Brazil legend Ronaldo has pulled out of the the race to be president of the country’s football association after finding “closed doors” to his candidacy.
The 48-year-old, who was capped 98 times, was planning to challenge Confederation of Brazilian Football (CBF) president Ednaldo Rodrigues.
Rodrigues ‘ term runs until March 2026 and the presidential elections must take place in the next 12 months.
Ronaldo had pledged to “recover the prestige” of the national team when he announced his original intention to stand.
Brazil, record five-time winners of the World Cup, last won the competition in 2002 and reached the semi-finals in 2014.
However, the former Barcelona, Inter Milan and Real Madrid striker has decided to withdraw because most of Brazil’s regional federations “support the incumbent president”.
“On my first contact with the 27 regional federations, I found 23 closed doors”, Ronaldo said in a statement published on his social media channels.
“The federations refused to receive me in their homes, on the grounds of their satisfaction with the current administration and support for]Rodrigues ‘] re-election”.
Brazil’s 27 regional federations are allocated three votes each, while the 20 top-flight clubs in Brazil’s Serie A are given two votes each and the 20 second-tier Serie B sides, one vote each.
Ronaldo said he “respected” the right of federation leaders to maintain their support for Rodrigues, but was disappointed there was “no openness to dialogue”.
“The statute gives the federations the strongest vote, so it’s clear that there’s no way I can run”, he added.
“I was unable to present my project, put forward my ideas and listen to them as I would have liked”.
Rodrigues is now expected to be the sole candidate in next year’s election.
Ronaldo, a World Cup winner in 1994 and 2002, is second on the competition’s all-time top scorer list behind Germany’s Miroslav Klose with 15 goals in 19 appearances.
His international career spanned 17 years and included two Copa America titles and an Olympic bronze medal.
Pakistan’s military says at least 346 hostages have been freed from a passenger train that was hijacked by separatist fighters in Balochistan province in the country’s southwest.
A military spokesperson said the rescue operation had concluded on Wednesday and that all 33 attackers were killed.
At least 27 hostages and one paramilitary soldier were killed over the course of the standoff, security sources told Al Jazeera.
Fighters belonging to the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), a separatist group seeking Balochistan’s secession from Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the attack on the Jaffar Express train on Tuesday. Spokesman Jeeyand Baloch had said the group was ready to free passengers if authorities agreed to release jailed fighters.
The train was travelling from Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, to Peshawar, the capital of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, when it was attacked. It was carrying more than 400 passengers when it was targeted while passing through tunnels near Sibi city, about 160km (100 miles) from Quetta.
Balochistan has been struggling with a lack of security for decades. The region is home to several armed groups, including the BLA. Since 2006, the group has been banned by both Pakistan and the US, which designates it as a “terrorist” organisation.
“The army has been very active]here], last year alone it killed 225 people … So there will be question marks as to whether there was adequate security on board that train, given the security risk”, said Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder, reporting from Quetta.
“People would like to have more security on those trains because they feel unsafe and they have voiced their concerns”, Hyder said.
Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest province, home to around 15 million people, but despite its vast resources, it remains widely underdeveloped. Baloch people make up 3.6 percent of Pakistan’s population, 2 percent of Iran and 2 percent of Afghanistan.
Baloch separatists have repeatedly attacked the Jaffar Express in the last few years. It is commonly used by security personnel travelling from Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces. The last major attack on the train took place in November when a suicide bomber detonated himself at the Quetta railway station as it prepared to depart.
The BLA took responsibility for that attack, in which at least 30 people were killed.
In August 2024, attackers blew up part of a track in Balochistan, resulting in the suspension of the Jaffar Express for two months before services resumed in October. In January last year, separatists exploded another bomb on the train’s route near the Bolan area, injuring at least 13 people.
Islamabad, Pakistan – Security forces in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan say they have concluded a military operation against armed separatists who hijacked the Peshawar-bound Jaffar Express on Tuesday, rescuing 346 passengers.
Officials said the military had killed all 33 of the attackers from the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA).
The train, carrying nearly 400 passengers, had left Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, in the morning when it was intercepted by BLA fighters near a series of tunnels, about 160km (100 miles) away.
General Ahmed Sharif, director general of the Inter Services Public Relations, the military’s media wing confirmed that 27 civilians — including the train driver — and one paramilitary soldier involved in the operation had also been killed.
State Interior Minister Tallal Chaudhry told Al Jazeera that the fighters had used several hostages as “human shields”.
In recent years, the BLA has significantly expanded the scale and sophistication of its operations – conducting more than 150 attacks last year alone – culminating in this recent train hijacking.
But what is the BLA, when was it created, who are its leaders, what are the group’s demands, and how has it managed to wage a battle with the state for several years?
Why is there a secessionist movement in Balochistan?
Balochistan – Pakistan’s largest but least populous province – has a long history of marginalisation.
The province was annexed by Pakistan in 1948, six months after its partition from India in August 1947, and has witnessed several separatist movements ever since.
Home to about 15 million of Pakistan’s estimated 240 million people, according to the 2023 census, Balochistan remains the country’s poorest region despite being rich in natural resources such as coal, gold, copper, and gas. These resources generate substantial revenue for the federal government.
The province is also home to one of Pakistan’s major deep-sea ports at Gwadar, a crucial trade corridor for the $62bn China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which aims to link southwestern China to the Arabian Sea through Pakistan.
However, Baloch nationalists allege that the Pakistani state has neglected their people while exploiting the province’s resources, triggering separatist movements and armed rebellions.
When was the BLA created, and what led to its formation?
Balochistan has witnessed at least five separatist uprisings since Pakistan’s formation in 1947.
The latest wave began in the early 2000s, initially focused on securing a larger share of the province’s resources for its people but soon escalating into calls for complete independence.
With growing resentment towards the state, the BLA emerged in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Analysts studying Baloch resistance movements say it was led by Balach Marri, son of veteran Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri.
The rebellion intensified in 2006 after the government, under military ruler Pervez Musharraf, killed prominent Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Bugti.
Balach Marri was also killed a year later, and the government subsequently banned the BLA. Balach Marri’s father, Nawab Khair Baksh Marri, passed away in December 2014.
Over the years, the BLA has distinguished itself as a group committed to Balochistan’s complete independence from Pakistan.
Unlike moderate Baloch nationalist groups advocating provincial autonomy, the BLA has never pursued a middle ground.
Malik Siraj Akbar, a researcher specialising in the Baloch separatist movement, says that while the BLA’s core demand for an independent Balochistan remains unchanged, its leadership, operational geography, and strategies have evolved over time.
“Today, the BLA operates with little to no influence from the Marri tribe. Instead, its leadership has shifted to educated Baloch figures, many of whom were once part of the non-violent Baloch Students Organization (BSO)”, he told Al Jazeera.
Who are the major leaders of the BLA?
The BLA took up arms against the Pakistani state due to what it considered the federal government’s “continuous misadventures”, which, it claimed, undermined genuine political and socioeconomic progress in the province.
Akbar notes that the BLA was initially a very secretive organisation, but a significant shift occurred when leadership transitioned from Marri tribesmen to middle-class Baloch leaders.
“The new leadership displayed a greater tendency to showcase their power and capabilities in the media. Among them, the most prominent figures include Aslam Baloch, who was later killed in 2018, and, more recently, Bashir Zaib, former student leader of the BSO”, Akbar added.
Fahad Nabeel, who leads the Islamabad-based research consultancy Geopolitical Insights, says Bashir Zaib Baloch is the current leader of the BLA and was likely behind the Jaffar Express hijacking.
Bashir Zaib, in his mid-40s, belongs to the Nushki district of Balochistan, situated 150km (93 miles) south of Quetta. He earned a diploma from a polytechnical college in Quetta.
“After Aslam Baloch’s death in a bomb attack in Kandahar, Afghanistan, the group’s leadership passed to Bashir Zaib Baloch”, Nabeel told Al Jazeera.
In 2010, the group launched its suicide squad – the Majeed Brigade, which remained dormant for a few years then came into prominence in 2018 when Aslam Baloch sent his own son to target Chinese engineers working in the Balochistan city of Dalbandin. The attack injured five people, including the three Chinese nationals, but there were no fatalities, apart from Aslam’s son.
That sparked a broader trend of the BLA attacking Chinese citizens and installations in recent years.
The group attacked the Chinese consulate in Karachi in November 2018, a month before Aslam Baloch’s death. Four people were killed, including two policemen, while the Chinese staff remained safe. Security forces were able to quell the attack within an hour, killing all three assailants.
However, Akbar notes that the BLA’s Majeed Brigade truly gained global attention when one of its female suicide bombers, Shari Baloch, targeted Chinese nationals at Karachi University in 2022.
At least four people were killed, including three Chinese nationals, after Shari, a 30-year-old woman, blew up a minivan outside the university’s Confucius Institute, a Chinese language and cultural centre.
Rehan is also in his mid-40s and is believed to be well-educated, with command over several languages, including English, Urdu and Persian.
According to Nabeel, a former Pakistani military official turned renegade, Rehman Gul Baloch, has significantly enhanced the group’s capabilities.
The former military man is in his early 40s, and is also from Nushki. A graduate of the University of Peshawar, he joined the Pakistan Army in 2002, but within eight years, decided to quit and join the BLA.
Rehman Gul Baloch, Nabeel said, has helped the group improve its “combat skills, enabling it to move from hit-and-run attacks to large-scale operations”.
How does the BLA recruit fighters?
Observers say the BLA’s greatest strength is its ability to enlist young, well-schooled soldiers.
“Recruiting young, educated fighters is no longer a challenge, as the group enjoys significant popularity among Baloch youth, despite the controversial nature of its operations”, Akbar says.
He adds that despite the group’s responsibility for civilian deaths, including Baloch citizens, and its use of female suicide bombers, such tactics have drawn only limited criticism.
“Instead, its appeal has grown among young Baloch, many of whom believe armed struggle is the only viable path for their people’s survival”, he added.
Imtiaz Baloch, a researcher at The Khorasan Diary (TKD), a platform tracking regional security, added that the BLA was able to gain sympathy among the people in part due to the state’s “incompetence”.
“High-handed state policies, bad governance, lack of accountability, and cases of enforced disappearances have become catalysts for militants to recruit and influence more sympathizers, including people with highly educated backgrounds such as professional IT experts, data analysts, and other professionals, thereby broadening their reach and social media influence”, he told Al Jazeera.
BLA fighters also claimed responsibility for targeting the Chinese Consulate building in Karachi in November 2018]File photo: Rehan Khan/EPA]
How does the BLA fund its operations?
While the BLA’s funding sources remain unclear, analysts suggest multiple revenue streams, including illicit activities such as extortion, smuggling and drug trafficking.
The Pakistan government claims India funds the BLA, but , Akbar, who says that most of the BLA leadership is in Pakistan after spending years in Afghanistan, says those assertions are hard to accept at face value.
“Given Pakistan’s tendency to blame India for almost every issue, such claims are difficult to accept without solid evidence”, he said. “If the government provides concrete proof of Indian support, only then will its accusations hold weight. What is clear, however, is that the BLA has a well-funded backer, and its fighters receive highly professional training tailored specifically for insurgency”.
Islamabad-based Imtiaz Baloch from The Khorasan Diary, however, said income from massive coal mines in Balochistan province is a main economic source for the group.
“The recent operations by the separatist Baloch armed groups have been highly effective, as they have utilised many American weapons. Following their withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, it was easy to procure]these] from the porous border it shares with Afghanistan”, he added.
Nabeel, on the other hand, said that he believes most of the BLA leadership is operating out of Iran and Afghanistan. He argued that the group generates funds from multiple illicit activities ranging from drug trafficking to kidnapping people for ransom.
“Certain individuals from the Baloch diaspora also provide financial support”, he said. “Their training takes place in Iran, Afghanistan, and certain parts of Balochistan, whereas weapons are procured from black markets operating in Iran and Afghanistan, along with leftover American weapons”.
How does the BLA build its narrative?
Akbar said that the failure of governance and “dissatisfaction” with the provincial government help the BLA increase its influence among a disenchanted public.
“Many view it]the provincial government] as more loyal to Islamabad than to the people of Balochistan, particularly because it refuses to take a stand on critical issues like enforced disappearances”, he said.
Muhammad Shoaib, an academic and a security analyst at the Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad, said that the group has managed to spread its message using social media.
“BLA has learned the art of staying in news and keeping the state apparatus engaged on multiple fronts. The quantity of attacks and fronts tell us that BLA’s recruitment is increasing and now it can dedicate more resources and personnel for operations”, he told Al Jazeera.
BBC’s Tracy Beaker star Dani Harmer revealed that her daughter has watched the iconic series – and wasn’t impressed at all.
Dani, 36, rose to fame as cheeky child Tracy on the BBC series in the noughties, and now has two children of her own. The Strictly Come Dancing star shares daughter Avarie-Belle, eight, and son Rowan Leon James, three, with partner Simon Brough.
Speaking to Fubar Radio, Dani explained that her daughter was now old enough to be watching the Tracy Beaker spinoffs, but had nothing good to say about the original her mum starred in.
“Yeah, so my daughter is eight now so she’s very much getting into CBBC, we’ve kind of upgraded now from CBeebies to CBBC – she’s very cool. Ahead of her years, is Avarie-Belle”, Dani shared.
Dani jokingly responded ‘ How dare you! ‘ after her eight-year-old daughter gave a damning review of Tracy Beaker (BBC)
The actress added: “And she loves all the Jacqueline Wilson books. She’s read Tracy Beaker, actually… She’s watched quite a lot of The Dumping Ground, and I tried to show her a bit of Tracy Beaker but she was like, ‘ Mum, this is really boring. ‘ I was like, ‘ How dare you! ‘ Hopefully she’ll sit down and watch the OG series one day.
” But she’s very much into The Dumping Ground, I think it’s because it’s kind of newer, fresher, the kids are younger, you know. “
Dani then confirmed that, unlike her daughter, she still hasn’t read the 1991 book that started the Tracy Beaker world”. I’ve still never read it. And I’m going to go down with this ship. And quite frankly, I shall never read it. I’ve got this far in life, “she said.
” And do you know what? I think kind of in a weird way I think it helped me get the part, because I had no idea of this character apart from the character that I made her.
“I think had I read the book, that probably would have been Jacqueline’s version of Tracy… with the BBC’s version of Tracy and the script it was quite far removed from the books”.
While Avarie-Belle isn’t interested in watching her mum’s most iconic series, she’ll still have seen her mum on screen in the new season of The Dumping Ground. Dani returned to make a cameo in the first episode this January, after returning to play Tracy on and off for years.
Dani still looks back on her Tracy Beaker days fondly, but has shared that behind the scenes things weren’t as shiny as they looked. Speaking on the PLT: Behind Closed Doors podcast back in 2021, Dani revealed that she’s had a lifelong struggle with depression, which started while she was a child star.
“I’ve suffered with depression on and off since I was about 14”, she shared, adding that she wasn’t sure how trolling and social media would have impacted her at a young age.
“I just really thank goodness that it wasn’t around when I was younger because I really don’t know how I would have coped”, Dani admitted.
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Montreal, Canada – In his first speech as Canada’s prime minister-designate, Mark Carney delivered what observers have described as a stunning statement.
“I know that these are dark days,” Carney told a room full of supporters on Sunday after he won the race to lead the governing Liberal Party. “Dark days brought on by a country we can no longer trust. ”
The country in question? An ally with which Canada shares the world’s longest undefended land border and, until recently, seemingly unshakeable ties: the United States.
“That is jaw-dropping in the broader context,” Jon Parmenter, a history professor at Cornell University in New York state, said of Carney’s remark.
Experts say the idea that the US can no longer be trusted reflects a sentiment that has been spreading rapidly across Canada in recent months, however.
In that time, Canadians have watched with a mixture of shock, confusion and anger as US President Donald Trump repeatedly took aim at their country — both as part of his global trade policies and his expansionist ambitions.
Trump has imposed steep tariffs on Canadian goods and threatened more. He regularly calls for the annexation of Canada, and he has made unfounded and disparaging claims about outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Canadian electoral system.
“The damage to the relationship is substantial,” Parmenter told Al Jazeera. “It’s going to be long-lasting. ”
Yet, as Trump’s attacks against his country’s northern neighbour continue unabated, many observers are now asking: Why?
Why is the president targeting a country that had widely been viewed as one of the US’s most reliable partners? Why does Trump seem so fixated on Canada?
‘Closest target’
While the current US-Canada trade war is “unprecedented” in modern history, it is unsurprising in the context of Trump, according to Aaron Ettinger, a political science professor at Carleton University in Ottawa.
The US president pursued similar “America First” economic policies during his first term, Ettinger noted, including imposing tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium imports in 2018.
“None of this is new. We know this is coming. He’s telegraphed everything. But now he’s talking about 50-percent rates of tariffs. The aggressiveness is jacked up more than it was seven or eight years ago,” Ettinger told Al Jazeera.
Within the scope of the Trump administration’s adversarial approach to foreign policy, Ettinger said he doesn’t believe Canada is particularly special. Instead, it “just happens to be the closest target, along with Mexico”.
“Trump treats all countries as if they are subordinates to his wishes. He loves their leaders when the leaders play along, and he doesn’t when they don’t,” Ettinger said.
“So Canada is going to get hit with tariffs, just like European Union countries and Mexico. Canada just happens to be close by. Canada also happens to be playing against type and fighting back pretty hard right now. ”
The Canadian government has imposed retaliatory tariffs on billions of dollars worth of American goods, further stoking Trump’s ire. It has said the measures will remain in place until the US president rescinds and removes the threat of levies.
Personal animosity
Yet, Trump’s focus on Canada goes beyond tariffs and economic policy alone.
Even before he re-entered the White House in January, the Republican leader began urging Canada to become the 51st US state. He has repeatedly referred to Trudeau as a “governor” instead of a prime minister.
Trump also has framed the plan to annex Canada as a boon for Canadians and a way to dodge US tariffs.
“The people would pay much less tax than they’re paying right now. They’d have perfect military protection,” Trump recently said.
While Trudeau and other Canadian leaders at first shrugged off the remarks as good-natured ribbing, they quickly began to take Trump’s repeated calls for annexation more seriously.
Last week, Trudeau told reporters that Trump wants “a total collapse of the Canadian economy because that’ll make it easier to annex us”. The outgoing prime minister said Canada will never become part of the US and called the administration’s tariffs a “very dumb” policy.
Trump and Trudeau never had a particularly warm relationship, and they publicly clashed in 2018 over trade and tariffs as well.
That animosity could be playing a role in Trump’s recent rhetoric against Canada, said Geoffrey Kabaservice, vice president of political studies at the Niskanen Center, a centre-right think tank in Washington, DC.
“Trump is always looking for a way to exact revenge and retribution against people who have criticised him in the past, and certainly Trudeau would fall into that category,” he told Al Jazeera.
Trump and Trudeau meet during the G7 summit in France in 2019 [Carlos Barria/Reuters]
A ’19th-century’ vision
But Kabaservice said Trump’s “very 19th-century idea” of what it means to be a great power is at the heart of his annexation rhetoric.
“When Trump talks about wanting to ‘Make America Great Again’, one component of what he has in mind by greatness is a country that’s expansive, that reaches for and claims new territory, that enlarges itself,” he explained.
That said, when the US president says he wants Canada to be the 51st state, he likely isn’t thinking about what that would mean in practice, including how absorbing a country of 40 million people would alter American politics, said Kabaservice.
“It’s sort of like just [a] boy’s fantasy: ‘Wouldn’t it be great if America could expand to take in all these other countries? Wouldn’t it be great if America was like Britain back in its imperial days, when the world map was covered in red? ’
“I think that’s the level on which he thinks of these things. ”
And while Trump’s base may not have annexing Canada on its list of priorities, Kabaservice said, the US president’s supporters enjoy when he proposes things “that make his enemies and even many of his allies unhappy”.
“They applaud what they see as his audacity, his willingness to envision a new world, and his ability to ‘own the libs’ and make them cry. ”
According to Amy Koch, a Republican political strategist, Trump’s policies vis-a-vis Canada should also be seen as part of a wider push for dominance in the Western hemisphere.
Tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods, calls to retake control of the Panama Canal and acquire Greenland, and an executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America” are all elements of that effort.
“It is [about] fully establishing dominance in the Western Hemisphere, and I think Canada is a part of that,” Koch told Al Jazeera.
‘Tactics without strategy’
Wherever Trump’s real motivation lies, observers agree that his stance towards Canada could have a lasting effect.
“The whole point about Donald Trump is that he is a bully, and bullies bully people who are susceptible to their strengths. And that’s what he’s doing,” said Kabaservice.
“Trump can do things like levy tariffs because he has the leverage over Canada and he has the latitude in terms of the responsibility of the chief executive … But we’re also in the process of destroying trust with our allies and that will be immensely difficult to rebuild. ”
Ettinger added that, while people in the US and Canada keep trying to find the rationale behind Trump’s actions, the president may ultimately be “employing tactics without strategy”.
For example, US stock markets plunged this week amid the uncertainty around Trump’s tariffs push, raising fears that the country could slip into a recession.
Actor Gene Hackman’s dogs heartbreakingly led paramedics to the actor’s body in a final act of loyalty, it’s been revealed.
Bear, a German Shepherd, and Nikita, an Akita-shepherd mix, kept running up and barking at the crew attending the scene, before running off. They thought the dogs wanted to play before realising they were leading them to the mudroom where Hackman’s body lay.
Earlier paramedics had found Betsy’s body but had spent 30minutes searching the house to no avail until the dogs ‘ intervention.
“They realized (the dog) was trying to say, ‘ Hey, come over here! Come over here! ‘” Santa Fe Fire Chief Brian Moya told USA Today. Hackman was found in the mudroom which was in the far end of the house. A back door was propped open, allowing the dogs to go in and out.
It comes as the surviving dogs are currently in a state of “limbo” and cannot be rehomed until the couple’s wills have been read. They are presently residing at a dog boarding facility in Santa Fe, New Mexico, after being rescued from the couple’s home.
Gene Hackman was a massive dog lover (Facebook)
They will remain there indefinitely until it becomes clear what provisions – if any – Hackman made for the dogs following his death. It is yet to be determined whether any of Hackman’s family will adopt the dogs, or if they will find a new home with another family.
This comes as distressing new details about the condition in which the dogs were found have come to light. Police had previously described the two dogs as “healthy”, while the remains of a third “mummified” dog were discovered in a bathroom closet near Betsy’s body. It has since been revealed that the deceased dog was Zinna, a 12 year old Australian Kelpie mixed-breed.
Law enforcement officials talking outside the home of actor Gene Hackman (AP)
While Bear, who was found near Betsy’s body, was easily captured, Nikita was running around and appeared “skittish because of all the commotion”. In a tragic turn of events, authorities had to resort to setting up an overnight door trap for Nikita, the dog who refused to leave her deceased owners ‘ side, after attempts with treats and coaxing failed. Both dogs were eventually taken to a boarding facility, where they remain.
The renowned actor Hackman and his classical pianist wife Betsy, 65, were discovered lifeless in different rooms of their Santa Fe home two weeks ago. Betsy died of a rare respiratory disease around seven days before her husband. His Alzheimer’s disease led investigators to suspect he may have remained unaware his wife had died.
