The Oklahoma City Thunder’s 125-124 victory over the Houston Rockets was the catalyst for their NBA title defense, which was led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who led the way into double overtime.
With only 2.33 seconds left in second overtime, the champions got off to a strong start by scoring 35 points, two of which came from the free-throw line.
Alperun Sengun, a Houston native, hit a career-high five three-pointers and top-scored with 39.
However, Gilgeous-Alexander and Chet Holmgren, who combined for the Thunder, contributed significantly to the game-winning 28-pointer.
Gilgeous-Alexander described their performance as “grit, determination, and defense.”
The players were given championship rings before the game, and Oklahoma’s championship banner was raised on their home court prior to the game.
In the best-of-seven NBA Finals of the previous year, the Thunder defeated the Indiana Pacers. It was their first title since Seattle, who had previously won the 1979 title, relocated to Oklahoma City in 2008.
The Pacers’ Friday game against Oklahoma will give them a chance to snag some early retaliation, and the Rockets’ game against the Detroit Pistons comes the same day.
Luka Doncic’s enormous effort, which included 43 points, 12 rebounds, and nine assists, did not help his new team, the Los Angeles Lakers, survive a 119-109 defeat against the Golden State Warriors.
For the visiting Warriors, Jimmy Butler scored 31 points and Stephen Curry scored 23.
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Kelly, Ciaran
Football journalist
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“I’ve come a long way,” I said.
As the Englishman prepares to face Real Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday night, there is no denying the former Newcastle United and Bournemouth defender has advanced beyond the average to this grand stage.
Kelly, who was seven years old, was placed in foster care, where he spent more than ten years living with his siblings Mary and Marcus, in three different families.
And he has never resisted mentioning his travels.
The 27-year-old said, “Fostering is something I will always have a passion for.” I have firsthand experience with the benefits of foster care for children.
Because it gives the children a sense of home, a sense of family, and a sense of meaning, and because it means a lot, I don’t think people realize how significant their effects can be.
You can go through experiences that you might not have had otherwise if you had stayed in your own environment. I’m a staunch supporter of the system, and it’s amazing.
Kelly is, in a way that speaks volumes, keeping in touch with Thelma, his most recent foster mother, who has been given a visit from Turin.
And he wants his own son to have a stable place to live.
The club’s players are ‘scary’, according to one player.
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But how did he come to Italy to play?
It was a “no-brainer” for Kelly to ask his agent about joining Juventus in the midst of the closing stages of the mid-season window because he had been struggling to make it into the Newcastle team.
The brand-new player made his debut against Como in February with a 2-1 victory, but it was a difficult start.
In the knockout phase play-offs, PSV ultimately sent Juventus out of the Champions League. In the Coppa Italia, Empoli defeated the Serie A giants. And Kelly’s side came in 12 points clear of league leaders Napoli.
In March, manager Thiago Motta was fired, and sporting director Cristiano Giuntoli, who had a key role in Kelly’s arrival in Turin, followed the Italian away a few months later.
Kelly’s family had not yet moved with him abroad, and he was still learning a new culture, language, and playstyle.
He said, “It’s always challenging to come to a club, especially one with this status, with the players who have played for them, and with what that means to the fans.”
Not giving up on England
However, Kelly now feels that the “real him” is being seen by his supporters.
He has started nine of Igor Tudor’s Juventus games this season and has scored a few important goals.
In the Champions League game 4-4 draw against Borussia Dortmund last month, Kelly scored a dramatic equalizer in the final minute despite conceding a penalty late on.
No wonder Kelly’s body was still pumping with adrenaline in the early hours of the morning.
He said, “I would never have imagined that I would be able to play Champions League football at the beginning of my career.” When you exit and hear the anthem, you experience chills.
I’ve always wondered, “Can I get there? ” as something I look at every time. Being able to is very important.
However, Kelly doesn’t seem happy at the moment.
Thomas Tuchel, England manager, may have a settled group, but the defender hasn’t given up on a senior-level appearance as a result.
He said, “I’ve always thought about it since I finished with the under-21s. The England squad is incredible.
“It’s incredible how many players and what a great country England is.” Everyone is aware that the World Cup is taking place in a very crucial year.
I’m just beginning, I tell myself.
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A year ago, it seemed even more distant than it was.
Kelly acknowledged that his move to Newcastle did not go “the way he wanted” when he left Bournemouth for Newcastle on a free transfer in June 2024.
Due to his playing in Kelly’s preferred positions of left-sided centre-back and left-back, Lewis Hall and Dan Burn both had similar performances, and he only made a small number of league starts for Newcastle.
You want to enter, show what you can do, and play consistent football, he said.
But toward Newcastle, I don’t feel any pain. I had the opportunity to develop and play for a very good club.
Instead, Kelly fondly recalls the “unbelievable” atmosphere at St. James’ Park.
He is also “proud to have accompanied the players who helped put an end to Newcastle’s 70-year quest for a significant domestic prize with the Carabao Cup.”
By that point, Kelly had already left, but he had already won matches against Chelsea and AFC Wimbledon in the previous rounds and started playing for the team in the semi-final first-leg win over Arsenal.
One is headed for Kelly just as Miguel Almiron received a medal to honor his contribution, who also left for Atlanta United in the summer.
The centre-back had already signed for Newcastle and been on good terms with head coach Eddie Howe, who had previously brought him to Bournemouth.
He said, “The number of players who have progressed and played under him is outstanding.” I’ll always consider him very important.
When Kelly first entered the Juventus dressing room, he had just finished saying goodbye to Howe.
Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini used to sit in this area.
The visiting Golden State Warriors defeated the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday to open the season with a 119-109 victory. Jimmy Butler added 31 points and Stephen Curry added 23.
The Warriors, who opened the second half with an 18-4 scoring burst, added 17 points and nine rebounds to their 17-point scoring total.
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Kuminga shot 4 of 6 from distance, while Hield shot 5 of 10, while Golden State shot 4 of 40 (42.5%) from 3-point range. Curry shot 3 of 9 from the 3-point arc.
Luka Doncic, who signed for the Lakers in a trade with the Dallas Mavericks in February, added 43 points, 12 rebounds, and nine assists. Los Angeles had 26 points and nine assists, according to Austin Reaves.
In his Lakers debut, Deandre Ayton scored 10 points for Los Angeles, who made 11 of their 28 free throw attempts while shooting 8 of 32 (35%) from 3-point range. Butler made 16 of his free throws while the Warriors made 26 of 29.
LeBron James, a star lacrosse player for 23 years, had a sciatica that prevented him from playing in the Lakers’ first season opener.
LeBron James has an injury that will keep him out until at least mid-November. [Harry How/Getty Images via AFP]
Less than five minutes into the second half, the Warriors extended their one-point halftime lead to a 73-58 advantage. Golden State held a 90-79 lead for the third quarter, scoring 13 points from Kuminga.
With 3:59 left, Los Angeles came within 105-99 with a 3-pointer from the Lakers’ starter.
With 2:29 left, Butler made a reverse layup to give the Warriors a 108-99 lead before Draymond Green made a 3-pointer and the Warriors took a 110-100 lead. With only 51. 2 seconds left, Curry scored a 3-pointer to seal the victory.
Green totaled eight points, nine rebounds, and nine assists.
The Lakers went on a 16-5 run to take a 51-50 lead after going for a large portion of the first half. At the break, the Warriors had a 55-54 lead.
Butler topped the Warriors with 17 points, while Doncic had 22 points in the first half to lead all scorers. Los Angeles went 9 of 16 from the free throw line in the first half, while Golden State went 16 of 18.
Luka Doncic, a Los Angeles Lakers guard, led all scorers with 41 points in the first game of the season against the Golden State Warriors.
Thunder win over Rockets, opening their title defense.
With just two seconds left in double overtime, the Oklahoma City Thunder won the season opener 125-124 at home over the Houston Rockets, scoring two from the free throw line.
The players received their championship rings for the title run last year, and Oklahoma City’s championship banner was raised into the rafters before the game.
Then the Thunder and Rockets got to work on a wild back-and-forth game, with Alperen, Sengun, and Kevin Durant all contributing big plays for Houston while Gilgeous-Alexander and Chet Holmgren and Kevin Durant both scoring big plays for the Thunder.
The final big moment was ultimately created by Gilgeous-Alexander.
With 11 seconds left, Gilgeous-Alexander went to the basket and fouled Durant before Sengun put the Rockets ahead by one point with a driving finger roll off a feed from Durant.
Durant’s sixth foul marked the end of his Rockets career.
Both of Gilgeous-Alexander’s foul shots gave Oklahoma City the lead after he had missed four of his previous 12 free throws. The Thunder won, but Jabari Smith Jr.’s turnaround shot at the buzzer went uncorrected.
Holmgren finished with 28 points and seven rebounds in the first overtime.
With 39 points, 11 rebounds, and seven assists, Sengun finished with a career-high five 3-pointers. Russell had nine boards and 23 points.
During their NBA season-opening game on October 21, 2025, at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, US, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, center, drives to the basket as Kevin Durant of the Houston Rockets defends. [Zach Beeker/Getty Images via AFP]
More than $100 million (some 88 million euros) have been stolen from the Louvre museum in Paris as a blatant daylight robbery over the weekend, according to a French prosecutor.
In an interview on Tuesday, Paris public prosecutor Laure Beccuau said, “It is important to remember that this damage is an economic damage, but it is nothing compared to the historical damage caused by this theft.”
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According to Beccuau, “the Louvre curator estimated the damages to be 88 million euros.” That works out to $102m.
A tiara and earrings from the early 19th-century television series Queen Marie-Amélie and Queen Hortense were among the eight stolen jewelry. Empress Eugenie’s crown was discovered outside the museum, which the thieves allegedly dumped while they were escaping.
Four masked thieves used a crane to break into an upstairs window at the Louvre, one of France’s remaining crown jewels, and steal jewelry during a quick robbery that involved a motorcycle getaway. The heist involved a getaway on motorcycles and took place on a break in the afternoon.
The Louvre’s “Prejudice a été estimated by the conservationatrice of the Louvre to the sum of 88 million euros”
Laure Beccuau, procureure of Paris, is the author of the #RTLSoir photo, Anne-Sophie Lapix. twitter.com/3KB1oJ9vn7
The Louvre curator estimated the damage to be worth 88 million euros. Laure Beccuau, the prosecutor in Paris, speaking with Anne-Sophie Lapix.
As anger grows over the lack of security in the nation’s museums, director of the Louvre, Laurence des Cars, is scheduled to appear before the French Senate’s culture committee on Wednesday.
Des Cars in January had warned Rachida Dati, France’s Culture Minister, about the museum’s “worrying level of obsolescence,” citing the urgent need for significant renovations.
Criminals duped into Paris’s Natural History Museum last month, seizing gold nuggets worth more than $1.5 million.
After being detained in Barcelona while attempting to dispose of nearly 1 kg (2. 2 pounds) of melted gold pieces, French authorities announced on Tuesday that a 24-year-old Chinese woman had been detained in that case.
Last month, thieves allegedly stole two dishes and a vase from a museum in Limoges, and they also allegedly stole $ 7.6 million from the same establishment.
In a document that covers the Louvre’s 2019 to 2024 time period, with only a quarter of one wing of the museum being subject to video surveillance, France’s Court of Auditors reported.
Following a two-day police investigation and the museum’s regular weekly closure on Tuesday, The Louvre is expected to reopen on Wednesday.
Despite rising attendance at the world-famous museum, whose extensive collections include the Mona Lisa, which has been slashed, labor unions have complained that security staff at the Louvre have been hired.
The Louvre’s website states that “very top of the list of the world’s greatest heritage and museum sites” is the museum, which had 8.9 million visitors last year and 8.9 million in 2023.
The millions of Afghans who fled their home countries after the then-Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979 were a part of Allah Meer’s family in Islamabad, Pakistan.
In Kohat, in northwest Pakistan, his family made their home. Meer, now 45, was born there. More than 200 members of his extended family have traveled to Pakistan, Meer claims, from Afghanistan to Pakistan, where they have resided ever since.
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The family has feared for its future over the past two years because Pakistan has returned hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees, but they have escaped Islamabad’s dragnet.
As part of the campaign it started in 2023 to expel what it calls “illegal foreigners,” Pakistan announced last week that it would close all 54 Afghan refugee villages nationwide. Among these are the Kohat villages where Meer and his family reside.
“In my entire life, I only went to Afghanistan once, for two weeks in 2013. None of my family has ever returned, Meer told Al Jazeera. When we were born here, lived here, married here, and buried here, how can I ruin everything?
Families like Meer’s are caught in a jumble of uncertainty as a result of increased tensions between Pakistan and the Taliban, which re-established control of Afghanistan in 2021.
Early in October, fighting broke out between Afghan and Pakistani forces along the border, causing tense relations to turn into open hostility. Officials from both parties met on Sunday in Qatar’s capital, Doha, and agreed to a ceasefire. The next round of negotiations is scheduled for Istanbul on October 25.
However, tensions continue to be high. And Meer’s family worries that border neighbors could use them as diplomatic pawns in a border conflict.
From welcome to expulsion
Since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Pakistan has housed countless Afghan refugees. Afghans fled across the border as the Taliban first came to power in Afghanistan in 1996, and successive waves of Afghans did so.
Following the September 11 attacks on the US, the Taliban’s fall led to the return of thousands of Afghans. However, their return was brief.
Another 600, 000 to 800, 000 Afghans sought refuge in Pakistan after the Taliban’s stunning comeback in August 2021.
Pakistan, which was once the Taliban’s top ally, claimed that Afghanistan held armed organizations responsible for the cross-border attacks as relations between Kabul and Islamabad deteriorated over the past four years. Even those who have resided in the country for decades, like Meer, were hampered by the government’s stance toward Afghan refugees.
As he prepares to travel to Afghanistan in August to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) repatriation center in Nowshera, Pakistan [Fayaz Aziz/Reuters]
Meer, a 10-year-old father, founded a vocational training program for Afghan refugee children funded by the UNHCR. She graduated from a university in Peshawar with a degree in education.
To document Afghan citizens living in Pakistan, the UNHCR has issued Proof of Registration (PR) cards since 2006. They have access to some government services, including bank accounts, as well as some legal residence with these cards, which also restrict their freedom of movement.
However, the Pakistani government has discontinued and invalidated existing PoR cards as of June 30 this year.
We all have Proof of Residence cards issued by UNHCR, but with the current drive, Meer said, “I don’t know what will happen.”
Afghan nationals who are undocumented in the country were first given Afghan citizenship cards (ACC) in 2017 and were given identification credentials to give them temporary legal status.
However, the ACC no longer offers deportation protection.
Between the start of the campaign in 2023 and the middle of October 2025, more than 1.5 million Afghans voluntarily or by force left Pakistan, according to the UNHCR.
“Illegal in our home,” the phrase.
According to Qaiser Khan Afridi, the UNHCR’s representative in Pakistan, there are approximately 1.2 million PoR card holders, 737, 000 ACC holders, and 115, 000 asylum seekers.
Their status has become more precarious as a result of Pakistan’s tensions with the Taliban.
Afridi claimed that Pakistan has exhibited extraordinary generosity by hosting millions of Afghan refugees for over 45 years. However, the government’s decision to ban refugee camps throughout Pakistan and to encourage their relocation to Afghanistan is deeply concerning.
“Many of the people affected have lived here for years and are now concerned about their future.” We advocate that any return be gradual, ostensibly carried out, and in a sense of dignity and security.
More than 100 000 people live in seven refugee villages in Kohat alone, according to Meer, who has worked for the UNHCR for years. He claimed that Pakistan and Afghanistan both abused their political leverage to influence the refugee situation.
Our family members have sat down to discuss options in light of the most recent circumstance. We considered sending some of our young men to Afghanistan to look for homes and ways to conduct business, but the problem is that we have no connections there, he said.
His PoR card has been removed from all public places because the Pakistani government has now declared it invalid, making it difficult for him to even use medical facilities when his children need medical care.
He claimed that “we are, in the best way, considered illegal in a nation where I and my children reside.”
entangled between borders
Late in 2023, Pakistan’s plan to expel Afghan residents came about as rebe attacks increased. Since then, there has been a rise in violence, with 2025 likely to be the year with the highest level of violence.
Afghan refugees are a security risk, according to Pakistani authorities, who accuse the Taliban government of abridging armed groups. Kabul refutes this claim.
Sarfraz Bugti, Pakistan’s then interior minister, claimed that Afghan nationals carried out 14 of the country’s 24 suicide bombings in 2023. He did not elaborate on whether the individuals were Afghan nationals who had crossed the porous border between the two nations or refugees who were living there.
Given the hostility between the neighbours, Meer fears that Afghan refugees in Pakistan will also be misunderstood there.
He predicted that “we will also be seen as Pakistanis and as enemies there.”
Pakistan should reconsider its repatriation drive, according to Afridi, the UNHCR spokesperson.
UNHCR calls on the government to take steps to prevent Afghans from returning to their homes without permission, he said.
