Hull KR put one hand on the League Leader’s Shield with a statement 10-6 victory over closest Super League chasers Wigan Warriors at a pulsating Brick Community Stadium.
In a thrilling encounter between the top two, which kept the crowd guessing until the last moment, the Robins held on under intense late pressure to establish a six-point lead with five games of the regular season to go.
A converted early try from Dean Hadley and two penalty kicks from the boot of Rhyse Martin had looked set to deliver a shutout for the Robins with six minutes to go.
But a battling finish from Wigan sparked by a try and conversion from Adam Keighran delivered a thrilling run to the hooter, but the hosts were unable to avoid a first home defeat by the Robins since 2021.
Two persons suspected to be kidnappers have been arrested in the Gassol Local Government Area of Taraba State.
The suspects identified as Yahaya Umar and Mohammed Umar were found in possession of an AK-47 rifle.
The arrest is sequel to credible intelligence on the activities of some suspected kidnappers in their hideout located at Mahadi forest of Gassol local council by the anti-kidnapping squad in collaboration with the hunters.
The breakthrough, according to a press statement issued by ASP James Lashen, acting Police Public Relations Officer in Taraba, is part of efforts to tackle kidnapping and violent crimes in the state.
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While the case is under investigation, the suspects are said to have confessed to be part of the syndicate terrorising Plateau and Taraba States lately.
The State Commissioner of Police, Betty Enekpen, applauded the operatives for their swift action and reassured the public of the Command’s commitment to ensuring a peaceful Taraba.
Liverpool struck twice in the final minutes through Federico Chiesa and Mohamed Salah to overcome a battling Bournemouth 4-2 in a thrilling start to the Premier League season on Friday.
Antoine Semenyo looked to have rescued a point for the Cherries by scoring twice, after he had reported an incident of racial abuse from a fan, to cancel out Hugo Ekitike and Cody Gakpo’s strikes for the defending champions.
But on an emotive night as Anfield remembered Diogo Jota, Chiesa was the unlikely hero as the injury-hit Italian fired the home side back in front before Salah rounded off the scoring.
Liverpool’s joy at celebrating a record-equalling 19th English top-flight title turned to tragedy during the off-season as forward Jota was killed alongside his brother Andre Silva in a car accident last month at the age of 28.
Just 11 days prior to the accident, the Portuguese international had married Rute Cardoso, the mother of his three children.
A large banner at the front of The Kop stand read: “Rute, Dinis, Duarte, Mafalda – Anfield will always be your home. You’ll Never Walk Alone.”
Liverpool’s Dutch manager Arne Slot embraces Liverpool’s Egyptian striker #11 Mohamed Salah after the English Premier League football match between Liverpool and Bournemouth at Anfield in Liverpool, north west England on August 15, 2025. Liverpool won the game 4-2. (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP)
During a minute’s silence, fans held up a giant mosaic with the initials of Jota and Silva, who was also a footballer, and their shirt numbers in the Portuguese flag.
Despite romping to the title with four games to spare last season, Liverpool have undergone a major transformation in the transfer market, spending close to £300 million ($407 million).
Ekitike, Florian Wirtz, Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong made their first competitive starts for the Reds.
More could be yet to come with Liverpool linked with a British transfer record move for Newcastle’s Alexander Isak and interested in Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi.
Liverpool’s Dutch striker #18 Cody Gakpo (R) vies with Bournemouth’s English midfielder #08 Alex Scott (L) during the English Premier League football match between Liverpool and Bournemouth at Anfield in Liverpool, north west England on August 15, 2025. (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP) /
The visitors were fortunate not to be reduced to 10 men less than 15 minutes in when Marcos Senesi clearly directed the ball out of Ekitike’s path with his hand when the French striker had a clear run at goal, but VAR surprisingly did not intervene.
– Salah’s tears –
The game was briefly halted on the half hour mark as Semenyo reported to referee Anthony Taylor he had been the subject of racist abuse from a Liverpool supporter, who was seen to be removed from the stands by police at half-time.
Shortly after the resumption, Ekitike settled Liverpool’s nerves as he got the break of the ball and slotted past Dorde Petrovic.
Ekitike then got the assist for Liverpool’s second just after the break as Gakpo coolly left two Bournemouth defenders on the ground and rolled into the bottom corner.
Arne Slot’s men have struggled to find the right balance in pre-season and in losing the Community Shield to Palace last weekend as a new-look slick attack could not compensate for wide open defensive gaps on the counter-attack and so it proved again.
David Brooks broke the offside trap and squared for Semenyo to pull a goal back.
The Ghanaian then rounded off his eventful evening for good and bad with an incredible equaliser.
Semenyo collected possession just outside his own box and sprinted through a vacant Liverpool midfield before firing into the bottom corner 13 minutes from time.
Chiesa was barely used by Slot in his debut season in England but became the unlikely hero when he pounced on a loose ball inside the Bournemouth box on 89 minutes.
Salah then broke clear in stoppage time to score his customary goal in the opening game of the season and paid his own homage to Jota by mimicking one of his goal celebrations.
London’s Metropolitan Police say at least 60 people will face prosecution for “showing support” for Palestine Action, the activist group outlawed as a “terrorist organisation” last month for protesting Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Three others have already been charged.
“We have put arrangements in place that will enable us to investigate and prosecute significant numbers each week if necessary,” the force said in a statement on Friday.
Since the controversial ban on July 7, more than 700 people have been detained at peaceful protests, including 522 arrested at a protest last weekend for holding signs backing the group, believed to be the largest number of arrests at a single protest in the capital’s history.
Critics, including the United Nations, Amnesty International and Greenpeace, have called the ban an overreach that risks stifling free speech.
Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Parkinson said the latest decisions were the “first significant numbers” from recent demonstrations, adding: “Many more can be expected in the next few weeks. People should be clear about the real-life consequences for anyone choosing to support Palestine Action.”
The UK’s Equality and Human Rights Commission has also warned against a “heavy-handed” approach, urging the government and police to ensure protest policing is proportionate and guided by clear legal tests.
The initial three prosecutions earlier this month stemmed from arrests during a July demonstration, with defendants charged under the Terrorism Act. Police said convictions for such offences could carry sentences of up to six months in prison, along with other penalties.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley praised the rapid coordination between officers and prosecutors, saying he was “proud of how our police and CPS teams have worked so speedily together to overcome misguided attempts to overwhelm the justice system”.
Home Office Minister Yvette Cooper defended the Labour government’s decision to proscribe Palestine Action, stating: “UK national security and public safety must always be our top priority. The assessments are very clear, this is not a non-violent organisation.”
The group was banned days after claiming responsibility for a break-in at an air force base in southern England, which the government claims caused an estimated 7 million pounds ($9.3 million) in damage to two aircraft. The home office has accused it of other “serious attacks” involving “violence, significant injuries and extensive criminal damage”.
Palestine Action has said its actions target the United Kingdom’s indirect military support for Israel amid the war in Gaza.
The UK’s Liberal Democrats voiced “deep concern” over using “anti-terrorism powers” against peaceful protesters.
Hundreds of thousands of people have demonstrated in several UK cities for nearly two years, calling for an end to Israel’s war on Gaza and for the British government to stop all weapons sales to the country.
The operation, on paper, appeared to be a typical government crackdown on drug traffickers.
In late 2024, more than two dozen masked officers descended on an alleged narcotics lab on the outskirts of San Pedro Sula, Honduras, where they found materials for processing cocaine and automatic weapons.
There was only one problem: The evidence, including the firearms and cocaine, seems to have disappeared from the public record.
That is according to a Honduran prosecutor specialising in cases of state corruption who spoke to Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity, for fear of professional reprisal.
The prosecutor believes there is a strong possibility the police may have kept the weapons and drugs to resell them on the black market.
Experts say questions of corruption and abuse have come to typify Honduras’s “state of exception”, an emergency declaration that has suspended certain constitutional rights while granting greater powers to the military and police.
Such measures are meant to be temporary. The state of exception was first declared in December 2022, in the name of fighting drug traffickers and gangs.
But it has been extended at least 17 times since, often without the explicit approval of Honduras’s Congress.
For human rights observers, the continued renewals have raised alarms over whether the state of exception is being used as a shield for law enforcement excesses.
In May, for instance, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) urged the Honduran government to “put an end” to the state of exception, citing systematic abuses at the hands of security forces.
“The implementation of the state of exception has led to serious human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances, arbitrary detentions and raids without judicial oversight,” the UN office wrote.
It added that Honduras’s National Commission for Human Rights (CONADEH) had arrived at similar conclusions.
Joaquin Mejia — an investigator with the Team for Reflection, Investigation and Communication, a Honduran human rights advocacy group — believes such abuses are a trend under the state of exception.
US President Trump and Russian President Putin began talks on the war in Ukraine at a US military base in Anchorage, Alaska, meeting with aides in front of a “Pursuing Peace” backdrop. They ignored reporters’ questions during a photo opportunity ahead of a joint press conference.
