Aoife Wafer, the star back rower, is “very close” to recovering from a knee injury, according to Ireland assistant coach Alex Codling.
After having knee surgery last month, Ireland’s Women’s Six Nations player of the year did not make it to their opening World Cup match against Japan.
Wafer spent the last week in Dublin to continue her rehab, and Codling made no mention of Wafer’s potential clash with Spain in Northampton on Sunday (12:00 BST), despite the 22-year-old having trained with the squad since arriving in England.
She’s working extremely hard, returning, and coming very close, Codling said.
Codling continued, “I’m not working directly with her, but she joined in with the lineouts, which indicates that she’s on track and going really well.”
After the co-captain missed a portion of Wednesday’s training session, Codling added that Ireland are “looking after” Edel McMahon.
McMahon managed 75 minutes of the win over Japan despite missing both warm-up games.
We are managing a lot of players, and she’s obviously been out for a while, so it’s important for us as a coaching group, said Codling.
We’re looking after her and making sure she’s fit and ready because she was exceptional over the weekend.
Spain lost to New Zealand, who are currently defending their World Cup title, 54-8, but won the 2021 World Cup qualifier against Ireland to close the gap.
Spain is eighth in the world, eight places behind Ireland, but Codling claims that “a piece of paper has never won games.”
“We treat everyone the same, for a variety of reasons,” I believe. They will undoubtedly challenge us as a team.
Aoife Wafer, the star back rower, is “very close” to recovering from a knee injury, according to Ireland assistant coach Alex Codling.
After having knee surgery last month, Ireland’s Women’s Six Nations player of the year did not make it to their opening World Cup match against Japan.
Wafer spent the last week in Dublin to continue her rehab, and Codling made no mention of Wafer’s potential clash with Spain in Northampton on Sunday (12:00 BST), despite the 22-year-old having trained with the squad since arriving in England.
She’s working extremely hard, returning, and coming very close, Codling said.
Codling continued, “I’m not working directly with her, but she joined in with the lineouts, which indicates that she’s on track and going really well.”
After the co-captain missed a portion of Wednesday’s training session, Codling added that Ireland are “looking after” Edel McMahon.
McMahon managed 75 minutes of the win over Japan despite missing both warm-up games.
We are managing a lot of players, and she’s obviously been out for a while, so it’s important for us as a coaching group, said Codling.
We’re looking after her and making sure she’s fit and ready because she was exceptional over the weekend.
Spain lost to New Zealand, who are currently defending their World Cup title, 54-8, but won the 2021 World Cup qualifier against Ireland to close the gap.
Spain is eighth in the world, eight places behind Ireland, but Codling claims that “a piece of paper has never won games.”
“We treat everyone the same, for a variety of reasons,” I believe. They will undoubtedly challenge us as a team.
According to the official news agency for the Lebanese government, US envoy Tom Barrack has canceled his trip to southern Lebanon.
The altered trip was made on Wednesday as a result of ongoing outrage over Barrack’s recent mockery of journalists in the country and Washington’s push to disarm Hezbollah.
According to the National News Agency, Barrack was flown by helicopter to a Marjayoun, Lebanon’s army barracks where troops were stationed before his arrival on Wednesday.
However, scheduled visits to the coastal city of Tyre and the nearby town of Khiam, which were both destroyed by Israeli and Israeli hostilities, were later postponed.
The US Department of State did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment on the alleged change in plans.
Since Tuesday, when he told journalists to “act civilized,” they peppered him with questions following a meeting with President Joseph Aoun in Beirut. Barrack, who is the US ambassador to Turkiye and also serves as Washington’s special envoy for Syria, has grown out of control in Lebanon.
The US envoy appeared to compare the exchange to the Middle East’s wider unrest, saying that he would stop asking questions if the situation “beginned to become chaotic, like animalistic.”
The Lebanese presidency later regretted the remarks, which were the diplomat was accused of harboring a colonial mentality by critics.
Southern Lebanon protests
A Hezbollah disarmament plan will be presented to the Lebanon’s government in the coming days, according to Barrack on Tuesday.
That was done in response to Lebanon’s cabinet’s ultimatum last month, which was done under intense US pressure and amid Israel’s threat of further military escalation.
Hezbollah continues to support the push, particularly in southern Lebanon, where it has also caused unrest. Images of protesters carrying pictures of slain fighters, Hezbollah flags, and standing near anti-US slogans scrawled on Khiam highway early on Wednesday showed them.
America was referred to as the “great Satan” in one Arabic message. Another English speaker said, “Barak is an animal.
In Tyre, protests were reported as well, with Bilal Kashmar, a representative from the union of southern municipalities, reporting that hundreds of people gathered to protest Barrack’s planned arrival and protest “biased policies” in the country.
In the wake of Israel’s subsequent military incursion into the Palestinian enclave on October 7, 2023, fighting between Israel and Lebanon grew even more severe.
In violation of the ceasefire agreement, Israel continued to bomb Lebanon nearly daily in violation of the agreement, which was reached by Israel and Hezbollah in November 2024. Israel has accused the governments of breaking the terms of the agreements.
The administration of President Donald Trump has made it known that it intends to overtake Union Station, a significant transportation hub in Washington, DC, as president.
Sean Duffy, the transportation secretary, unveiled a new fleet of faster Acela trains on Wednesday as he sat down with Amtrak executives.
One of the busiest train stations in the country, as well as a shopping complex and a stop for buses, streetcars, and metro lines, is now operated by Amtrak.
Duffy argued that the Trump administration had the right to control the station’s management because it was the Department of Transportation (DOT)’s) owner, and that this was done in accordance with Duffy’s assertions.
Duffy stated, “Today, we’re announcing that we’re going to take Union Station back under DOT control.”
Not a power play, really. Although we’ve always had it, we believe we can improve how we manage the property, attract more tenants, and generate more income, which will allow us to invest in this magnificent structure.
According to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, the US government could manage Union Station more effectively.
exerting influence over Washington, D.C.
Trump has attempted to increase executive power since taking office in January for a second term, including by requesting changes to the country’s capital.
For instance, Trump issued an executive order declaring a “crime emergency” in Washington, DC earlier this month, and he has since deployed more than 2, 000 National Guard members to the area’s streets.
However, the Metropolitan Police Department’s most recent crime statistics do not reflect the perception that the capital is experiencing a wave of crime.
After rising during the COVID-19 pandemic, the police released data in January that indicated a 30-year low for violent crime in the city.
Trump has nevertheless made more of his accusations of widespread crime, including on Tuesday at a cabinet meeting.
According to Trump, “DC crime was the worst ever in history.” However, he attributed his military service to creating a quick turnaround.
“We’ve worked so hard over the past 13 days, and we’ve taken so many criminals, there are still many more. ” Trump went on to say “over a thousand”.
The Republican leader has also vowed to control the city’s cultural institutions more frequently.
Trump took over the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts board in February, and his replacements quickly elected him as chairman of the national theater.
The Trump administration also announced in a letter to the Smithsonian Institution’s head that it would conduct a “comprehensive internal review” of its museums this month in an effort to “remove divisive or partisan narratives” and “repeat” divisive or partisan narratives.
Trump himself claimed in a tweet that the Smithsonian misrepresented American accomplishments in favor of the horrors of slavery.
Trump wrote, “The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything is discussed is how awful our country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been,” in response.
“We are not going to allow this to happen, and I have instructed my attorneys to go through the museums and begin the exact same procedure that has been used to evaluate colleges and universities,” he said. Because WOKE IS BROKE, THIS NATIONAL CITY IS WOKE.
On August 27, Louisiana National Guard members escort Union Station [Brian Snyder/Reuters]
A crucial project, Union Station
Union Station has long been a focal point for concerns about crime and safety in the city because of its central location in the city’s central Washington, DC.
Critics have long pushed for the station’s shopping mall to be revived because of the COVID-19 pandemic’s negative foot traffic.
Duffy tied Trump’s purchase of the station to his wider campaign’s “clean up” of the city in a speech on Wednesday.
Duffy said, “The president has been pretty clear about what he wants for Union Station, American travel, and train travel.”
He desires beautiful Union Station to be resurrected. He wants our nation’s capital to once again be great and transit to be safe. And that includes today.
He explained that Trump wanted Union Station to become the “premier train station in the world.”
“It requires investments,” It has shown its age and has been neglected for decades, according to Duffy.
Although the Trump administration recently suspended billions in funding for such a project in California, he added that he would like to see the facility expand.
Duffy remarked, “I don’t believe it should just be China, Europe, Japan, or other countries that have high-speed rail.” “I believe high-speed rail is a necessity for America.”
Union Station’s ownership by Amtrak has a relatively recent history. Following a legal battle over station interior management, the company took control of the rail terminal in 2024.
The city announced in November that it had received $ 82 million in grants for Union Station improvements, including an expansion, a modernisation, and safety project.
However, in recent months, the Trump administration has pushed for more involvement in US businesses. For instance, it announced last week that it had acquired a 10-percent stake in the chipmaker Intel and that it had also announced in June that it had “taken a gold share” of Nippon Steel’s acquisition of US Steel.
Mayor Muriel Bowser of Washington, DC, however, expressed optimism regarding Union Station’s plans for the Department of Transportation.
The mayor claimed that the city alone cannot afford to pay for the station’s renovation because an influx of money could represent “a very significant and good investment for this region.”
In a mass shooting at a Catholic school in Minneapolis, the US city, there were at least two children killed and more than a dozen others hurt. When police claimed a shooter opened fire through the windows of a church, a service was taking place.
