Dutch volleyball player and convicted child rapist denied visa to compete in Australia

A Dutch Olympic volleyball player who was found guilty of raping a British girl ten years ago has been denied entry to Australia.

Next month, Steven van de Velde, a 31-year-old Australian, was scheduled to compete in the Beach Volleyball World Championships in Adelaide.

The then-21-year-old pleaded guilty to three counts of raping a 12-year-old girl in Milton Keynes in 2016 and received a four-year prison sentence. Before raping the girl at her home in 2014, he had met the girl on Facebook and traveled to England from Amsterdam.

Additionally, it stated that “we do not believe foreign child sex offenders should be allowed to enter this country.”

Tony Burke, the country’s home affairs minister, stated that the government will “continue to use every tool we have available to ensure that Australians can be safe and feel safe in their communities.”

Van de Velde was raped in the Netherlands in 2014, but van de Velde was detained and extradited to the UK in 2016. The judge was informed of the girl’s age before his sentencing.

He resuming his professional sporting career in 2018, playing for his country at various international competitions, and served 12 months of his four-year sentence.

He criticized by some spectators who were watching him compete at the Paris Olympics last year. 90, 000 people signed a petition that demanded his removal from the Olympics earlier today.

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,342

On Tuesday, October 28, 2025, the situation is as follows:

Fighting

  • A 44-year-old man was killed and several others were hurt in the Russian assaults on Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhia, according to Governor Ivan Fedorov on Monday as the death toll from other Sunday assaults remained high.
  • According to Ukrainian officials, two people were killed in the eastern Donetsk region on Sunday in addition to a 69-year-old man in the northern Sumy region. According to the Sumy police, 15 others, including two children, were hurt.
  • The son of a Russian general, Lieutenant Vasily Marzoev, was killed using a guided aerial bomb, according to Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR). Al Jazeera was unable to independently verify the report.
  • According to Russian Governor Alexander Bogomaz, a Ukrainian drone attack on a Russian minibus in the Bryansk region left the driver dead and five passengers injured, according to the state news agency.
  • According to the ministry, 350 Ukrainian drones, two guided missiles, and seven rocket launchers were all shot down by Russian forces in the past 24 hours, according to TASS.
  • Russian drone attacks were used as “part of a coordinated strategy to drive out civilians from [Ukrainian] territories,” according to a report from the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine.
  • The report described civilians who were reportedly attacked with fire bombs or explosives while seeking shelter and were chased for extended distances by drones with mounted cameras.

diplomacy and politics

  • Russian relations with Washington were strained by the missile test, according to Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin.
  • Russia’s launch of the Burevestnik missile test was reportedly conducted from Novaya Zemlya’s Barents Sea archipelago, according to Norway’s military intelligence service.
  • Following Trump’s recent suggestion to end the conflict at its current lines, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy disclosed to the US-based Axios news outlet that Kyiv and its allies have agreed to work on a ceasefire plan in the upcoming ten days.
  • Putin and the US had an already defunct plutonium disposal agreement that aimed to stop both countries from developing more nuclear weapons on Monday by signing a law.
  • When he meets with Trump in Washington next week, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban will talk about US sanctions against Russian oil companies, among other things, according to Peter Szijjarto, Hungary’s foreign minister.

Regional security

  • Inga Ruginiene, the country’s prime minister, announced on Monday that her country would begin defusing smuggler balloons coming from Belarus, a close ally of Russia, after they repeatedly interrupted the Baltic nation’s air traffic.
  • Helium balloons over Lithuania were a “provocation” and “a hybrid threat,” according to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who added that they are another motivation to intensify the European Union’s Eastern Flank Watch and European drone defense initiatives.

Weapons

  • The list, which includes 68 foreign components that are said to be from China, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the US, was released by Ukraine’s military intelligence.

How irretrievable breakdown led to savage separation for Rodgers & Celtic

Images courtesy of Getty

Fifteen minutes after Celtic issued the news of Brendan Rodgers ‘ shock resignation via a perfunctory five-paragraph, 134-word statement, the howitzer landed, courtesy of Dermot Desmond, with whiskers twitching in apparent fury.

Major shareholder Desmond eviscerated his old chum in 551 words.

When Rangers needed to be put back in a box when they were growing up, he persuaded him to join the organization. And the man he again turned to after Ange Postecoglou left for Tottenham in the summer of 2023.

Desmond’s takedown was so fierce that Martin O’Neill’s jaw-dropping comeback was almost forgotten.

O’Neill is back in the dugout after 20 years away from the club and after much of his earlier life was spent doing unending public speaking engagements and playing all of his old songs at Celtic.

For now – and maybe for a while. O’Neill has been eager to find a job elsewhere, based on recent statements he made. He’ll view this as the greatest gift from the Celtic Gods, a return to the place of his glories and acclaim.

    • five hours ago

Full-blooded character assassination attempt

O’Neill’s reappearance, which is as bizarre as it is, can be parked because of the biggest Wow! moment was the brutal way Desmond wrote of Rodgers.

It was a full-blooded assassination attempt, Rodgers being called untrustworthy, a delusionist, a propagandist, a dissident, misleading, and unacceptable. Desmond wrote, “One person’s desire for self-preservation at the expense of others.”

For somebody who values decorum and places great store in business being done with discretion, if not outright secrecy, this was another illustration of how abnormal things have become at Celtic.

The club’s most powerful player, Desmond, maneuvers in the shadows. The absentee totem, the one who has the authority to make any significant calls he pleases without having to defend them in any public forum.

He does not attend club AGMs, sending his son, Ross, instead. He does interviews about Celtic hardly ever if they aren’t hagiographic in tone. Even so, he communicates slowly.

He has been known on an occasion or two to defend the club with private missives to media organisations, but nothing is heard in public.

It is exactly as he desired it to be. And that’s exactly what he did on Monday when he went completely thermonuclear with Rodgers.

The directive from the club is that Rodgers resigned, but reading Desmond’s invective, line by line, you have to wonder why did he allow it to get this far down the line?

If Rodgers is held accountable for everything Desmond claims he is, why wasn’t the manager fired?

Desmond has accused him of fabricating information in a false narrative in public.

He says his words “have contributed to a toxic atmosphere around the club and fuelled hostility towards members of the executive team and the board. Some of the abuse directed at them and their families was completely unjustifiable and unacceptable.

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‘ Rodgers ‘ ambition clashed with Celtic’s model again ‘

They were close, Dermot and Brendan, to bring things back to happier times. Rodgers praised Desmond at every turn and thanked him at every opportunity. Brendan deferred to Dermot and, really, to nobody else.

When Rodgers’ returned, post-Postecoglou, Desmond was the subject of the greatest stir.

The return of the prodigal son for a few or, as some other Celtic fans would have put it, the return of the shameless one who had abandoned them for Leicester was the most divisive appointment.

Desmond had Rodgers ‘ back. Rodgers eventually accepted the win and trophies, and a tense truce with the fans led to a return to love-in.

Rodgers’ ambition and Celtic’s business model were always going to have a moment, though.

It happened in his first incarnation and it happened again, with bells on, over the last year. Rodgers openly discussed the slow manner in which Celtic handled their transfer business, the never-ending waiting period for targets to be landed before being unlanded, as he had done too frequently.

He has repeatedly emphasized the importance of what he has called “agility” in the market. The fans agreed with him.

Rodgers pushed for more and more and frequently did it in public when the club spent record amounts of money on the £11 million Arne Engels, the £9 million Adam Idah, and the £6 million Auston Trusty, none of whom had already cut it with Idah leaving.

He left the club after planting a bomb about the lack of cohesion. When asked about his comments at his next news conference he would usually downplay it and almost contradict what he said.

Lack of cohesion, perhaps? He would say that everyone is in alignment, not just one. It looked like Rodgers was playing a dangerous game.

A newspaper ran a story about a source close to the club a few months ago. Rodgers’ public outbursts were alleged to be damaging Celtic, and that his real motivation was managing his exit plan.

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Fans now saw him as a martyr who might be put to death on his shield because his sponsors wouldn’t support his vision’s success.

Of course, the leak was poisonous, and Rodgers got hurt as a result. He called for an investigation and for the guilty person to be removed. We never learned more about a probe if it existed.

Rodgers clearly was losing the support of those who were in charge at the time.

The regular gripes about transfers were followed by a desperate beginning to the season. A sluggish Champions League exit, subpar domestic performances, and an airborne stench of decay.

The blame was changed. When Celtic lost to Dundee a few weeks back he said: “You can’t be given the keys to a Honda Civic and drive it like a Ferrari”.

It would have been contentious enough if Rodgers had predicted that after a significant Champions League defeat, but it was mortifying after a defeat to Dundee, which had only had the resources of Celtic. He later made a second opinion.

The fans, increasingly growing weary of excuses, didn’t buy it, but if it was a battle between Rodgers and the Celtic board then, in their eyes, Rodgers was still an emphatic winner.

As usual, Desmond’s voice was unknown, but his business life’s tale reveals that he doesn’t appreciate his people’s rogue behavior. That Desmond whiskers would have to start dancing in Rodgers’ comment, Rodgers’ comment.

Monday, in the wake of a loss to Hearts that put Celtic eight points behind Derek McInnes ‘ team, was the endgame. When Desmond opened his laptop, He unburdened himself, causing him to feel suicidal, and its intensity was almost startling.

Unquestionably, elements of what Rodgers did and said was self-serving. Desmond categorically refutes Desmond’s suggestion that he had implied that some players were signing without his consent.

He claimed as recently as Sunday that he was no longer more than a fixer because he was already in the present, but the trust had obviously vanished. In both directions.

The wisest course of action is divorce. It was a permanent breakdown. Unseemly and embarrassing.

Rodgers made some good points, though, and the supporters were completely unmoved from him in other areas despite their slight animosity toward him in the wake of recent performances.

Some will view him as a victim, a sacrifice-giving lamb, a brave member who spoke out about the issues the club faced and was ultimately forced to leave. Silenced and humiliated by Desmond.

Although it has merit, both parties were involved in this breakup.

Related topics

  • Scottish Premiership
  • Celtic
  • Scottish Football
  • Football

Sudan army withdraws from Darfur’s el-Fasher as UN warns of RSF atrocities

Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the army chief of Sudan, has announced the withdrawal of his soldiers from their final stronghold in Darfur following the UN’s harsh warning over “atrocities” committed by the paramilitary group that is now in charge of the city of el-Fasher.

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) seized control of the main Sudanese army base in El-Fasher on Monday night, making an announcement late in the day.

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More than a quarter-million people, including half of the children, are now under the control of the RSF as a result of the army’s withdrawal from El-Fasher. On Monday, aid organizations reported chaotic scenes there, including fighting between RSF members and their departed allies.

According to al-Burhan, military officers completely withdrawn from the city in an effort to protect the country’s citizens from further violence in his statement.

He claimed that the army retreated because of the RSF’s “systemic destruction” and “systemic killing of civilians.” He added that the army hoped to “spare the citizens and the rest of the city from destruction.”

He declared, “We are determined to avenge what occurred to our people in El-Fasher.” The Sudanese people will hold these criminals accountable, the people promise.

El-Fasher’s departure from the RSF could signal yet another Sudan’s division, more than a decade after its creation.

The most recent conflict started in April 2023 when fighting between the military and RSF erupted in Khartoum and other cities, causing tens of thousands of casualties and displacement of nearly 12 million people.

RSF fighters have been celebrating at the former army base in El-Fasher since Sunday according to footage that has been posted on social media since then. RSF fighters also record other people fleeing and being shot and beaten. Many were depicted as being in custody.

El-Fasher’s atrocities are unacceptable.

The development, according to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, “is a terrible escalation in the conflict” and “the level of suffering that we are witnessing in Sudan is intolerable.”

Meanwhile, according to the UN Human Rights Office, RSF fighters reportedly carried out atrocities in El-Fasher, including “summary executions” of civilians trying to flee their attacks, “with indications of ethnic motivations for killings.”

The “risk of further large-scale, ethnically motivated violations and atrocities in el-Fasher is increasing by the day,” according to Volker Turk, the UN’s high commissioner for human rights.

The RSF attack was described as a “heinous massacre” by the Sudan Doctor Network, a medical organization monitoring the war, and there were reports of dozens of fatalities. The network said in a statement that RSF fighters “zeroped what was left of essential life-supporting and health care infrastructure” by rampaging through parts of El-Fasher, looting hospitals and other medical facilities.

More than 1, 000 civilians were detained by the RSF, according to the Darfur Network for Human Rights, who described it as “systematic targeting of civilians, arbitrary detentions, and potential acts eliciting war crimes.”

According to the Sudanese Journalists’ Union, one of the few remaining local journalists was among those detained. Similar to what transpired in another Darfur city, Geneina, in 2023, when RSF fighters killed hundreds, the group issued a warning about potential “mass violations” in el-Fasher.

The RSF has turned El-Fasher into a “brutal killing field,” according to the Sudan Doctors Union, which is the professional umbrella of Sudanese doctors. The organization urged the international community to recognize the RSF as a terrorist organization.

In addition, the reports of civilian casualties and forced displacement in El-Fasher, according to UNHCR’s Tom Fletcher, “deep alarm.”

He stated in a statement that “hundreds of thousands of civilians are trapped and terrified, shelled, starving, and without access to food, health care, or safety.” He demanded “unrestricted, quick, and unhinged humanitarian access” to the remaining population.

alleged war crimes

According to the UN Children’s Fund, 260, 000 civilians were trapped in El-Fasher prior to Sunday’s attack, half of them children.

More than 26, 000 people were fleeing their homes as of Monday, according to the UN’s International Organization for Migration, and they were relocating to rural areas and Tawila, a frantic town nearby.

At least 47 people were killed in the town of Bara over the weekend, according to the Sudan Doctors Network, including nine women.

The Janjaweed, a infamous government-linked militia, brutalized the Sudanese during the Darfur conflict in the 2000s, and the RSF emerged as a result.

More than 40, 000 people have been killed in the most recent war, leading to the worst humanitarian crisis in history, with famine sweeping over the el-Fasher region of the nation.

According to the UN and other human rights organizations, the conflict has been marred by blatant atrocities, including rape and killings for ethnic reasons.

Radio DJs’ show axed amid huge controversy involving Keith Urban

Keith Urban hung up on the program during an interview, which sparked a heated debate that raged in Australia.

A popular Australian radio show has been axed following a much-discussed controversy involving Keith Urban. The Aussie musician, 57, made an appearance on Australian Radio Network (ARN)’s Hayley & Max In The Morning, which has been hosted by Max Burford and Hayley Pearson for just under a year.

The interview took place just weeks before it was revealed that he and Nicole Kidman had called time on their near-20 year marriage, and that the Hollywood actress had filed for divorce herself. It all seemed to be going well until he was asked about Nicole’s sex scenes with Zac Efron in their film A Family Affair

What does Keith Urban think about his beautiful wife and his attractive younger partner, Zac Efron, who both have beautiful love scenes on television? The only thing Keith said was to call the interview over right away. A crew member was reportedly said that he and his team disliked the questioning and that the conversation had ended.

READ MORE: Keith Urban ‘drops Nicole Kidman-inspired song from tour’ amid shock divorceREAD MORE: Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman’s extreme custody plan for children with unique arrangements

The radio station announced that the Mix102.3 show would air for the final time on December 12 less than six months after the viral moment. As part of a revised overall station strategy that emphasizes bolder content and bigger moments that truly set the station apart, the station will introduce a new live and local breakfast show in 2026.

It comes just days after the network announced that Corey Oates, a member of the Brisbane breakfast program Robin, Kip &amp, and Corey Oates had also been fired. The on-air team was also praised by the rep for their “hard work, creativity, and commitment to the Brisbane audience” while they were producing.

The network “can’t reveal details just yet” of what is to come for the broadcaster, according to an email seen by Mediaweek. The radio show host, Max Burford, later said that he thought they were “vibing” with the country singer and wondered if Keith had grown to dislike them after the contentious exchange.

He continued, “I believed we were vibing with Keith.” Do you know Keith Urban is currently in trouble?

Hayley Pearson, his co-host, said that Keith “hates” us because of how much she thought their interrogation would affect their relationship. I was aware of what was going to happen. Just after their 19th wedding anniversary, Kieth’s angry response to questions about his wife’s movies was immediate.

The couple, who married in Sydney in 2006 after meeting at a Los Angeles event in 2005, have two daughters, aged 17 and 14. The divorce documents include a detailed parenting plan, with Kidman set to be the primary residential parent for 306 days of the year. Urban will have the remaining 59. The filing states both girls will remain in Nashville, where they’ve lived their whole lives.

Even though the parents are divorced, the agreement states that “the mother and father will act with each other and each child in a way that fosters a loving, stable, consistent, and nurturing relationship with the child.”

They won’t criticize one another or other members of the other parent’s family. They will encourage each child to remain devoted to the other parent and feel at ease with them.

Both parties make over $100, 000 per month, according to reports, and neither will seek child or spousal support. Each asset will be named in its own name, including royalties and copyrights.

Urban and Kidman signed the parenting agreement on August 29 and on September 6th, which suggests that the separation had been planned in advance of the release of the information. The divorce will be finalized in at least 90 days, according to Tennessee law.

Continue reading the article.

This was Urban’s first marriage and Kidman’s second. She was previously married to Tom Cruise, with whom she has two older children. Just last year, at a Netflix premiere, Kidman told the Associated Press, “You’re heading for trouble if you consider yourselves the perfect couple. I’m not a believer in perfect.”

At the AFI Life Achievement Award ceremony earlier that year, Urban emotionally paid tribute to Kidman by saying, “I’m in rehab for three months.” Nic chose love despite all of her own negative voices, I’m sure even some of her own. 18 years later, we are here.

‘I was in a 90s girlband – everything we ate was controlled’

Kéllé Bryan, an eternal legend, has revealed details of her time playing the chart-topping band when they were at the height of fame and claimed that everything they ate was controlled.

Kéllé Bryan claims that people voiced concerns about her weight during Eternal’s heyday. The singer, who joins a string of fellow girlband stars in a new BBC documentary, has opened up about her experience in the chart-topping band.

The likes of Heidi Range, Amelle Berrabah, Perrie Edwards, Kerry Katona, Natasha Hamilton and Melanie Blatt are to all open up about their time in the industry, when girl groups dominated the charts.

But while the all-female group were riding high on their success, Kéllé has now revealed that behind the scenes, there were conversations about her weight. “People were always voicing concern about my weight, about our weight as a band,” she told the Mirror.

We’re talking about a time when size zero was common, not to mention the fact that stylists would come along and say, “This doesn’t fit you.” They drove us away to a rural area where they had complete control over what we ate. You might think that was crazy when you think back, but that’s what they did.

When Kéllé and her friend Louise (Nurding) Redknapp signed their first record deal at the age of 15, they believed they had won the lottery. She continued, “When you were 15 and you were being paid £300 per week, I was very excited.” What, I just assumed I had made it to £300 per week? And it was going to be with Louise, your ideal job with your closest friend.

When Louise and Kéllé first joined Eternal, they were paired with Easther and Vernie Bennett, who were also members. However, Louise made the decision to leave the group just three years after their debut.

She stated at the time that she wanted to pursue a solo career, but later claimed she felt “lost” and had low self-esteem while a member of the group. Kéllé was aware of Redknapp’s difficulties without her, who went on to achieve success on her own.

She stated, “I was aware that Lou was struggling. I can’t believe I can do this anymore, she said to me. Without Louise, the band would change, and it would never be the same.

The documentary, which was produced by seasoned broadcaster Louis Theroux, follows Boybands Forever’s success. The likes of Clara Amfo, Lucie Cave, MNEK, Pete Tong, Nicki Chapman, Scott Mills, and Tulisa will also be featured in interviews with girl bands over the course of the 1990s and beyond.

Executive producer for Mindhouse, Louis Theroux, expressed his delight in being a part of creating this wonderful series. In the 1990s, the Spice Girls, Eternal, and All Saints all started playing. Pop music and British culture in general had a special time during this period.

Then, in their place, a parade of girlbands, each with a different type of talent and style, and frequently very funny. It was a real pleasure to go back and rediscover all the music, those videos, and the interviews they conducted.

There was pain in the music, as is frequently the case, and it cost a lot to achieve that level of young fame. However, we primarily wanted this to be a celebration of a period of extremely special music and talent.

Continue reading the article.

The focus now shifts to the stories of some of the UK’s most powerful girl groups, according to Jonathan Rothery, head of BBC popular music TV.

Girlbands Forever aims to take you back in time to a period in pop music history as well as explore the realities of being a young woman thrust into the spotlight, through real-world experiences, and from the lessons we have learned.