Today’s horoscope for October 17 as Scorpio is rewarded for helping others

Today’s horoscope for Friday, October 17 will see one star sign perservere with new goals, as another takes a short break to recharge

It’s Friday, and one star sign is irritated by a relative, while another lays the foundation for future happiness .

There are 12 zodiac signs – Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces – and the horoscopes for each can give you the lowdown on what your future holds, be it in work, your love life, your friends and family or more.

These daily forecasts have been compiled by astrologer Russell Grant, who has been reading star signs for over 50 years. From Aries through to Pisces, here’s what today could bring for your horoscope – and what you can do to be prepared.

Aries (Mar 21 – Apr 20)

Your partner or a close friend will say or do something that takes you by surprise. A person you meet in a group setting will remind you of someone you knew in the past. Conversations around you will be lively with a few twists and turns. Events will certainly be entertaining.

Taurus (Apr 21 – May 21)

Information regarding your personal life will somehow get out in public. This may include details about your possessions, financial status, a gift you received or funding you applied for. You’re annoyed as this is no-one’s business but your own and you would like to know how it got out in the open.

Gemini (May 22 – June 21)

Taking some time off from work and your usual activities can be therapeutic. Recently you’ve been burning the candle at both ends. It is time to extinguish that flame and allow yourself a chance to rest. A short break will be beneficial for your well-being.

Cancer (June 22 – July 23)

An unexpected chance to travel will come your way. You won’t be expecting it but a strange twist in events will lead you down some interesting paths. You might learn something intriguing from a mentor or someone will offer to teach you a useful skill.

Leo (July 24 – Aug 23)

A friend’s strange behaviour is creating a distance between you. Try to resist the urge to intrude into their personal affairs. Even if you have access to certain information, it would be best to avoid reading their messages. You want to understand them better but wait until they’re ready to talk to you.

Virgo (Aug 24 – Sept 23)

Factors that have an impact on your health will lead you to become more aware or conscious of your eating habits and the nutrients in your diet. You might also be considering your living situation and your social life and how these affect your overall well-being.

Libra (Sept 24 – Oct 23)

A creative project will be a refreshing way to divert your mind from something that is upsetting you. Get stuck into a world of clay or paint and let your imagination flow. Jot down some of the funny thoughts that come into your head and share them later with friends. You won’t be the only one who finds these amusing.

Scorpio (Oct 24 – Nov 22)

People want to let you know how much they appreciate the help you have given them recently. You never did this for gain but gifts, treats and money are heading your way. Someone will offer to do you a favour. It would offend them if you turned them down.

Sagittarius (Nov 23 – Dec 21)

Your aim now is to make progress in areas that are important to you. You have the potential to succeed in what matters most to you now and you know this will require a lot of dedication and perseverance in addition to utilising your natural talents.

Capricorn (Dec 22 – Jan 20)

Taking a short break when you need it will be beneficial. Keep telling yourself you aren’t running a sprint but rather a long-distance marathon. Your ability to conserve and manage your strength as well as to recharge your energy whenever possible will be vital to your eventual success.

Aquarius (Jan 21 – Feb 19)

A relative is starting to get on your nerves. It’s up to you to avoid getting caught up in their manipulative tactics. By not responding to provocative comments they will lose interest and start looking for someone else to bother. It takes two to tango.

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Pisces (Feb 20 – Mar 20)

Family connections deepen and this is what is going to lay the foundation for your future happiness. Finding balance and harmony in your life can help you push through challenging situations that might otherwise disrupt your peace and affect your sleep.

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Charlie Puth announces he is expecting his first child with wife Brooke Sansone

The unique way singer Charlie Puth has announced he is expecting his first child with wife Brooke Sansone has been branded the “best baby reveal in history” as fans share excitement

Singer Charlie Puth used his new music video to announce his wife’s pregnancy news.

On Thursday, October 16 the 33-year-old singer revealed that he and wife Brooke Sansone are expecting their first child. It comes shortly after the couple’s one-year wedding anniversary on September 7.

They went Instagram official in December 2022, when Puth shared some photo booth pictures from his 31st birthday. They then made their red-carpet debut in February 2023 at Clive Davis’ Pre-Grammy Gala in Los Angeles.

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Their romance blossomed and they tied the knot on September 17 2024 and now 2026 will no doubt be the most exciting year yet for the pair as they are set to welcome their first child together.

Sharing a clip of the music video to Instagram Charlie can be seen standing next to Brooke, 26, on a life-size red toy keyboard for the special announcement.

Brooke, in a ribbed red sweater and blue jeans, coordinating with the music artist’s button-up blue shirt, faded jeans and red tie. She cradled her stomach before her husband affectionately looked at her and then placed his hands on top of hers..

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On Instagram Charlie captioned a snippet of the video: “There’s been some changes…” and fans took to the comments to express their joy at the news.

One follower wrote: “Such a fun announcement! Congrats to you both!” Another said: “Baby puth is coming!! congratulations!” A third wrote: “Best baby reveal in history”.

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A number of celebrities took tot he comments to share their well wishes. American talk show host Oprah commented: “We welcome a new baby Puth to the neighborhood. Call if you need a sitter.”

Israeli Maccabi Tel Aviv football fans barred from Europa League game in UK

Fans of the Israeli football team Maccabi Tel Aviv have been barred from attending a Europa League game against Aston Villa in the United Kingdom next month because of security concerns, the English club said.

Birmingham City’s Safety Advisory Group (SAG) – the body responsible for issuing safety certificates for matches at Villa Park, where the game is to be played – informed Aston Villa that Maccabi Tel Aviv away fans will not be permitted to attend.

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Aston Villa confirmed in a statement on Thursday that the “club has been informed that no away fans may attend the UEFA Europa League match with Maccabi Tel Aviv on Thursday, November 6, following an instruction from the Safety Advisory Group”.

“Police have advised the SAG that they have public safety concerns outside the stadium bowl and the ability to deal with any potential protests on the night,” the club said.

West Midlands Police said they had classified the match as high risk based on “current intelligence and previous incidents, including violent clashes and hate crime offences that occurred during the 2024 UEFA Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv in Amsterdam”.

“Based on our professional judgement, we believe this measure will help mitigate risks to public safety,” the police force said.

Last year’s clashes in Amsterdam between pro-Palestinian supporters and Israeli fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv led to dozens of arrests and five people imprisoned.

While accusations of anti-Semitic attacks quickly circulated following the clashes in Amsterdam on November 6 and 7, reports soon emerged of Israeli fans provoking the violence and of rampaging through the Dutch capital, assaulting residents, destroying symbols of Palestinian solidarity and chanting racist and genocidal slogans against Palestinians and Arabs.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, and the London-based Jewish Leadership Council have all criticised the ban.

Starmer said in a post on social media that the ban was “the wrong decision”.

“The role of the police is to ensure all football fans can enjoy the game, without fear of violence or intimidation,” he said.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Saar described the ban as a “shameful decision” and called on authorities in the UK to “reverse this coward decision”.

The Jewish Leadership Council said it was “perverse that away fans should be banned from a football match because West Midlands Police can’t guarantee their safety”.

“Aston Villa should face the consequences of this decision and the match should be played behind closed doors,” the organisation added in a statement.

The move to ban away fans from the fixture in Birmingham comes amid growing calls to ban Israeli football teams from international competition over Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

“We collected and verified extensive evidence of this systematic instrumentalisation of football culture in genocide,” Ashish Prashar – a campaign director at Game Over Israel, which has been pushing to ban Israel from FIFA and UEFA, told Al Jazeera. “This report integrates findings — from stadium racism, to assaults in Europe, to soldiers turning genocide into football propaganda — and demonstrates why Israel’s place in global sport is indefensible.”

More than 30 legal experts wrote earlier this month to UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin, saying that banning Israel from competitions was “imperative”, citing a report by United Nations investigators that confirmed Israel is carrying out a genocide against Palestinians.

The signatories highlighted the damage that Israel is inflicting on the sport and athletes in Gaza.

“These acts have decimated an entire generation of athletes, eroding the fabric of Palestinian sport,” the experts said.

“The failure of the Israel Football Association (IFA) to challenge these violations implicates it in this system of oppression, rendering its participation in UEFA competitions untenable,” they said.

US carries out new drug boat strike in Caribbean, as admiral resigns

The United States military has reportedly carried out a strike on another alleged drug smuggling vessel, as the admiral overseeing the Trump administration’s controversial campaign in the Caribbean announced his shock departure.

A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the strike on Thursday. The official said that, in what appeared to be a first, there were also survivors among the crew.

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The official did not offer additional details about the incident, which has not been previously reported. The Pentagon and US President Donald Trump are yet to publicly confirm the attack.

Prior to this latest strike, the US had carried out five attacks on alleged drug smuggling vessels in the Caribbean since early September, killing at least 27 people.

The strikes have drawn the condemnation of legal experts, rights groups and Democratic lawmakers, who criticise their extrajudicial nature and question whether they adhere to US and international law.

The Trump administration argues the strikes are legitimate as the US is already engaged in a war with “narco-terrorist” groups from Venezuela, and drug traffickers are unlawful combatants who must be met with military force.

Venezuela has repeatedly condemned the strikes, most recently on Thursday when Caracas’s ambassador to the United Nations, Samuel Moncada, called on the UN Security Council to investigate what he called the “series of assassinations”.

In his speech, Moncada described an attack on a small boat in the Caribbean on Tuesday – the most recent to be confirmed by President Trump – as a “new set of extrajudicial executions”.

Six people were killed in that attack, including reportedly two fishermen from Trinidad and Tobago, whom Moncada referenced in his speech.

“There is a killer prowling the Caribbean,” Moncada said, holding up local newspaper The Trinidad and Tobago Guardian, which featured a story detailing the lives of the two men.

Only a couple of miles separate Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago, with the ongoing military strikes spooking fishermen in the Caribbean island dual-nation.

“People from different countries … are suffering the effects of these massacres,” he added. “There is no justification at all … They are fabricating a war.”

Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar is yet to comment. Following Washington’s first strike on a vessel on September 3, she said, “I have no sympathy for traffickers; the US military should kill them all violently”.

The strikes come against the backdrop of an unprecedented US military buildup in the Caribbean, as President Trump escalates a standoff with the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Since late August, the US has deployed guided missile destroyers, F-35 fighter jets, a nuclear submarine and about 6,500 troops to the region with the stated goal of combating drug trafficking.

Trump has also floated the idea of conducting land strikes against Venezuelan cartels, while he authorised the CIA to conduct covert operations inside the country on Wednesday.

Caracas has accused Washington of attempting to overthrow Maduro – whom the US accuses of leading a narco-empire and has offered a $50m reward for – to instigate regime change in the nominally socialist South American country.

Speaking in a televised address following Trump’s authorisation of ground operations in Venezuela, Maduro spoke directly to the US public as he declared “no to CIA-orchestrated coups d’etat”.

“No to regime change, which reminds us so much of the endless, failed wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and so on,” he said.

Also on Thursday, the US admiral overseeing the strikes in the Caribbean announced he will retire just a year into his tenure.

Admiral Alvin Holsey, the head of US Southern Command that is responsible for forces operating in Central and South America, did not provide an explanation for his departure, which comes two years ahead of schedule.

“Effective 12 December 2025 I will retire from the US Navy,” Holsey said in a statement posted on Southern Command’s X account.

“It’s been an honor to serve our nation, the American people and support and defend the Constitution for over 37 years,” he added.

In a post on X, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth praised Holsey’s career and said the admiral “demonstrated unwavering commitment to mission, people, and nation”.

Fulham vs Arsenal: Premier League – teams, start time, lineups

Who: Fulham vs Arsenal
What: English Premier League
Where: Craven Cottage in London, United Kingdom
When: Saturday, October 18, at 5:30pm (16:30 GMT)
How to follow: We’ll have all the build-up on Al Jazeera Sport from 2:30pm (13:30 GMT) in advance of our live text commentary stream.

Premier League leaders Arsenal will be the heavy favourites when they travel to Fulham on Saturday, but London derbies usually give the underdogs more than a fighting chance, as former Gunners manager Arsene Wenger always used to bemoan.

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The Gunners, who have finished second in the table for the last three seasons, have not won the league since Wenger’s era. Fulham, meanwhile, have hit a blip and languish in 14th position.

Al Jazeera Sport takes a look at a game where the west Londoners will hope to upset the formbook against their north London visitors.

How have Arsenal fared this season?

Arsenal opened their season with an unconvincing 1-0 win at a surprisingly dominant Manchester United, and have rarely looked back. The Gunners have won eight of their 10 matches in all competitions this season; the only times they have failed to win in the league were the narrowest of 1-0 defeats at defending champions Liverpool and a 1-1 home draw with Manchester City, although that did require a 90th-minute leveller from Gabriel Martinelli.

The Gunners are yet to concede more than one goal in a game this season, and have only conceded twice in their last seven games. At the other end, 20 goals have been scored in their 10 games.

How have Fulham fared this season?

After a bright start, the west Londoners have suffered back-to-back defeats in the Premier League. One defeat and four wins in their seven games so far, continued the feel-good factor that manager Marco Silva has brought to the Cottagers. Two of the four wins this season have come in the League Cup, but back-to-back league wins, either side of the latest cup win, had appeared to kickstart Fulham’s season.

Both recent defeats, by Aston Villa and Bournemouth, did come on the road, and Fulham remain unbeaten in five matches on home soil this season, where they have only dropped points once – and that after a fine second-half display against Manchester United in their first home game of the campaign.

When did Arsenal last win the Premier League?

The Gunners last lifted the Premier League trophy in 2004 when Wenger’s side were dubbed the “Invincibles” as they went unbeaten through the English top-flight season.

How many times have Arsenal won the Premier League?

The Gunners have lifted the league title in England on 13 occasions, with their first top-flight trophy coming in 1931. They would go on to win the title three times in the four seasons that followed. Wenger’s era was the most successful thereafter, with the Premier League trophy lifted in 1998, 2002 and 2004.

Have Fulham ever won the Premier League?

Fulham have never lifted the English top-flight title and are one of a limited number of teams in the two top divisions in England to have never lifted a major trophy. The highest domestic title the Cottagers have claimed is the second-tier title, which has been won on three occasions – the last being in 2022. Fulham have also been runners-up in the FA Cup and UEFA Europa League in 1975 and 2010, respectively.

What happened the last time Fulham played Arsenal?

Title-chasing Arsenal beat Fulham 2-1 at Emirates Stadium in the Premier League in April in the last meeting between the clubs. Mikel Merino and Bukayo Saka gave the Gunners a two-goal lead before Rodrigo Muniz’s 90th-minute strike set up a nervy finish.

What happened in the corresponding fixture between Fulham and Arsenal last season?

The Premier League game at Craven Cottage last season ended in a 1-1 draw in December. Raul Jimenez gave the home side the lead in the 11th minute, but William Saliba cancelled that out seven minutes into the second half of a game short on chances but heavily dominated by the Gunners’ possession of the ball.

Head-to-head

This is the 66th meeting between the Londoners, with Arsenal winning on 43 occasions and Fulham emerging victorious nine times.

Fulham’s last win against Arsenal came at Craven Cottage in December 2023, with Raul Jimenez and Bobby De Cordova-Reid turning the game in the home side’s favour after an early strike from Bukayo Saka.

It was the second Premier League meeting between the teams that season, with the reverse fixture ending 2-2 in north London.

It also marked Fulham’s first win in 12 matches against the Gunners.

Fulham team news

Midfielder Sasa Lukic has been an ever-present for Fulham in the Premier League this season, but picked up an adductor injury in the Cottagers’ final match before the international break.

The Serbian international is likely to be out for at least two more weeks and joins Kenny Tete and Rodrigo Muniz on the sidelines, the latter pair having knee and hamstring problems, respectively.

Raul Jimenez missed the defeat at Bournemouth before the break after sustaining an injury in the defeat at Villa, and the striker is a doubt for the visit of Arsenal. Samuel Chukwueze also picked up a knock in Nigeria’s win against Benin on Tuesday, but the extent of the injury is not yet fully known.

Arsenal team news

Martin Odegaard remains sidelined with a knee injury, but it is hoped the playmaker may return to face Tottenham Hotspur next weekend.

Kai Havertz and Noni Madueke are both also expected to return from knee injuries for that game, but the Fulham match comes too soon.

Gabriel Jesus could be back before the turn of the year – he, too, has a knee problem; Ben White is a minor doubt after missing training on Thursday. Piero Hincapie is expected to return from a knock.

Fulham predicted starting lineup

Leno; Diop, Bassey, Andersen; Castagne, Berge, Cairney, Sessegnon; Wilson, Iwobi; King

Arsenal possible starting lineup

Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori; Eze, Zubimendi, Rice; Saka, Gyokeres, Trossard

Fulham and Arsenal Premier League form guides

Fulham’s last five EPL matches (most recent game last):

 L-W-W-L-L

Arsenal’s last five EPL matches –