Category World News

Portugal’s Ruben Neves scored a stoppage-time goal to snatch a 1-0 win over Ireland, which preserved Portugal’s 100 percent record in World Cup qualifying Group F and consolidated the top spot.

Portugal moved to nine points at the halfway stage of the campaign, with a five-point lead over second-placed Hungary, who they host on Tuesday, when they could secure qualification.

Neves headed home a minute into added time on Saturday at the Estadio Jose Alvalade for his first international goal.

It was a poignant tribute to close friend Diogo Jota, who died in a car accident in July and whose No 21 jersey Neves wore in Portugal’s first home game since the Liverpool player’s death.

American actress Diane Keaton, known for her Oscar-winning performance in 1977’s Annie Hall and her role in The Godfather films, has died at the age of 79.

Keaton died in California and her loved ones have asked for privacy, a family spokesperson told People magazine on Saturday.

Keaton, who appeared in more than 60 films, stood out in Hollywood with a personal style that favoured androgynous looks: suits, turtleneck sweaters and her trademark hats.

The actress shot to fame in the 1970s with her role as Kay Adams, the girlfriend and eventual wife of Al Pacino’s Michael Corleone in The Godfather trilogy as well as her collaborations with director Woody Allen.

Keaton frequently worked with Allen, portraying the titular character in Annie Hall, the charming girlfriend of Allen’s comic Alvy Singer.

“It was an idealised version of me, let’s put it that way,” Keaton said about the film in an interview with the United States TV network CBS News in 2004.

The film also garnered Oscars for best picture, best director and best original screenplay, cementing Keaton’s place as one of the industry’s top actresses and an offbeat style icon as well.

She made a total of eight films with Allen, including 1979’s Manhattan.

Her star-making performances in the 1970s were not a flash in the pan as she would continue to charm new generations for decades, thanks in part to a longstanding collaboration with filmmaker Nancy Meyers, with whom she made four films.

A BAFTA and Golden Globe winner, Keaton scored Oscar nominations three other times for best actress for Reds, Marvin’s Room and Something’s Gotta Give.

Her many beloved films included The First Wives Club, Father of the Bride, The Family Stone and the Book Club movies.

Born Diane Hall in Los Angeles on January 5, 1946, Keaton was romantically involved with Allen, Pacino and Warren Beatty (her Reds costar), but she never married.

“I think I was really afraid of men and also very attracted to extremely talented people that were dazzling,” she told Elle magazine in 2015. “I don’t think that makes for a good marriage with a person like me, someone who just didn’t adjust well.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged Donald Trump to broker peace in Ukraine like in “the Middle East” during a phone call, saying if the United States president could stop one war, “others can be stopped as well.”

Saturday’s call came a day after Russia launched a large-scale attack on Ukraine’s energy grid, knocking out power to parts of the capital, Kyiv, and nine other Ukrainian regions, which have since been restored.

Diplomatic efforts to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have slowed in recent weeks, in part because global attention has shifted to brokering a ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza, Kyiv said.

Trump, who announced the first phase of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas on Wednesday, met Russian President Vladimir Putin for talks in August but failed to secure progress on a ceasefire in the European war.

“I had a call with US President Donald Trump. A very positive and productive one,” Zelenskyy said on Facebook, congratulating Trump for his “outstanding” ceasefire plan in the Middle East.

“If a war can be stopped in one region, then surely other wars can be stopped as well, including the Russian war,” Zelenskyy added, calling for Trump to pressure the Kremlin into negotiations.

Relations between the two leaders have warmed dramatically since February when they sparred during a televised meeting at the White House.

Trump has since grown more hostile towards Moscow while expressing sympathy for Ukraine.

In September, he wrote on Truth Social that Kyiv should try to “take back” all its occupied territory with Europe’s and NATO’s help.

US first lady Melania Trump said on Friday that she had secured the release of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia after establishing an extraordinary back channel of communication with Putin.

Russian attacks on Ukraine killed at least five people on Saturday and cut power to parts of southern Ukraine’s Odesa region, according to Ukrainian officials.

Two of the people died inside a church in Kostyantynivka when it was hit by a strike, according to local authorities.

Using ‘Russian assets’

Ukraine’s largest private energy company, DTEK, said “the main work to restore the power supply” was completed but some localised outages were still affecting the Ukrainian capital after Friday’s “massive” Russian attacks.

Ukrainian drone attacks, meanwhile, killed two people in Russia, according to regional officials.

In the Russian border region of Belgorod, a truck driver was killed by a Ukrainian strike, according to local officials.

Moscow has targeted Ukraine’s energy grid each winter since it launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, cutting power and heating to millions of households and disrupting water supplies in what Kyiv says is a brazen war crime.

Russia denies targeting civilians and says Ukraine uses the energy sites to power its military sector.

Both countries have accused each other in recent months of frustrating progress towards a peace deal.

Russia blames Kyiv and its European allies for the impasse, accusing them of undermining peace negotiations with Washington. Ukraine and Europe accuse Russia of playing for time so it can seize more Ukrainian territory.

Zelenskyy said in his nightly address on Friday that Russia was taking advantage of the world being “almost entirely focused on the prospect of establishing peace in the Middle East” and called for strengthening Ukraine’s air defence systems and placing tighter sanctions on Russia.

Investigators do not expect to find any survivors at the scene of a blast at a Tennessee explosives company, officials say.

The explosion, which was felt for miles, destroyed a building at the headquarters of Accurate Energetic Systems early on Friday in Bucksnort, about an hour’s drive west of Nashville.

“More than 300 people have been through almost every square inch of this facility, and at this time, we’ve recovered no survivors,” Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis told reporters on Saturday. “It’s a great loss to our communities.”

Officials did not offer a precise death toll but have previously said 18 people were unaccounted for. Davis confirmed the operation had shifted from rescue to recovery and that investigators would use DNA testing to confirm the identities of those who died.

The factory made explosives for both military and demolition purposes.

Investigators, including agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, were still working to determine the cause of the explosion, officials said. The presence of explosives and other ordnance at the property has made searching the scene complicated.

In a statement, the company called the blast “a tragic accident”.

Some groups of Madagascan soldiers have defied orders and joined thousands of antigovernment protesters assembled in the capital, Antananarivo, as demonstrations against President Andry Rajoelina’s rule gain momentum.

The youth-led protesters entered the capital’s May 13 Square on Saturday for the first time in one of the biggest gatherings since a protest movement inspired by what has become known as the Gen Z protests in Kenya and Nepal erupted on the Indian Ocean island on September 25.

After police used stun grenades and tear gas to try to disperse the demonstrators, soldiers arrived at the scene, where they were welcomed with cheers.

At a meeting at an army barracks on the outskirts of the city earlier, soldiers in the elite CAPSAT unit, which played a pivotal role in Rajoelina’s rise in 2009, issued a rare public call for solidarity as demonstrators demanded the president’s resignation.

“Let us join forces, military, gendarmes and police, and refuse to be paid to shoot our friends, our brothers and our sisters,” the soldiers at the base in the Soanierana district said in a video posted on social media.

They called on soldiers at the airport to “prevent all aircraft from taking off” and those in other camps to “refuse orders to shoot your friends”.

“Close the gates, and await our instructions,” they said. “Do not obey orders from your superiors. Point your weapons at those who order you to fire on your comrades in arms because they will not take care of our families if we die.”

A video broadcast by local media showed some soldiers leaving the barracks to escort protesters into May 13 Square, the scene of many political uprisings, which had been heavily guarded and off-limits during the unrest.

Saturday’s demonstrations were the largest in several days in the youth-led movement, which was sparked by anger over power and water shortages and evolved into a broader antigovernment campaign.

It was unclear how many soldiers had joined the call on Saturday.

The newly appointed minister of the armed forces called on soldiers to “remain calm”.

“We call on our brothers who disagree with us to prioritise dialogue,” Minister General Deramasinjaka Manantsoa Rakotoarivelo said at a news conference.

“The Malagasy army remains a mediator and constitutes the nation’s last line of defence.”

Several people were injured on Thursday as security forces dispersed protesters with tear gas, rubber bullets and armoured vehicles.

Videos of police violence went viral on social media, including a video of one man being left unconscious on the ground after he was chased and severely beaten by security forces, an incident that reporters with the AFP news agency witnessed.

The United Nations on Friday reacted by calling on authorities to “desist from unnecessary force and to uphold the rights to free association and peaceful assembly”.

The UN said at least 22 people have been killed and 100 injured in the protests.

Rajoelina has disputed the toll, saying on Wednesday that there were “12 confirmed deaths and all of these individuals were looters and vandals”.

Rajoelina initially adopted a conciliatory tone and sacked his entire government in response to the protests.

But he has since doubled down, appointing military officer Ruphin Fortunat Zafisambo as prime minister on Monday and picking the first members of his new cabinet from among the armed forces, public security and police.

Among the world’s poorest countries, Madagascar has undergone frequent popular uprisings since gaining independence from France in 1960, including mass protests in 2009 that forced then-President Marc Ravalomanana from power as the military installed Rajoelina for his first term.

Calls for Israel’s suspension from European football have been renewed a day after the ceasefire in Gaza came into effect and as the Israeli team has resumed its qualification campaign for the FIFA World Cup 2026.

The human rights campaign group Game Over Israel urged UEFA on Saturday to suspend Israel until it ends its abuses against Palestinians.

With the ceasefire in Gaza coming into effect on Friday, Ashish Prashar, a campaign director at Game Over Israel, stressed the need to hold Israel accountable for its conduct.

He said Israel has “no place in international football” after the horrors it unleashed on Gaza, which leading rights groups and United Nations investigators have described as a genocide.

“Even if bombs and bullets stop, genocide is a crime against humanity and perhaps the gravest crime a state or project can commit,” Prashar told Al Jazeera.

“Remember what Europe did after World War II. Nazi Germany was suspended from football, and the Nuremberg trials took place.”

Game Over Israel has been using billboards in major cities across the world to drive home that message. The latest billboard was revealed in Milan and addressed to UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin.

“Israel is committing genocide. Suspend Israel now. It’s your moral obligation,” it said.

The campaign also conveyed the same message in a full-page ad in the Los Angeles Times on Saturday.

From Times Square to MILAN 🇮🇹, football fans have had ENOUGH! ‼️😡 Stop allowing football to sports-wash genocide. The world sees through it and we’re demanding a full Israeli boycott across football. The Federations can’t hide anymore. Suspend Israel.#GameOverIsrael @UEFA pic.twitter.com/pbQSmn1pia

John Dugard, former UN special rapporteur on Palestine, said it remains legally necessary and urgent for UEFA to ban the Israel Football Association (IFA).

“By continuing to host Israeli teams, UEFA risks becoming complicit in the normalisation of war crimes,” Dugard said in a statement.

“We urge you to uphold the integrity of the sport and immediately suspend the IFA and all affiliated teams from UEFA competitions until Israel ends the genocide and its unlawful occupation, and fully complies with its obligations under international law.”

In addition to the atrocities in Gaza, Israel allows teams based in settlements in the occupied West Bank, which are illegal under international law, to compete in its professional leagues in violation of FIFA rules.

“Member associations and their clubs may not play on the territory of another member association without the latter’s approval,” FIFA statutes read.

There is international consensus, backed by UN resolutions and International Court of Justice opinions, that the West Bank is Palestinian territory illegally occupied by Israel.

Both FIFA and UEFA suspended Russia days after it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

“Mass imprisonment is a red line. Systematic torture is a red line. Illegal occupation is a red line. Apartheid is a red line. And genocide is the reddest line of all,” former UN official Craig Mokhiber said in a statement.

“Israel has crossed too many of humanity’s red lines to be granted a pass. To normalise this now would mean complicity in shepherding in a new era of horror for our world.”

This month, more than 30 legal scholars penned a letter to Ceferin emphasising the need to ban Israel.

Hundreds of Norwegian fans protested against Israel before their national team’s game against Israel on Saturday, waving Palestinian flags and banners accusing Israel of apartheid and genocide.

The match ended in a thumping 5-0 win for Norway. Israel now sits in third spot in Group I of the UEFA qualifiers before its match against Italy on Tuesday and has a razor-thin chance of booking a playoff spot for the World Cup.

The United States, which will co-host next year’s tournament alongside Canada and Mexico, has said it will block any attempts to ban Israel from the World Cup should it qualify.