Nottingham Forest striker Taiwo Awoniyi has had “urgent” surgery on a serious abdominal injury sustained in last Sunday’s Premier League match with Leicester.
The Nigeria international, 27, collided with the post in the 88th minute of the 2-2 draw at the City Ground as he attempted to get on the end of a cross from Anthony Elanga.
He received treatment on the pitch and was able to continue but was visibly struggling when the match restarted.
“The club can confirm Taiwo Awoniyi has undergone urgent surgery following an abdominal injury sustained during Sunday’s match against Leicester City,” said a Forest statement.
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Awoniyi, who joined Forest from Union Berlin in June 2022, had only been on the pitch for five minutes having come on as a late substitute for Ibrahim Sangare.
Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis indicated in an Instagram post that his decision to march on to the pitch at the full-time whistle had been in part due to his view on how the injury suffered by Awoniyi had been handled.
“Everybody – coaching staff, players, supporters and including myself – we were frustrated around the injury of Taiwo and the medical staff’s misjudgement on Taiwo’s ability to continue the game,” Marinakis said.
“This is natural, this is a demonstration of the passion we feel for our club.”
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) says it is disbanding after more than 40 years of armed struggle against the Turkish state.
The announcement came after the PKK held its congress in northern Iraq on Friday, about two months after its imprisoned founder, Abdullah Ocalan, also known as “Appo”, called on the group to disarm in February.
For most of its history, the PKK has been labelled a terrorist group by Turkiye, the European Union and the United States. It fought for Kurdish autonomy for years, a fight that has been declared over now.
This is all you need to know about why Ocalan and the PKK have given up their armed struggle.
Who is Abdullah Ocalan?
Ocalan was born to a poor Kurdish farming family on April 4, 1948, in Omerli, Sanliurfa, a Kurdish-majority part of Turkiye.
He moved to Ankara to study political science at the university there, where he became politically active; driven, biographers say, by the sense of marginalisation that many Kurds in Turkiye felt.
By the mid-1970s, he was advocating for Kurdish nationalism and went on to found the PKK in 1978.
Six years later, the group launched a separatist rebellion against Turkiye under his command.
Ocalan had absolute rule over the PKK and worked to stamp out rival Kurdish groups, monopolising the struggle for Kurdish liberation, according to Blood and Belief: The PKK and the Kurdish Fight for Independence, by Aliza Marcus.
At the time, Kurds were denied the right to speak their language, give their children Kurdish names or show any expression of nationalism.
Despite Ocalan’s authoritarian rule, his charisma and positioning as a champion of Kurdish rights led most Kurds across Turkiye to love and respect him, calling him “Appo”, which means Uncle.
What was the armed rebellion like?
Violent.
More than 40,000 people died between 1984 and 2024, with thousands of Kurds fleeing the violence in southeastern Turkiye into cities further north.
Throughout the 1980s and 90s, Ocalan led operations from neighbouring Syria, which was a source of tensions between the then-Assad regime and Turkiye.
The PKK resorted to brutal tactics beginning in the late 1980s and early 90s. According to a report by the European Council on Foreign Relations from 2007, the group, under Ocalan, kidnapped foreign tourists, adopted suicide bombing operations and attacked Turkish diplomatic offices in Europe.
Perhaps even worse, the PKK would repress Kurdish civilians who did not assist the group in its guerrilla warfare.
Supporters of pro-Kurdish DEM Party wave flags with portraits of jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan at a rally for Newroz in Istanbul, Turkiye, March 17, 2024 [Umit Bektas/Reuters]
Did Ocalan change his views?
Eventually, more than a decade after he was caught.
In 1998, Ocalan was forced to flee Syria due to the threat of a Turkish incursion to capture him. A year later, Turkish agents arrested him on a plane in Nairobi, Kenya, thanks to intel received from the US.
He was brought back to Turkiye and handed the death penalty, yet his sentence was changed to life in prison after Turkiye abolished capital punishment in 2004 in a bid to become a member of the EU.
By 2013, Ocalan changed his stance on separatism and began lobbying for comprehensive Kurdish rights and greater regional autonomy in Turkiye, saying he no longer believed in the effectiveness of armed rebellion.
This radical shift led to the start of a shaky peace process between the PKK and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), headed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The peace process led to some freedoms for Kurds, yet fighting erupted between the government and the PKK in 2015 due in part to fears that the party was trying to create a Kurdish statelet in neighbouring Syria during its civil war.
At the time, many Kurds from southern Turkiye had left for Syria to help the Kurds there fight against ISIL (ISIS).
In 2015, the AK Party had also formed a new alliance with the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), which was staunchly opposed to any peace process involving the PKK.
What’s different about this peace process?
In announcing its disarmament, the PKK said it has “completed its historical mission” by “breaking the policy of denial and annihilation of our people and bringing the Kurdish issue to a point where solving it can occur through democratic politics”.
However, analysts argue that there are other reasons behind the decision.
The PKK and its Kurdish allies in the region are more vulnerable than before due to recent developments, according to Sinan Ulgen, an expert on Turkiye and senior fellow at Carnegie Europe in Brussels.
“The reason the PKK gave up its armed struggle has to do with the change in the international context,” Ulgen explained.
US President Donald Trump does not see Syria as a “strategic focal point” for foreign policy and is, therefore, unlikely to keep supporting Kurdish armed groups in the country as it had during the fight against ISIL, he explained.
In addition, the new government in Syria is on good terms with Turkiye, unlike under the now-overthrown Assad regime.
This new relationship could significantly hurt the ability of the PKK and its Syrian offshoot, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), to operate along the Syria-Turkiye border.
MHP leader Devlet Bahceli, left, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan greet supporters at a rally while campaigning for the presidential election on May 7, 2023, in Istanbul [Burak Kara/Getty Images]
Will Turkiye follow through?
The political climate seems ripe for that.
Main political parties, such as the AK Party and its rival Republican People’s Party (CHP), have vocally or tacitly supported a new peace process.
But it was the MHP, long opposed to any overtures to the Kurds, that created the window for a new peace process.
In April 2024, MHP leader Devlet Bahceli invited Ocalan to renounce “terrorism” in front of Turkiye’s parliament in exchange for possible parole.
“The fact it was Bahceli … was kind of unbelievable,” said Sinem Adar, an expert on Turkiye with the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWB).
Bahceli’s change of heart is probably to help his coalition partner, Erdogan, run in and win the next national election, experts told Al Jazeera.
Masked Kurdish youths hold a poster of jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan during Newroz celebrations on March 21, 2025 in Diyarbakir, Turkiye [Sedat Suna/Getty Images]
Under the constitution, Erdogan cannot run for another term unless an early election is called, which needs 360 out of 600 votes in parliament.
To add the votes of Kurdish delegates from the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) to the MHP-AK Party alliance’s votes, “[Erdogan] needs to broaden his political support base in parliament over and above the current ruling alliance”, Carnegie’s Ulgen told Al Jazeera.
What happens to Ocalan now?
It is unclear if he will be released, but his prison conditions could significantly improve, said Ulgen.
He said the government would prefer to gradually increase Ocalan’s freedoms, so it can gauge the reactions of his support base and the broader public.
Many people in Turkiye still view Ocalan as a “terrorist” and blame him for a conflict that has taken the lives of so many.
United States President Donald Trump has offered to join the talks that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin suggested should be held directly with Ukraine, after criticism of the Western “ultimatums” to end the conflict between the two Slavic nations.
Trump said on Monday he was “thinking about actually flying over” to the Turkish city of Istanbul to attend the negotiations expected to take place on Thursday. The initiative was welcomed by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but there was no immediate reaction from Moscow.
“All of us in Ukraine would appreciate it if President Trump could be there with us at this meeting in Turkey. This is the right idea. We can change a lot,” Zelenskyy said.
Trump publicly asked Zelenskyy to attend, after Putin on Sunday proposed the direct talks following a rejection of a 30-day ceasefire Ukraine and its Western allies insisted should come first.
The Ukrainian leader said he would, but that Putin should also attend in person. On Tuesday, his adviser Mykhailo Podolyak reiterated that Zelenskyy would only meet Putin and no other members of the Russian delegation.
The Kremlin has made no comment on whether or not Putin will travel to Turkiye himself. “We are committed to a serious search for ways of a long-term peaceful settlement,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.
If Zelenskyy and Putin were to meet on Thursday, it would be their first face-to-face meeting since December 2019.
I have just heard President Trump’s statement. Very important words.
I supported @POTUS idea of a full and unconditional ceasefire — long enough to provide the foundation for diplomacy. And we want it, we are ready to uphold silence on our end.
I supported President Trump…
Meanwhile, Ukraine said its air defence units destroyed all 10 drones that Russia launched overnight on Tuesday. This is the lowest number of drones that Russia has launched in an overnight attack in several weeks.
The Ukrainian military’s general staff said as of 10pm (19:00 GMT) on Monday, there had been 133 clashes with Russian forces along the front line since midnight, when the ceasefire proposed by European powers was to have come into effect.
Ukraine’s top commander, Oleksandr Syrskii, was quoted by Zelenskyy as saying the heaviest fighting still gripped the Donetsk region, the focus of the eastern front, and Russia’s western Kursk region, nine months after Kyiv’s forces staged a cross-border incursion.
Meanwhile, Russia accused Ukraine of attacking its Belgorod region, with the governor Vyacheslav Gladkov saying on Tuesday that Ukrainian forces used 65 drones and more than 100 rounds of ammunition to attack his region in the past day.
Katie Price has set the record straight on her relationship with Married At First star, JJ Slater, after the pair were rumoured to have called it quits
Katie Price has broken her silence on claims she’s split with her boyfriend, JJ Slater(Image: @WeNeedToTalk-Podcast/Youtube)
Katie Price has broken her silence on claims she’s split with her boyfriend, JJ Slater. The glamour icon, 46 and Married At First Sight star, 31, have been dating for more than a year, however fans thought the couple may have secretly called it a day after noticing the pair had not appeared on each other’s Instagram for a while as well as not spending Christmas together.
Last week, Katie’s rep told the Mirror the couple were very much together and “continuing as normal”. However, on Married At First Sight guru Paul C.Brunson’s latest podcast, the Pricey made a cryptic comment about her relationship.
READ MORE: Katie Price reveals real reason for Peter Andre split and makes jaw-dropping claim
Katie Price and JJ have been dating for more than a year(Image: @katieprice/Instagram)
When told by Paul she should feel “free” and “happy” with a partner, she said: “I’ve never had that in any relationship. Never had any of them.
“And JJ, he’s the most kind, genuine, easygoing, chilled person. But do I feel my happiest and do I feel free? No. It’s not a reflection on him, maybe that’s what I need to change for myself.”
Paul, who is one of the experts on Married At First Sight UK, told her: “You need some time to yourself because you have to experience what freedom feels like.”
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Katie explained: “Freedom to me is like when I took my kids to Thailand for a month, just me and them. We felt free. Just little life experiences, seeing things, taking them to little adventures.”
The OnlyFans star, who has been married three times, then added: “I just don’t want to answer to anyone, I want them to fit in with me.”
Speaking of her concerns for her relationship with JJ, she continued: “When you meet someone, it’s natural to want to be with them all the time. Then the mistakes I’ve made in the past are then you’re with them all the time.
“It becomes literally 24/7 because I’ve never been out with someone who’s had a nine to five job.”
She went on: “They’ve always had a job where, I suppose it’s adaptable that they come with me. So in the beginning, that’s all nice, but then you get into the habit of they’re about too much, to the point you start not seeing your friends, because you’re with them all the time, and then you get into this situation where they’re so used to being with you all the time that then when you do say, ‘I’m gonna go and see a friend,’ it doesn’t seem normal because you haven’t done it.
“So I’m a bit worried that I’ve got like that with JJ.”
Despite her misgivings about spending too much time with JJ, in her recent podcast with her sister, Sophie, Katie admitted that the reality star was “The One”.
It hasn’t always been easy for the couple, though, as the former Married at First Sight contestant got a rough ride from his future brother-in-law. Harry Brooks, who is married to Katie’s sister Sophie.
When JJ, who shacked up with Ella Morgan, on Married At First Sight, after failing to click with his telly bride, Bianca, into the family group chat, Harry mused: “What… another one?”
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If you’ve been struggling with dressing for the heatwave, we’ve found a pair of denim-look trousers from Next that are the perfect cooling alternative to jeans
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Next’s denim-look trousers are perfect for summer dressing(Image: Next)
If, like me, you’re a big denim jeans fan but hate the thought of wearing something so hot and rigid in the heatwave, you’ll be pleased to hear about Next’s latest trouser drop. Enter the Mid Blue Linen Blend Wide Leg Denim Trousers, a denim/trouser hybrid that looks as put-together as wearing a pair of jeans, but feels just as breezy and comfortable as a floaty pair of trousers.
This style of trousers has been cropping up a fair amount of the past few months, and we’re not mad about it. You may have seen Rag and Bone’s viral ‘sweatpant jeans’ on your socials, but at £195, that’s a pretty steep price to pay for essentially a pair of tracksuit bottoms. And Next’s pair are priced at a slightly more wallet-friendly £48.
River Island also dropped a similar style with their Wide Leg Pyjama Style Jeans, £42, a slouchy, relaxed pair of “jeans” that feel as comfortable as pyjamas. These ones are available in classic blue, black and cream.
READ MORE: New Look’s £27 lightweight Chanel-inspired cardigan is ideal for warm weather office dressing
READ MORE: Next’s £26 ‘trendy’ barrel leg linen trousers are ‘the perfect shape’ and ideal for summer
Team with a simple t-shirt or dress them up with a button-up shirt (Image: Next)
The linen/cotton blend makes this pair far cooler than traditional denim, which is especially a lifesaver in the heatwave. The wide-leg cut gives them a flattering fit, while the pleated waistband adds structure that makes them feel more put together.
They fasten with a normal button and zip, but also feature handy subtle side adjusters so you can adjust the fit just right. And if the mid-blue colour isn’t your style, there’s a slightly deeper blue version to shop instead.
Whether you’re commuting in for a relaxed office day, heading out for a weekend brunch with your friends or off for a spontaneous post-work drink, these lightweight and stylish trousers are perfect for virtually everything.
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Alternatively, if you’re after a more affordable pair, New Look has some Blue Drawstring Waist Denim Trousers for £26.99 that feel as comfy as trousers but have a similar denim effect.
Next shoppers were impressed with the “perfect” summer dress they’ve been wearing on holiday
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Black V-Neck Ruffle Sleeve Mini Dress with Linen from Next(Image: Next)
Next shoppers are heaping praise on a “perfect” dress that’s proving popular online. The retailer is well known for it’s on-trend clothing and accessories – and one dress is becoming a fan favourite.
The V-Neck Ruffle Sleeve Mini Dress with Linen is priced at £28 and is available in a range of colours and patterns including white, animal leopard print, blue floral print, mono floral, navy vintage floral and more. It comes in regular or petite fit, in sizes six to 26.
Next has pointed out that the dress has a looser fit than usual, so it is worth noting this before purchasing. The dress features linen-blend fabric, a v-neck, short ruffled sleeves and is machine washable.
READ MORE: Next shoppers praise ‘flattering’ £28 summer midi dress that ‘doesn’t crease’
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For those still searching for the perfect summer mini dress, there are a number of option on the market. New Look has the Yellow Floral Print Mesh Mini Dress for £27.99.
Elsewhere, ASOS stocks the textured 90s swing mini dress in cream with enlarged blue floral print, which is on sale for £21, down from £26. River Island fans can snap up the Blue Denim Button Cami Dress for £32.
The full Next product description reads: “This black mini-length dress features a V-neck collar and short ruffle sleeves in a floaty linen-blend fabric. The versatile design makes this dress easy to elevate with a formal look, or your casual off-duty outfits for an everyday vibe.”
V-Neck Ruffle Sleeve Mini Dress with Linen from Next(Image: Next)
The dress has racked up rave reviews from impressed shoppers, with one saying: “Beautiful dress with a lovely fit.” A second wrote: “Wore this all holiday it is so comfortable and cool.”
A third shopper added: “Perfect dress for the summer and pretty good value for the price.” A fourth said: “Perfect for summer holiday to slip over costume.”
However, some shoppers pointed out sizing issues and warned others to size down; one said: “Love love love the dress but is huge so defo size down.” A second wrote: “Way too big and baggy.”
Next store(Image: Bloomberg, Bloomberg via Getty Images)
On the other hand, the reviews were mostly positive, with many claiming they “love” the dress. One person commented: “Beautiful fit and material I’ve had so many compliments and asked where I purchased it so sent them straight to NEXT.”
A second said: “Absolutely beautiful design it looks designer and fits absolutely perfectly I get so many compliments.” Another wrote: “This dress is ideal for both daytime and evening beachwear. Its fit is simple yet flattering. I bought it in black and white, and both colours look fantastic under the Caribbean sun.
