The aircraft conveying Nigeria’s Super Eagles from South Africa to Uyo for their final World Cup qualifier against the Benin Republic made an emergency landing in Luanda, Angola, on Saturday after developing a technical fault mid-air.
The ValueJet aircraft, which initially stopped in Luanda to refuel, reportedly turned back about 25 minutes after takeoff when a loud crack appeared on the aircraft’s windshield, prompting the pilot to initiate emergency procedures.
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The same aircraft had flown some members of the delegation to Polokwane on Thursday night, arriving in the South African city on Friday morning.
All players, officials, and government delegates on board were safely evacuated upon landing.
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) confirmed the incident, adding that a cracked windscreen was responsible for the emergency landing
”However, after a routine refuelling stop in Luanda, Angola (where the plane also stopped to refuel on Thursday night, and where the same plane had stopped to refuel to and from Bloemfontein in South Africa for the Matchday 8 encounter between the Super Eagles and the Bafana Bafana last month).”
”The aircraft suffered a cracked windscreen mid-air after take-off, and the pilot did well to guide the aeroplane safely back to the airport in Luanda,” the NFF said
The football federation also said plans were being made for another aircraft to fly from Lagos and pick up the delegation in Luanda.
Investigators do not expect to find any survivors at the scene of a blast at a Tennessee explosives company, officials say.
The explosion, which was felt for miles, destroyed a building at the headquarters of Accurate Energetic Systems early on Friday in Bucksnort, about an hour’s drive west of Nashville.
“More than 300 people have been through almost every square inch of this facility, and at this time, we’ve recovered no survivors,” Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis told reporters on Saturday. “It’s a great loss to our communities.”
Officials did not offer a precise death toll but have previously said 18 people were unaccounted for. Davis confirmed the operation had shifted from rescue to recovery and that investigators would use DNA testing to confirm the identities of those who died.
The factory made explosives for both military and demolition purposes.
Investigators, including agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, were still working to determine the cause of the explosion, officials said. The presence of explosives and other ordnance at the property has made searching the scene complicated.
In a statement, the company called the blast “a tragic accident”.
Tries: De Glanville, Dunn, Lawrence, Richards (2) Cons: Russell (5) Pens: Russell
Gloucester (7) 17
Bath moved to the top of the Prem table with a dominant win over West Country rivals Gloucester at the Recreation Ground.
The home side called upon British and Irish Lions Finn Russell and Will Stuart for the first time this season, with talismanic fly-half Russell playing a key role in Tom de Glanville’s early try.
Further first half-scores followed for Tom Dunn, Ollie Lawrence and Ewan Richards before Will Joseph finally got the visitors on the board.
Both teams came into the match with injury worries, with Gloucester particularly badly affected as 14 players including Jack Singleton, Lewis Ludlow and Arthur Clark remained unavailable.
Bath took advantage of that lost experience early on, De Glanville scoring the game’s opening try.
Russell’s tackle in midfield dislodged the ball, allowing Lawrence to kick ahead. Henry Arundell then outpaced two Gloucester defenders to the ball and offloaded to De Glanville who picked his spot to dot down.
Bath’s second duly followed, with Dunn the beneficiary of a rolling maul in the Gloucester 22 which slowly but surely crept towards the Gloucester line.
The home team scented blood and scored their third soon afterwards.
Arundell eluded a tackler in midfield, kicked ahead and then regathered before offloading to Tom Carr-Smith.
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A fourth try appeared inevitable and when it came it was irresistible and had Russell’s fingerprints all over it.
Following a Gloucester infringement, the fly-half instantly kicked ahead. Ross Byrne was unable to gather and Richards kicked through before regathering to slide over the line.
Gloucester improvements
In a moment of madness, Russell kicked the ball while lying in the ruck following the restart and was yellow-carded, but Gloucester were unable to immediately capitalise, losing the ball at the following lineout.
With Bath’s new attack coach, Martin Gleeson, watching on, the home side rang the changes but the new additions were unable to prevent a second Gloucester try.
For a simple set-piece move, a miss-pass found Ollie Thorley on the outside to stride over with Bath’s 14 men overstretched.
A comeback looked like it might be on the cards when Loader scored in the corner following a burst from the electric Joseph, but further reinforcements including ex-Cherry and Whites Santi Carreras and Chris Harris turned the tide back in Bath’s favour.
First, Russell settled the nerves with a short-range penalty before the hugely impressive Richards strode through following a break from Miles Reid as the Gloucester defence fragmented.
Bath thought they had a sixth try through Joe Cokanasiga, which was ruled out for an earlier knock on, but Gloucester suffered a greater blow when Seb Atkinson was forced off late on to add to George Skivington’s already lengthy injury list.
‘We controlled the game for the 80 minutes’
Bath head coach Johann van Graan told BBC Radio Bristol:
“We’re very happy with that, I thought our first 20 minutes were excellent. We were clinical, we kept on turning them around, we had control, we scored some fantastic tries.
“We were really positive tonight, unfortunate about the try just before half-time. The yellow card put us under pressure, but I thought our impact [players] at the end of the game did really well and we controlled the game for the 80 minutes.”
Bath second-row Ewan Richards spoke to BBC Radio Bristol:
“I had to fill some big boots, [with] Quinn Roux missing, Charlie Ewels and Ted Hill also. I took my chance, I love being out here with the boys, it’s special when it’s at home and a derby day.”
On scoring his second try, Richards said:
Gloucester head coach George Skivington told BBC Radio Gloucestershire:
“It was a tough first half, they had all of the pressure, all the momentum, we were camped in our own 22.
“We had a good chat at half-time and for that first 20 minutes of the second half the boys really changed the momentum of the game and put a lot of pressure on Bath.
“We had some opportunities to get that fourth try but we weren’t quite accurate enough, and at the end Bath had a flurry.
“Ultimately there are areas where we’re just not accurate enough at the moment. We’re not going to pretend that we’re fizzing yet, we’re not.
Bath: De Glanville; Cokanasiga, Lawrence, Ojomoh, Arundell; Russell (c), Carr-Smith; Obano, Dunn, Stuart, Richards, Molony, Pepper, Underhill, Bayliss.
Replacements: Tuipulotu, van Wyk, du Toit, Reid, Barbeary, le Roux, Carreras, Harris.
Yellow card: Russell.
Gloucester: C. Atkinson; Loader, Joseph, S. Atkinson, Thorley; Byrne, Williams (c); Knight, Blake, Laulala, Jordan, Alemanno, Thomas, Venter, Basham.
Actress Diane Keaton has died at the age of 79, her family have confirmed.
In a statement shared with PEOPLE, Diane’s loved ones shared that she had died in California as a spokesperson asked for privacy as the family navigate their grief.
The Oscar winning actress was best known for her work in films like The Godfather, Annie Hall, The First Wives Club and Something’s Got To Give. Keaton also worked with director Nancy Meyers multiple times on projects like the Book Club series.
She received numerous accolades throughout her career, including an Oscar, a BAFTA, Golden Globe Awards and nominations for two Emmy Awards and a Tony Award.
The late actress was romantically involved with Hollywood stars like Woody Allen, her Godfather co-star Al Pacino and Warren Beatty.
She never married but became a mother at the age of 50 when she adopted two children. She said of becoming a parent after the death of her father: “Motherhood has completely changed me. It’s just about like the most completely humbling experience that I’ve ever had.”
National treasure Bill Roache has played Coronation Street’s Ken Barlow for 65 years – but did you know he actually lied to land his first professional acting role?
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Bill Roach has played Ken Barlow for 65 years.(Image: Getty Images)
Now 93, Bill, who has been a fixture on the cobbles since the first episode of Coronation Street on December 9, 1960, recalls being invited to an audition at an address in London’s Belgrave Square.
He says: “This guy asked me to talk about myself and he said he had a part for me. He handed me the phone and the guy at the other end said there were two days work at £49 a day. He said, ‘You are a member of Equity (the actors’union) aren’t you?’ I heard this voice tell me to say ‘yes’.
“Two days later I got the contract and then I went to the Equity head office and I told them I had been offered this part and I was not a member. They told me to fill this form in.
“Normally you had to be from a drama school or had gone to theatre school. From then on, I met real actors for the first time and found out about a magazine that had all the contacts in and I wrote lots of letters.”
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Before acting, Bill, whose dad was a doctor, had a place to take up at medical college after he completed two years’ National Service in the Gulf with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, where he reached the rank of captain.
But he wanted to act, saying: “I was in the drama society at school and my mother directed, so I wanted to get into it. Every film I went to see I would take the name of the director and I would write to him. I did not get many replies!”
But after blagging his Equity card, Bill’s bravado knew no limits. He admits: “I went straight into an agent’s office one day and told a pack of lies. I knew there was a Colwyn Bay rep, I knew the names of the actors and I had been to see one or two plays there, so I said that I had been in Colwyn Bay rep.
“This agent said ‘Oh that sounds very good. I have got a job if you like it? It is a juvenile lead in Clacton-on-Sea’. I said ‘Yeah, great thank you’. “ With his foot in the door, Bill then turned to acting legend Laurence Olivier for career advice.
He says: “I knew Olivier had just formed a company of his own and knew he was playing in the West End, so I wrote a note to him. Amazingly, I got a letter back from Sir Laurence, saying ‘come to the stage door at 7.15pm and I will see you’.
“I thought ‘wow,’ so at 7pm I was there. I went in and while he was getting made up, he was telling me about how he was going to America to make a film with Marilyn Monroe. “He said to me ‘What can I do for you?’ I told him I was 35 and was finding it difficult to get work. I said ‘a word from you would be worth a million more than anything from anybody else’.
“He said to me ‘don’t give up’. I can’t tell you how wonderful that was from a man who I thought was the greatest actor in the country. His words telling me not to give up buoyed me and I left there feeling as if I was walking on air.”
Soon Bill landed a role on a weekly Play of the Week series on ITV. Then just weeks later, Corrie creator Tony Warren wanted him for a new northern soap he was writing. Bill says: “I was filming at Granada and unbeknown to me Tony Warren took the Coronation Street casting director down to the studios and pointed to me and said, ‘he is the one I want for Ken Barlow’.
“At the time, I had a little flat in Notting Hill (west London). My agent rang and said ‘I think they want you. It is for a northern comedy’. “I thought ‘I have got this lead in a play coming out. I don’t want to go back up to Manchester’. So, he rang a few days later and said ‘look, this series is only going to run for 11 weeks. It is going to go out on a Monday and a Friday, so on the Wednesday you can do your play. It is great publicity.’ I thought ‘ok, I will do it. It is only 11 weeks’. I am still waiting to go back and pick up my career!”
In Coronation Street, Bill has worked with greats like Violet Carson, who played the fearsome Ena Sharples, Doris Speed who was the original Rovers Return landlady Annie Walker and Pat Phoenix, who played fiery Elsie Tanner.. “Doris Speed was a real character,” he says. “We used to have a bridge room in the rehearsal room and if she ever had a good hand she would stand up. That would not be very good in poker, but she had the authority which was very good.”
“Also, when the show first started it was supposed to be called Florizel Street. They had to get the right title and they changed it to Coronation Street. I mean Florizel? That sounds like a sanitary detergent.”
He recalls Frank Pemberton, who played his father Frank Barlow, struggling with some of the live scenes. He says: “In the early days, we did the first show live and the second one was recorded, but it was done as live. Frank often used to get into trouble with his words. “One day he wrote a word on his hard boiled egg on the living room table on the set. But I saw him smash it before he got to the word he needed to remember. Thankfully, he managed to get through it!” And he reveals how he thinks Corrie’s success is down to its realism.
He says: “When I joined the cast there were only about 15 of us and nobody was really that well known. It really hit the pulse of the nation. It was a time when realism was sweeping through the theatre. Like we had Marlon Brando and James Dean in the films and Look Back in Anger in the theatre. It was kitchen sink drama, so that was it. We zoomed to the top of the ratings and we have not been out of the top 10 in 65 years.”
Ken Barlow’s popularity has also never waned. Something of a ladies’ man, he‘s enjoyed romances with a string of characters, played by stars including Dame Joanna Lumley, Denise Black and even Hollywood icon Stephanie Beacham. But his favourite was, of course, the late Anne Kirkbride, who played Deirdre for 21 years – who he married twice.
Paying tribute to Anne, who died aged 60 from cancer in 2015, Bill says: “I was so lucky. I remember a writer once saying ‘Ken and Deirdre should be together’. There was always a laugh when she was around. She was a brilliant actress. Absolutely spot on with her lines and her comedy timing was immaculate. She was a perfect acting partner and was a lovely person too. I really miss her.
“Anne Reid played my first wife and she has done incredibly well. We met recently for my birthday and all we did was laugh. She was such a good wife and Ken really loved her.” Bill also has fond memories of working with actress Julie Goodyear, now 83, who played Street firebrand and ex Rovers landlady Bet Lynch for almost 37 years.
In 2023, Goodyear’s husband Scott Brand revealed she had dementia. Bill says of Julie: “She did some wonderful scenes. She was a powerhouse and that came out of the camera and into your homes. ” Meanwhile, Bill says he would like to keep working on the cobbles until he is 100 – if the director is prepared to put up with him laughing while he tries to remember his lines. .
He says: “Once the director upstairs said to me ‘now, just stop it. It is unprofessional. I am coming downstairs’. I remember he came down and someone had a paper hat and they put it on my head. So I am sitting there with a paper hat on and he lectured us on how we were being unprofessional, but once you start (giggling) you can’t stop. The more angry someone gets the more you do it. I am absolutely terrible.”
His Corrie family will certainly be happy to raise a pint to Ken in The Rovers on his centenary – and the more laughs the merrier!
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The Duchess of Sussex made her debut at Paris Fashion Week, following in the shadow of other royals before her, with former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond highlighting how Meghan’s trip marks the beginning of her foray into the fashion world
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Jennie Bond believes Meghan could break into the fashion world(Image: Getty)
Meghan Markle made her debut at Paris Fashion Week at the Balenciaga show for their Spring/Summer 2026 womenswear design showcase, which she attended to support her fashion designer friend Pierpaolo Piccioli.
The Duchess of Sussex ’s appearance turned heads for several reasons, from her divisive outfit to her seemingly awkward encounter with former Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour. Now, former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond has shed light on Meghan’s first trip to Europe in two years, noting some major likenesses from Meghan’s trip, to other royals’ appearances at glitzy fashion events. Meghan has long shared her love of fashion, becoming a style icon for many fans online, and Jennie believes that her invitation to the high-profile runway show could signify her foray into the fashion world.
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She told the Mirror : “Well, it’s a long way to go for the chance to dress up, but she obviously thought it was worth the effort. You can see from the interest in her at the show, including a greeting from Anna Wintour, that the fashion world values Meghan.
“And she is likely to become more and more interested in the fashion world, with all the collaborations and commercial opportunities it can offer. And that’s fine. She’s a pretty woman and is now free to do as she pleases.”
Jennie pointed out how both the late Queen and the late Princess Diana also attended past fashion week events, but under very different circumstances than Meghan’s surprise trip to the French capital.
The royal expert said: “As a working royal she could obviously have openly supported British fashion, but without any fringe benefits like complete freebies or paid endorsements. The late Queen made a front row appearance at London Fashion Week in 2018 and seemed to enjoy it very much, sitting next to Anna Wintour.
“Diana, with her statuesque figure and global adoration, was an even bigger draw. But, even after she separated from Charles, she wasn’t a regular at fashion shows. When she did go, as in London in 1995, it was obvious that the massive media interest in her (far greater than the interest in Meghan) was intrusive and embarrassing.”
While in Paris, Meghan drew a lot of criticism for posting a video of her being driven through the city, which many royal fans pointed out was close to the site where Princess Diana died in 1997.
Meghan posted the video after attending a Balenciaga fashion show, in which she had her feet up on the car seat and then showed off the nearby sights, which included the Pont Alexandre III and the Pont des Invalides bridges, which are on the iconic River Seine.
From the clip, it seems she was heading towards the Pont d’Alma bridge, which is next to the Pont d’Alma tunnel where Princess Diana, Dodi Fayed and their driver Henri Paul died in a car crash in August 1997.
According to Jennie, while Meghan’s video may not have been intentional, it still struck the wrong cord with many royal fans and she should issue an apology.
“I think Meghan’s Instagram post of being driven at night so close to the tunnel where Diana died was highly insensitive — but unintentionally so,” she said. “She should have thought about it harder but, like so many people these days, it’s all about sharing your life instantly without considering the implications.
“I’m sure it’s the last thing Meghan meant to do, why would she want to upset her husband? But perhaps she should have posted a follow- up explaining her mistake, and apologising.”
