Archive September 3, 2025

Travis Kelce cancelled first proposal to Taylor Swift after stern ‘warning’

By in Entertainment News, News

NFL player Travis Kelce got down on one knee and popped the question to girlfriend of two-years Taylor Swift last month – but the sports star cancelled his initial plans

Travis Kelce cancelled first proposal to Taylor Swift after stern ‘warning’

Taylor Swift’s future husband Travis Kelce called off his proposal to the pop singer before eventually popping the all-important question last month.

In August, the smitten couple, both 35, announced that they had secretly become engaged, two weeks prior to sharing the news with fans in a huge social media post.

Shortly after they recorded their joint appearance on the New Heights podcast, Travis is said to have taken Taylor out for dinner, before getting down on one knee in the back garden of his home in Lee Summit, Missouri, where he created a stunning floral garden around a gazebo for the happy occasion.

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However, Travis has since revealed that he originally planned to propose to Taylor on the water but someone close to him “warned” him against the idea. The NFL star opened up about his engagement for the first time on Wednesday’s episode of his New Heights podcast just over a week after the couple announced their happy news.

His admission came after one of Travis’ producers revealed that the sports star had recently proposed in the ocean, however it didn’t go according to plan, leaving Travis questioning his decision.

Detailing the awkward situation, the producer explained: “My head was bobbing up in the water, holding the ring while kicking your little feet to fight the current. Don’t recommend it. Travis did it on land. Much safer.” To which Travis replied: “I got warned, I got warned. I once thought I would do it on water but you did it. You showed heart.”

Travis shared the confession on his podcast today
Travis shared the confession on his podcast today(Image: newheightshow/Instagram)

Travis’ brother Jason then make a dig at the newly-engaged star as he chimed in: “You thought you would do it on water. He did it in water.”

The sports star went on to gush that whenever he calls Taylor his future wife it makes him feel “giddy”.

Travis gushed: “Thank you guys for the congratulations. I appreciate everybody that has reached out and sent something, all the posts and excitement and it has been really fun telling everybody who I’m going to be spending the rest of my life with. It has been really fun. It has been awesome.”

Travis and Taylor got engaged last month
Travis and Taylor got engaged last month(Image: taylorswift/Instagram)

Meanwhile Travis’ dad, Ed, has been very vocal about the engagement. During an interview on the Jimmy & Nath Show with Emma, he revealed that Travis hired a huge team to help the engagement run smoothly, with some even hiding in the bushes during the romantic moment.

Ed explained on the show that Travis had encouraged Taylor to go into the garden with him for a glass of wine before leaving the property for a meal out. He said that she may have realised it was a proposal once she was outside.

He said: “I think she knew something was up because as they approached, as they walked out there, she could see suddenly there’s a lot more flowers out there.”

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce have been an item since the summer of 2023(Image: Getty)

During the interview, Ed said his son’s garden had been decorated by people that “help Travis out with a lot of things”. He added: “They got it all ready. They actually saw them coming and hid in the bushes so they weren’t part of it.”

Asked how long his son had the ring before popping the question, Ed said: “Oh, I don’t know. I think I saw it earlier in the summer, like maybe July.” He said that Travis had been “ready” but “had a lot going on” over the last few months.

Ed said in the interview that Travis and Taylor kept the news of the engagement “quiet for a while”. He suggested that the decision was to distance it from her announcing her new album, the Life of a Showgirl, earlier this month. He said: “You don’t want to take away the energy from that.”

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Sudanese rape victims speak from Chad’s refugee camps

By in News, World News

Loua, 18, misses her small garden in El-Geneina, where luscious mangoes once grew.

In June of this year, the RSF destroyed her home.

She claims that “they burned our entire village.” In the attack, an uncle, three neighbors, and two of her brothers were killed.

Roua and eight of her school friends were abducted by RSF fighters despite making an attempt to escape on foot. They were all raped, total.

They held us for two days, they said. She claims that two of them, who had been raped there, had actually perished from that location as a result. Her memories of her lost friends make her tears run.

“It seemed helpless to me. At that point, I wished I had died.

The horror persists even after two years.

She claims, “I can’t sit still for a long time.”

Roua’s hand rests on the breastfeeding baby, and her face is unmoving as she speaks. After fleeing across the border with the majority of her family, the child’s father is a Chadian police officer.

She initially assumed he was interested in her after they had dated a few times.

He said, “I like you, I like you. She says, “I want you,” and she runs away as the footsteps come near. Such remarkables are shared with apprehension even within a small tent’s confines.

She recalls her second encounter with him at home, “but I refused,” she says.

She claims that after being raped, “He grabbed me and slammed me down on the floor.”

Roua and her rapist are no longer in communication.

Sexual abuse is not uncommon in refugee camps and during humanitarian crises.

According to Loiseau, “sex is a sex for survival” for some young girls. She and her team provide covert psychological assistance at the Maison d’étoile, the Red Cross’s House of Stars in Adre.

[Caitlin Kelly/Al Jazeera] A woman sits in the Sudanese-run Women’s Centre in Adre, where dozens of women have received psychosocial support.

They say they are invited to do laundry or other tasks, but ultimately they are raped instead of being paid. They are violated. She mentions refugees who frequently work for locals in Adre and claim that there is nothing they can do about it.

Given the absence of many women’s husbands, the camp’s pregnancies have raised questions for aid workers and community leaders.

According to Loiseau, “when you dig, you discover that it wasn’t consensual.”

Roua consistently rocks Awa, a nine-month-old baby, while staring into the distance. She describes how her family was harmed by the rape, which inflamed her father. She claims that a friend who was also pregnant after being raped by a Chadian police officer, went back to Sudan out of shame.

Inside, I’m broken, inside. I’m not able to eat at times. I’m sleepy-eyed. I’m not interested in talking to people. … I feel as though I’ve changed.

Refugees claim that violence is becoming more frequent in the camp despite Borgo’s claims that things are under control. Women claim they make sure their homes are out of the market by 6pm because one gang called The Colombians has gained notoriety for causing trouble.

In and around the camp, according to Doctors Without Borders, which also has the French acronym MSF.

Women who leave the camp to collect firewood or water may be targeted, according to Dr. Assoumana Halarou, the medical director of MSF in Chad.

One of those victims earlier in the day was Hanan, a woman who was listening to UNICEF while gathering firewood.

Hanan desperately needs medical care, despite the fact that there is psychological support.

My children are six. Both my wife and I are married. How should I feed my second child if I have him? ” she berates herself for her “bad luck” by asking.

‘Do Not Travel Through Dangerous Routes,’ Rescued Libya Returnee Warns Nigerians

By in News, Nigeria News

Citizens should avoid traveling on dangerous routes, according to Mercy Oluwagbenga, a young Nigerian who was saved from Libya.

After a viral video of her crying out for help, Miss Oluwagbenga recently received a viral rescue from Libya.

She narrated her ordeal to the Nigerians in the Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) and said, “No matter what your situation, do not travel through dangerous routes.”

She claimed to have been lured to Libya with the promise of greener pastures to enable her to raise money to care for her sick mother and that she had dropped out of school at the age of 20 and had been told by NiDCOM boss Abike Dabiri-Erewa.

Instead, the returnee claimed to have found herself enslaved today.

Read more about the DSS arrests nine key suspects in the Plateau killings in Benue.

I worked without a kobo for a year and six months because I had to pay the agent who took me to Libya about two and a half million naira. She recalled movingly as she was maltreated, changed jobs, and was once locked up in a house where her blood was allegedly drawn without my knowledge.

She lamented that Nigerians in her situation were “treated like animals,” referring to her experience as a Kabba in Kogi State, and that she was fortunate to have escaped into a camp.

She thanked Dabiri-Erewa, NIDCOM, and Trinity Foundation Dr. Segun Abraham for ensuring her safe return.

“I don’t want any young people to experience what I did.” As she pledged to work with NIDCOM to raise awareness of irregular immigration, Miss Oluwagbenga pleaded, “Please don’t follow this route.”

She lamented the death of her ill mother in Libya and demanded money to help her get back to the 300 Level school she had abandoned.

Dabiri-Erewa praised Miss Oluwagbenga for her bravery and survival, referring to her as “one of the lucky ones,” noting that many others have died in the desert or the Mediterranean Sea and some remain untraceable.

The NIDCOM boss cautioned Nigerian youths to always look for safe and legal ways to travel and reiterated that irregular migration amounts to “voluntary suicide.”

She thanked Dr. Segun Abraham for his financial support, which allowed for the repatriation.

Dabiri-Erewa added that NIDCOM will support her full recovery and continue to work with partners and stakeholders to protect Nigerians, as well as intensifying advocacy to combat the threat of human trafficking and irregular immigration.

FA will not appeal against Paqueta spot-fixing decision

By in News, Sports News
Images courtesy of Getty

The Football Association won’t file an appeal if West Ham midfielder Lucas Paqueta is cleared of four spot-fixing accusations.

Four charges were found to be “not proven,” according to an independent regulatory commission hearing that took place following an FA investigation.

On Wednesday, the commission’s findings were released in writing, with full details provided.

The FA, the governing body of English football, stated that it is “committed to ensuring the integrity of football is maintained” and that serious allegations of rule breaking will always be investigated thoroughly.

The Brazil international was charged in May of last year after the FA launched an investigation in August 2023 for allegedly getting booked purposefully “for the improper purpose of affecting the betting market.”

The four charges against him relate to Premier League games against Leicester City on November 12, 2022, and 2023 games against Aston Villa on March 12, Leeds United on May 21, and Bournemouth on August 12.

Additionally, Paqueta was charged with two counts of failing to cooperate with the investigation after breaking “FA Rule F3 in respect of alleged failures to comply” with FA Rule F2, which covers providing documents and information.

The regulatory commission determined that these allegations were supported by him as well, but he also denied them.

The FA stated that the regulatory commission would decide whether to punish violations of FA Rule F3 that were found to be justified and that more information would be made as soon as possible.

related subjects

  • West Ham United
  • Premier League
  • Football

FA will not appeal against Paqueta spot-fixing decision

By in News, Sports News
Images courtesy of Getty

The Football Association won’t file an appeal if West Ham midfielder Lucas Paqueta is cleared of four spot-fixing accusations.

Four charges were found to be “not proven,” according to an independent regulatory commission hearing that took place following an FA investigation.

On Wednesday, the commission’s findings were released in writing, with full details provided.

The FA, the governing body of English football, stated that it is “committed to ensuring the integrity of football is maintained” and that serious allegations of rule breaking will always be investigated thoroughly.

The Brazil international was charged in May of last year after the FA launched an investigation in August 2023 for allegedly getting booked purposefully “for the improper purpose of affecting the betting market.”

The four charges against him relate to Premier League games against Leicester City on November 12, 2022, and 2023 games against Aston Villa on March 12, Leeds United on May 21, and Bournemouth on August 12.

Additionally, Paqueta was charged with two counts of failing to cooperate with the investigation after breaking “FA Rule F3 in respect of alleged failures to comply” with FA Rule F2, which covers providing documents and information.

The regulatory commission determined that these allegations were supported by him as well, but he also denied them.

The FA stated that the regulatory commission would decide whether to punish violations of FA Rule F3 that were found to be justified and that more information would be made as soon as possible.

related subjects

  • West Ham United
  • Premier League
  • Football

Mass evacuations in Pakistan’s flooded Punjab hit 300,000 in 48 hours

By in News, World News

Nearly 300,000 people have been evacuated in the past 48 hours from flood-hit areas of Pakistan’s Punjab province following the latest flood alerts by India, officials have said, bringing the total number of people displaced since last month to 1.3 million.

A new flood alert was shared with Pakistan by neighbouring India through diplomatic channels early on Wednesday, said Arfan Ali Kathia, director-general of Punjab’s Provincial Disaster Management Authority.

Floodwaters have submerged dozens of villages in Punjab’s Muzaffargarh district, after earlier inundating Narowal and Sialkot, both near the border with India.

Authorities are also struggling to divert overflowing rivers onto farmlands to protect major cities, as part of one of the largest rescue and relief operations in the history of Punjab, which straddles eastern Pakistan and northwestern India.

The flood alert on Wednesday was the second in 24 hours following heavy rains and water releases from dams in India.

Thousands of rescuers using boats are taking part in the relief and rescue operations, while the military has also been deployed to transport people and animals from inundated villages, said Kathia.

Rescuers are also using drones to find people stranded on rooftops in the flood-hit areas. Kathia said more than 3.3 million people across 33,000 villages in the province have been affected. The damage is still being assessed and all those who lost homes and crops would be compensated by the Punjab government, he said.

Landslides and flooding have killed at least 30 people in India’s Punjab state, home to more than 30 million people, and nearly 20,000 have been evacuated since August 1.

In Pakistan, tent villages are being set up and food and other essential items are being supplied to flood-affected people, said Kathia, though many survivors complained about a lack of government aid.

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif visited flood-hit areas in Muzaffargarh on Wednesday, meeting with displaced families at the camps.

About 40,000 people are in the relief camps, according to the National Disaster Management Authority. It remains unclear where the rest are sheltering.

Malik Ramzan, a displaced resident, said he chose to stay near his inundated home rather than enter a relief camp. “There are no liveable facilities in the camps,” he said. “Food isn’t delivered on time, and we are treated like beggars.”

Facilities at the camps “are very poor,” said Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder, reporting from Multan in Punjab. “There’s no clean drinking water, no proper toilet facilities, plus the fact that it’s very hot and humid, so it leads to dehydration.”

While these families have fans to keep cool in the heat, “there are frequent power breakdowns, so these people now are very vulnerable when it comes to their health and, of course, the outbreak of diseases.”

Last week’s flooding mainly hit districts in Kasur, Bahawalpur and Narowal.

Pakistan began mass evacuations last month after India released water from overflowing dams into low-lying border regions.