The US has announced the Gaza ceasefire is moving to phase two, where “demilitarisation, technocratic governance, and reconstruction” will be the focus. But did Israel and Hamas abide by phase one? Soraya Lennie breaks down what’s happened.
Wales number eight Aaron Wainwright is among Dragons’ big hitters to return when they bid to keep their Challenge Cup hopes alive against Newcastle on Friday (20:00 GMT).
The Rodney Parade side finish the group stages in Newport against a Red Bulls team protecting an unbeaten record.
Dragons must win, ideally with a four-try bonus, and then hope there is not a draw in the Pool Two fixture between Perpignan and Lions in France on Saturday.
Filo Tiatia left out a raft of influential players for the 74-21 hammering by Benetton in Treviso last Saturday, citing the six-day turnaround.
European Challenge Cup: Dragons v Newcastle
Friday, 16 January at 20:00 GMT
Coghlan makes his first start since suffering a hand injury on his return from making his Wales debut in the autumn.
Talisman Wainwright, lock Ben Carter, full-back Angus O’Brien, centres Aneurin Owen and Fine Inisi and scrum-half Che Hope are back in the starting line-up.
Ryan Woodman, who moves to lock from blind-side flanker, fly-half Tinus de Beer and wings Rio Dyer and David Richards are the only survivors in the XV from Treviso.
“We want to make the last 16 and we know when we’re at home we need to front up for the fans – all the players wearing the jersey all know the expectations,” said Tiatia.
“We need to do justice to the jersey and then try and wear it for another week. That is earned, not given.
“I can’t wait for the players to get amongst it. After the disappointment against Benetton, it’s good to get back on the horse and get stuck in.”
Dragons have won their last three games on home soil after a comeback Challenge Cup success against Lyon and comprehensive United Rugby Championship victories against Connacht and Scarlets.
They last won four successive Rodney Parade fixtures in 2019-20 when Dean Ryan’s side enjoyed five victories on the spin before the Covid pandemic.
“We love playing at home, but it’s only an advantage if we turn up,” said Tiatia.
“We’re excited get back and our fans are awesome and great supporters of the team.
“We have lots to prove from last week, in terms of where we can get to, and we can’t be defined by one performance.”
Newcastle, who have former Wales and Scarlets fly-half Stephen Jones on their coaching team, make three changes to the line-up that beat Perpignan 26-19.
Number eight Freddie Lockwood is back from a broken hand, lock Jamie Hodgson has served a one-game suspension and centre Cameron Hutchison replaces Oli Spencer, who suffered a head injury last week.
“The fact that we already have a home tie in the round of 16 is irrelevant, because we know that home advantage in the later rounds is huge if we are able to go deeper into the competition,” said Jones.
“Securing a higher seeding from the group stage gives us the best possible chance of achieving that, but it’s also about maintaining our momentum.
Dragons last made the knockout stages in 2022-23 when they were thrashed 73-33 by Glasgow in the last 16.
Tiatia’s side are fifth in the group and can now only earn an away tie, but they are not in control of their own destiny.
If they beat Newcastle with a bonus point then they could still miss out on the knockout stages if Perpignan and Lions both score four tries in a draw.
A Dragons win without a bonus would be enough for qualification if the losers in France only get one bonus point.
Red Bulls are bottom of The Prem, but have won all three fixtures in the Challenge Cup to secure a home tie in the last 16.
Dragons: Dragons: O’Brien (co-capt); Richards, Inisi, Owen, Dyer; De Beer, Hope; W Jones, Coghlan, Hunt, Woodman, Carter (co-capt), Keddie, Young, Wainwright.
Replacements: G Roberts, Martinez, Dlamini, Douglas, Lewis-Hughes, R Williams, Ackerman, C Evans.
Newcastle: Obatoyinbo; Wade, Arnold, Hutchison, Hearle; Grayson, Benitez Cruz; McCallum, McGuigan (capt), Palframan, Usher, Hodgson, Gordon, Christie, Lockwood.
Replacements: Fletcher, Brocklebank, De Bruin, Baker, Parsons, J Elliott, Beeckmans, Greenwood.
Referee: Christopher Allison (SA)
Assistants: Morne Ferreira (SA), Griffin Colby (SA)
A compilation of what Trump envisions for the future of the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military has launched raids and interrogations ensnaring more than 80 people across the occupied West Bank, wounding at least one man and demolishing the home of another as Israel escalates its attacks on the Palestinian territory in tandem with its ongoing genocidal war in Gaza.
In one incident on Thursday, Israeli forces surrounded a home in Dura, south of the city of Hebron, before shooting and wounding the brother of Mahmoud al-Fasfous.
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The al-Fasfous brothers have long been wanted by Israeli forces and have faced frequent raids of the family home and soldier assaults.
In another raid in Hebron’s Khallat Nafisa area, Israeli forces sealed off the area from civilians before destroying the home of Imran al-Atrash with a bulldozer, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
Israeli forces killed al-Atrash and another Palestinian, Walid Muhammad Khalil Sabarna, in mid-November when the duo was accused of carrying out a car-ramming and stabbing attack that killed one Israeli settler and injured three.
The Israeli military posted photos of the demolition on Telegram, claiming that al-Atrash was a “terrorist” and cheering the effort to destroy his home.
Elsewhere in Hebron and the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces detained and interrogated at least 80 Palestinians during overnight and dawn raids, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society reported.
At least one woman and two children were among those detained along with former prisoners.
“This represents an unprecedented escalation since the beginning of the year, described as part of a campaign of collective punishment,” the group said, adding that field interrogations have “become the occupation’s most prominent policy”.
Two arrests took place during a raid on the Arroub refugee camp, located north of Hebron, with other arrests under way in virtually all areas surrounding the city, Wafa reported.
In the al-Majaz community of Masafer Yatta, a collection of hamlets in the South Hebron Hills, Israeli forces plundered homes before converting one into a military outpost, forcing its inhabitants to spend the night outside in the cold.
Meanwhile, in the Ramallah and el-Bireh governorate, soldiers stormed the town of Kobar and fanned out across multiple neighbourhoods.
Townspeople told Al Jazeera that the soldiers tried to provoke residents by shouting: “Who wants to become a martyr? Where are the cowards?”
Israel has stepped up its raids on the occupied West Bank – including injuring dozens of Palestinians with live rounds and grenades at a prominent university earlier this month – amid a formal push to annex the territory.
Israeli settlers have rampaged in Palestinian lands, killing and beating Palestinian civilians, including the elderly, and destroying their property with impunity, often backed by the Israeli military.
Throughout 2025, Israeli settlers or soldiers killed 240 Palestinians in the West Bank, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said last week. Israeli forces killed 225 people while settlers killed at least nine. The agency could not confirm whether settlers or soldiers caused the remaining six deaths.
Fifty-five of those killed – nearly one-quarter of the total – were children.
During the same period, Palestinians killed 17 Israelis in the West Bank, including one child and six members of Israeli forces, OCHA reported.
Liverpool defender Andy Robertson would like to remain at Liverpool beyond this summer when his contract expires – but says he’s “a player who wants to play”.
Robertson, 31, added that nothing has been decided yet, despite discussions with the club.
Asked if he would like to stay, the Scotland international said: “Yes, but it’s a difficult question.
“I’ve got five months left and we need to see what the option is to stay or if there’s options to go and things like that. I need to sit down with my family and decide.
“After a stressful summer, I’m just trying to enjoy being a part of it and being a Liverpool player.
“I wanted to qualify for the World Cup and thankfully we’ve managed to do that. I need to see what myself and my family wants going forward.”
Robertson, who signed for Liverpool for £8m from Hull City in 2017 during Jurgen Klopp’s reign, has played 362 times for the Reds but has started just four Premier League games this season.
Hungary international Milos Kerkez, 22, has been Liverpool’s first-choice left-back since making the move from Bournemouth for £40m last summer.
Asked if the amount of game time he gets between now and the end of the season would have an impact on his future, Robertson said: “I can focus on the last eight and a half years. I think Jurgen Klopp left me out for one game and I was raging. So I’m a player who wants to play.
“I’ve played through injuries. I’ve played when I’m not 100% fit. I’ve played when I’ve only been 50/40/30% fit for this club and my country. I always want to be on the grass and playing and obviously now that’s not happening, so that’s what is different.
He continued: “That’s always my argument, you should always want to push to be in the team. If you’re happy to sit on the bench, then I don’t think you have the right attitude.
“I think I’ve played well in the games I’ve played this season. Maybe I’ve not played as much as I would have liked, but it’s nothing I’ve been surprised by. Let’s see what happens.”
Robertson confirmed he has had discussions with senior figures at Liverpool about the future but is keeping those details private.
After fellow defender Trent Alexander-Arnold left in the summer, Robertson was made Liverpool’s vice-captain, and he said his relationship with the club’s executives remains good.
“I’ve given absolutely everything for the club for the last eight and a half years and the club have been very good to me – they’ve rewarded me with good contracts when I have been playing well,” he added.
“Nobody can deny what I have given to this club. I’ve given everything day in and day out and put in some performances which I think have been good, and I hope others agree – I’ve won a lot of trophies and had a lot of good days here.
“My relationship with the people higher up in the club has always been excellent since the day I came in. Signing me for £8m and then doing what I have done helps that, which I remind people of all the time!
Coronation Street’s Claire Peacock left the soap 15 years ago this week – but where is the actress Julia Haworth now?
Claire made her debut on the long-running ITV soap way back in 2003, as Ashley Peacock’s (Steven Arnold) new nanny for his son Joshua. And it wasn’t long before Claire fell for her employer and married into the Peacock family, taking up a permanent role on the cobbles.
During her stint on the show, she was involved in several big moments, including her heartbreaking postnatal depression battle after giving birth to their son Freddie. Claire also had to deal with the tragic death of Ashley in 2010, when he was killed during the soap’s 50th anniversary involving the infamous tram crash.
However, in January 2011, Claire said her goodbyes to the street when she swapped Weatherfield for France. But where is the actress who played her now?
In 2010, Coronation Street’s newest producer at the time Phil Collinson decided not to renew Steven and Julia’s contracts, leading to Ashley and Claire’s on-screen exit. In a statement, Phil said: “Ashley and Clare Peacock have been part of the fabric of Weatherfield for many years but like any community, people come and go.
“Both actors and myself felt that we had reached a crossroads with the characters, to the point that as actors they were not being fulfilled and stories were harder to find.
“We mutually decided to start working towards an exit for the Peacock family, giving the actors the chance to explore new opportunities and for us to devise a dramatic exit storyline. I wish Steven and Julia, and of course the young boys who play [sons] Josh and Freddie, all the best for the future.”
Since leaving Coronation Street, Julia has continued her successful acting career, appearing many TV shows. She played Laura Wade on rival soap BBC ’s Doctors from 2018 to 2019 and also had a role in the ITV drama The Bay in its second series.
Julia also starred alongside Liz Hurley in American drama The Royals and played Doris Owen in season 10 of beloved BBC drama Call the Midwife in 2021. And more recently, portrayed Pamela Parks in the BBC show A Kind Of Spark.
Soap star Julia is married to accountant Jon Wormald. The pair met in 2003 and according to Julia, it was love at first sight.
“I remember looking at Jon and thinking he was gorgeous and that I could marry him. I’d never experienced that before, but I just knew it was absolutely right,” she told People in 2008.
Going from strength to strength, Julia and Jon tied the knot in 2006 at St Stephen’s Church, in Burnley. Julia’s Coronation Street co-stars attended the wedding too including Steven, Kate Ford – who plays Tracy Barlow – and Leanne Battersby star Jane Danson. In 2008, Julia gave birth to a daughter and their second daughter was born in 2013.
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In 2018, Julia put her acting experience and knowledge to good use, revealing she was planning on getting a teaching qualification at Bolton College to inspire future actors.
“As an actor still working professionally within the entertainment industry, the knowledge and skills I am teaching to the Performing Arts students here at Bolton College are 100 per cent up to date, accurate and relevant,” she told The Bolton News.
Julia added: “This is imperative in a rapidly changing industry and in helping the learners with their future employability.”
In her role, Julia helped budding actors develop their acting skills, as well produce their own show reels and offer advice on auditions and life on a TV set.