Tinch’s decision to return to the sport paid off with 110 meters hurdles gold.
The 31-year-old Kipyegon had bad news for those who entertained hopes of winning the 5,000 meters later in the week — the Kenyan is going to try and achieve the double as she did in Budapest in 2023.
Tinch was also at those championships two years ago but bowed out in the semifinals, with Grant Holloway going onto win his third world gold.
On Tuesday the roles were reversed as Holloway bowed out in the semis and 25-year-old Tinch took his crown.
Not bad for someone who stepped away from the sport and five years ago was selling mobile phones and then worked in a paper factory.
Sadly their golden moments were not shared by a full house, with just 37,000 in the National Stadium and that despite Japan having several athletes in action, including two in the high jump final.
Just as on Monday so it was on Tuesday — New Zealand and Canada won a gold apiece.
Despite deafening patriotic cheers for Yuto Seko and Ryoichi Akamatsu, they had pulled on their tracksuits and were mere spectators long before New Zealand’s Olympic high jump champion Hamish Kerr had added world championships gold to his collection.
Canada’s Ethan Katzberg retained the men’s hammer title, emulating his teammate Camryn Rogers in the women’s event on Monday.
The mild-mannered Olympic champion, 23, recorded a new championship best, throwing 84.70 meters in the second round.
Some had thought the women’s 1,500 meters might see a new generation take over in the shape of Kipyegon’s 22-year-old teammate Nelly Chepchirchir.
However, Kipyegon put that theory firmly in its place, and just as at the COVID-delayed Tokyo Olympics she will be bringing something gold back to her daughter.
“This sport drives me,” said Kipyegon, who also set a new world record over the distance in Oregon in July. “I won here in 2021 (at the Olympics) just after becoming a mother, so being back here, winning again, means I can show a new gold medal to my daughter.”
Tinch’s road back to the track was sparked by a jest made at his expense by his stepfather in 2020, but as being the new world champion sank in he had no regrets about the sabbatical.
“If I hadn’t taken that break from the track, I wouldn’t be a world champion now,” said Tinch. “Everything I learned at that time away from the sport made me the man I am and a world champion.”
Kerr is an entertainer and played to the crowd throughout the final, cupping his hands to his ears on the two occasions he went over on the third and final attempt.
Once he had sealed victory, the Kiwi ran down the infield almost as fast as compatriot Geordie Beamish’s finishing winning burst in the 3,000 meters steeplechase on Monday.
“Geordie (Beamish) gave me a kick in my ass after his win last night so I had to win too,” said the 29-year-old.
Katzberg said he had felt the pressure after Rogers’s victory.
“I can’t ask for much more,” he said. “Camryn (Rogers put the pressure on me to perform tonight. It was an incredible performance from her, so for Canada to win the men’s hammer tonight as well is amazing.”
As they absorbed their victories Tinch’s teenaged teammate, 800 meters runner Cooper Lutkenhaus, left the scene but with lessons learned.
At 16 years 8 months and 28 days old he became the youngest runner to represent the United States at a world championships. But he finished seventh in his heat.
“I did not feel any pressure and I really wanted to come out here and give everything,” he said. “Being 16 on the world stage is very exciting. My parents and my family still see me as a 16-year-old kid.”
Lutkenhaus added he could now go out in Tokyo and have some fun, although reality is also biting.
“I still have homework to do on this trip,” he admitted.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone meanwhile showed she could threaten the women’s 400 meters record set four decades ago by Marita Koch.
The American, running this event instead of her speciality, the 400 meters hurdles, practically strolled over the line in her semifinal in 48.29 seconds. Koch’s record is 47.60 seconds. All eyes will be on Thursday’s final. (JapanToday)
Arsenal won 2-0 away to Athletic Bilbao as the league phase of this season’s Champions League kicked off on Tuesday, with two Kylian Mbappe penalties giving Real Madrid a narrow win over Marseille while Juventus and Borussia Dortmund drew an eight-goal thriller.
Tottenham Hotspur also won on the tournament’s opening night which saw outsiders Union Saint-Gilloise and Qarabag claim first ever victories in the Champions League proper.
Arsenal are eager to make a big impression again in Europe’s elite club competition, following their defeat by eventual champions Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-finals last season.
They got off to an ideal start in the Basque Country, with Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard scoring late goals to settle the game.
The Brazilian had only just come on when he ran through to open the scoring in the 72nd minute at San Mames. Arsenal then went on to seal the victory late on as Trossard — another substitute — scored with the aid of a deflection.
“We started to grow throughout the game. In the second half we were more fluent, dominant, and the finishers made the impact for us to win the game,” said Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta.
Real Madrid came from behind to beat Marseille 2-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu, despite playing the closing stages of the game down to 10 men.
Marseille, winners of the inaugural Champions League in 1993, stunned the home crowd by taking the lead through Timothy Weah midway through the first half.
The record 15-time European champions grabbed an equaliser before the interval when Mbappe converted from the spot for the first time after Rodrygo was fouled in the area.
Xabi Alonso’s side lost Trent Alexander-Arnold to injury early on and were reduced to 10 men in the second half when his replacement, Dani Carvajal, was sent off following a VAR check for a head butt on Marseille goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli.
But the home side still snatched all three points thanks to another Mbappe penalty late on after Facundo Medina was harshly penalised for handball.
“For me it’s a penalty, but I understand there are people who don’t (think so), we’re all lost with this rule,” Mbappe, who reached 50 goals for the club, told broadcaster Movistar.
Thomas Frank’s Spurs, who qualified for the Champions League after winning last season’s Europa League, edged Villarreal 1-0 in North London.
The match was decided by a farcical early own goal from Villarreal goalkeeper Luiz Junior, who contrived to let Lucas Bergvall’s cross trickle into the net.
The victory maintained Tottenham’s impressive form under new boss Frank. “It was a very even game that we just edged,” he told broadcaster Amazon Prime.
Juventus against Dortmund in Turin was a repeat of the 1997 final won by the Germans, and the fixture more than lived up to its billing, finishing in a spectacular 4-4 draw.
Remarkably the first half ended goalless, with the breakthrough coming seven minutes after half-time when Karim Adeyemi put the visitors ahead from a fine low strike.
Kenan Yildiz equalised with a stunning effort high into the top corner just after the hour mark, only for Felix Nmecha to put Dortmund back in front in style.
Dusan Vlahovic made it 2-2, but Yan Couto restored the Bundesliga side’s advantage and they appeared to have sewn up the points when Ramy Bensebaini converted a penalty in the 86th minute.
However, Vlahovic pulled one back in the 94th minute and then crossed for Lloyd Kelly to head home in the sixth minute of stoppage time, rounding off an extraordinary evening.
There was similar drama in Lisbon, where Benfica seemed to be cruising at home to Qarabag after Enzo Barrenechea and Vangelis Pavlidis scored early goals.
However, Leandro Andrade pulled one back for the club from Azerbaijan before Camilo Duran equalised and Oleksiy Kashchuk turned and fired in from inside the area four minutes from time to make it 3-2.
It is the first time Qarabag have ever won a match in the Champions League proper.
Union Saint-Gilloise qualified after winning a first Belgian title in 90 years and they recorded a 3-1 victory away to PSV Eindhoven.
Promise David, Anouar Ait El Hadj and Kevin Mac Allister scored their goals in the Netherlands before Ruben van Bommel pulled one back. (JapanToday)
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)
President Emmanuel Macron has named close ally Sébastien Lecornu as the new French prime minister, 24 hours after a vote of confidence ousted François Bayrou as head of government.
Lecornu, 39, was among the favourites to take over, and he has spent the past three years as armed forces minister focusing on France’s response to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
In a statement the Elysée Palace said Lecornu – the seventh PM in the Macron presidency – had been given the task of consulting political parties with the aim of adopting France’s next budget.
Pushing through a budget as head of a minority government was what brought down Bayrou, with left and far-right opponents condemning Lecornu’s appointment.
Bayrou had visited the president hours earlier to hand in his resignation, paving the way for Sébastien Lecornu to become the fifth prime minister of Macron’s second term as president.
Lecornu wrote on social media that he had been entrusted by the president with “building a government with clear direction: defending our independence and our strength, serving the French people, and [ensuring] political and institutional stability for the unity of our country”.
His immediate task is tackling France’s spiralling public debt, which hit €3.3tn (£2.8tn) earlier this year and represents 114% of the country’s economic output or GDP.
Bayrou had proposed €44bn in budget cuts, and his decision to put his plans to a vote of confidence was always going to fail. In the end France’s National Assembly decided to oust his government by 364 votes to 194.
Lecornu’s appointment was welcomed by centrist allies such as Marc Fesneau from Bayrou’s MoDem party. He called on every political force to reach a compromise – “for the stability of the country and its recovery, especially its budget”.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon of the radical left France Unbowed was unimpressed, complaining that nothing had changed and it was time for Macron’s departure from the presidency.
There had been suggestions that Macron might try to approach the centre left to broaden his minority government, and Olivier Faure of the Socialists had offered his services the night before.
It soon became clear that Faure would not be getting the call: “I slept pretty soundly so I didn’t hear the phone ring.”
On the far right, Marine Le Pen said the president was ”giving Macronism its last shot from his bunker, along with his little circle of loyalists”.
France has had a hung parliament since Macron surprised his country by calling snap national elections last year, after a poor performance in the June 2024 European vote. There are broadly three main political blocs: the left, far right and the centre.
Édouard Philippe, who was Macron’s first prime minister from 2017-20, thought Lecornu was a good choice as he had learned a lot as defence minister.
“I’ve known him for a long time because he was elected like me in Normandy,” the Horizons party leader told TF1 TV. “He knows how to debate and he’ll need this talent for debate and listening to find a deal in circumstances he knows are pretty complicated.”
Philippe believed Lecornu would have to find some way of bringing the Socialists on board. It was certainly possible to find a majority and also necessary, he thought, because without a compromise on a budget deal, a fresh political crisis would erupt and new elections would be inevitable.
More immediately, a grassroots movement called Bloquons Tout – “Let’s Block Everything” – is planning widespread anti-government protests on Wednesday and authorities are planning to deploy 80,000 police.
Then on Friday the credit agency Fitch will reassess France’s debts and could make its borrowing costs higher if it lowers its rating from AA-. (BBC)
The Nigerian military is set to immortalise its history and honour fallen heroes with the establishment of a world-class Armed Forces Museum in Abuja.
The proposed facility will occupy about 10 acres of land in the Federal Capital Territory and is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2026.
Also, the museum will not only preserve artefacts and records of military service but also generate jobs for veterans and civilians, create sustainable revenue through tourism and corporate partnerships, and provide immersive multilingual educational experiences for schools nationwide.
Speaking during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Defence Headquarters and Empower 54 Africa Initiative on Wednesday, the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, described the project as a legacy initiative designed to preserve Nigeria’s military heritage and ensure that the sacrifices of service members are never forgotten.
“Museums are vital custodians of national memory. We want a museum that restores Nigeria to a global standard, serves as a pride to our service members and families, and ensures that the sacrifices of our heroes are never forgotten,” Musa said.
Earlier, Rear Admiral Olusanya Bankole, Chief of Defence Civil-Military Relations, explained that a multidisciplinary steering committee had been constituted to ensure the project meets international standards.
The committee includes representatives from the military services and heritage preservation experts.
“After extensive research and due diligence, we selected Empower 54 as our strategic partner for implementation. Their proven project management capabilities and experience in building sustainable partnerships are key to delivering a world-class facility within the specified timelines,” Bankole said.
He added that the museum, to be known as the Armed Forces Museum, was chosen from three proposed names, reflecting the unity of the services under one national identity.
Nigeria’s Armed Forces have played a central role in the country’s history since its independence in 1960.
From peacekeeping operations across Africa to major engagements in the Nigerian Civil War (1967–1970), counter-insurgency campaigns against Boko Haram and ISWAP, and ongoing efforts to stabilise communities affected by banditry, the military has consistently been at the heart of national security and regional peace.
Despite this legacy, Nigeria has lacked a centralised, modern museum that documents these contributions in line with global practice.
Countries like the United States, Britain, and South Africa already boast military museums that serve as both educational centres and tourist attractions, preserving artefacts, oral histories, and stories of valour for future generations.
The proposed Armed Forces Museum is expected to consolidate these efforts under one roof, creating a unified national institution. (Punch)
The Independent National Electoral Commission on Wednesday officially recognised the David Mark-led leadership of the African Democratic Congress.
This development followed a period of internal restructuring within the party, which culminated in the emergence of new national officers aimed at repositioning the ADC ahead of future electoral contests.
Alongside Mark, other principal officers now officially acknowledged by INEC include Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola as National Secretary, Dr. Ibrahim Mani as National Treasurer, Akibu Dalhatu as National Financial Secretary, and Professor Oserheimen Aigberaodion Osunbor as National Legal Adviser.
With this formal endorsement, the ADC leadership is expected to commence a nationwide reconciliation and mobilisation effort, as the party seeks to strengthen its presence across the country ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The leadership transition began on July 2, when outgoing National Chairman Ralph Nwosu announced the appointment of David Mark as interim chairman and Aregbesola as interim secretary.
Nwosu said the previous leadership had voluntarily stepped down to allow for fresh direction and leadership.
However, the process was delayed due to improper documentation from the Excos. INEC had yet to update its records at the time, still listing Nwosu and Said Abdullahi as National Chairman and Secretary, respectively. Other listed officers included Kelvin Alagoa (Treasurer), Ifeyinwa Ntima (Financial Secretary), and Barr. Ujunwa Onwuasoeze (Legal Adviser).
As per INEC regulations, parties must submit formal documentation—including resolutions, verified signatures, and evidence of due process in order for leadership changes to be recognised. (Punch)
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)
The Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday refused a bail application filed by five men accused of being members of the Al-Shabaab terrorist group and of carrying out the deadly attack on St Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State.
Recall, on June 5, 2022, during Pentecost Sunday Mass at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in State, which claimed the lives of more than 40 worshippers and left over 100 others injured.
On August 11, 2025, five suspects were arraigned before the Federal High Court in Abuja on nine terrorism charges. The men were alleged to belong to the Al Shabaab terrorist group and accused of plotting additional attacks. They all pleaded not guilty and were remanded in the custody of the Department of State Services.
The trial judge, Justice Emeka Nwite, dismissed the application, holding that the terrorism charges against the defendants were capital offences and that releasing them on bail would pose a significant security risk.
The defendants — Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza, Al Qasim Idris, Jamiu Abdulmalik, Abdulhaleem Idris and Momoh Otuho Abubakar — had, through their lawyer, Abdullahi Awwal Ibrahim, filed a bail application dated August 11, 2025 and argued on August 19.
Their counsel argued that the defendants had secured “reliable and responsible sureties” to stand for them if granted bail.
However, the plaintiff – the Department of State Services, represented by Dr Callistus Eze, opposed the application, warning that the men might abscond due to the gravity of the charges and the strength of evidence against them.
The DSS also argued that admitting them to bail could intimidate witnesses and jeopardise the trial.
Justice Nwite agreed with the prosecution, ruling that the defendants had failed to provide cogent and verifiable reasons for their release and had not presented credible sureties. He added that granting them bail would amount to “judicial risk”.
The judge also noted procedural defects in the bail application, pointing out that the names of the five defendants were not listed on the motion paper as required by law. In addition, the application was supported by a joint two-paragraph affidavit, contrary to the requirement that each defendant must provide a separate affidavit.
The five accused are facing multiple terrorism-related charges under the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, including Membership of Al-Shabab’s Kogi State cell, participation in meetings where the Owo church attack was planned.
Possession of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and AK-47 rifles, detonating explosives at St Francis Catholic Church in June. 5, 2022, resulting in the deaths of more than 40 people and injuries to over 100 others.
The horrific attack at St Francis Catholic Church shocked the nation and drew widespread condemnation both locally and internationally. It was one of the deadliest terrorist incidents in Nigeria in recent years, raising concerns about the spread of extremist networks beyond the North-East, where Boko Haram and ISWAP have been most active.
Justice Nwite ordered that the accused remain in DSS custody and granted an accelerated hearing of the case, fixing October 19, 2025, for the commencement of trial. (Punch)
The Kano State Police Command has arrested three suspects linked to an armed robbery incident at Abuja and recovered a stolen vehicle.
The Command’s Public Relations Officer, SP Abdullahi Haruna, confirmed the arrest of the suspects in a statement on Wednesday.
“On the directives of the Commissioner of Police, the Command in a sustained surveillance operation and in collaboration with the local Vigilante apprehended the suspects on 6th September 2025,” he said.
Haruna gave the names of the suspects as Ismail Imran, 20, Abdulaziz Yahaya, 31; and Musa Ibrahim Isah, 29 years old; all of Rigasa Quarters, Kaduna State.
He said during the operation, a 2014 model Toyota Corolla S with Registration No. KWL-78 DN, blue in color with a broken windscreen was recovered.
Haruna further explained that preliminary investigation revealed that the vehicle was stolen during an armed robbery attack on 5th September 2025, at approximately 02:00am, at Durumi, Abuja.
“The vehicle’s owner confirmed that the suspects attacked his family, critically injured one and made away with the vehicle”, he said.
The Commissioner of Police, Ibrahim Adamu Bakori, commended the operatives for their swift response and professionalism, stating that the success of this operation underscores the importance of community-centered policing as espoused by the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun,
“The suspects are currently helping the investigation to unravel the full extent of their criminal activities”, he said.
The Kano State Police Command urges members of the public to remain vigilant and report suspicious activities to the nearest police station.
“We assure the public of our commitment to ensuring the safety and security of lives and property across the state,” he added.
On Monday, September 1, 2025, PUNCH Online reported the arrest of 107 suspects involved in various crimes, including armed robbery, kidnapping, illicit drug trafficking, thuggery, motorcycle and motor vehicle theft and other social vices within August.
The state Commissioner of Police, Ibrahim Bakori, made this known while giving an update on the current security situation in the state at the command’s headquarters, Bompai.
He said the suspects who were apprehended within the last month included eight armed robbers, eight kidnappers, three human trafficking suspects and 14 suspected drug dealers. (Punch)
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