Watch as India take their fifth wicket in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup against Sri Lanka with an excellent catch from Richa Ghosh.
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Ghosh makes ‘brilliant’ catch to dismiss Dilhari
Lucy Spraggan undergoes surgery for painful condition as she pleads ‘something needs to be done’
Lucy Spraggan has shared that she hopes to raise awareness of the condition endometriosis, with the singer telling fans that it has at times left her in ‘debilitating’ pain
Singer-songwriter Lucy Spraggan has revealed that she had surgery earlier this week. She told fans that she was sharing the news in a bid to raise awareness of endometriosis, which has at times left the X Factor star in “debilitating” pain.
Lucy, 34, announced on Instagram that she had her third laparoscopy yesterday. A type of keyhole surgery, it is used to diagnose and treat conditions, according to the NHS. She posted footage of herself in a hospital bed and also spoke about her health in the accompanying caption.
She shared that she has endometriosis, which the NHS states involves cells similar to those in the lining of the uterus growing elsewhere. Symptoms can include severe period pain, whilst surgery is among the treatment options.
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In the video message, Lucy shared with her followers: “Hello everybody! I’m fine. My throat hurts a bit. But the reason I’m here is because I have endometriosis along with 1 in 10 women. The wait times in the UK from first being seen to diagnosis are ludicrous in the country.
“I’ve had the privilege of being seen privately. But there is something that needs to be done for people that don’t have that privilege. I’m sending love to anybody else who has endometriosis and hoping that you get the help that you need. But, yeah, let’s raise some more awareness.”
The post was shared in collaboration with the charity Endometriosis UK. In the caption, Lucy wrote: “Ola guys, first of all I’m doing all good!! I have a condition called Endometriosis and had my third laparoscopy today.”
Lucy said: “Endometriosis affects 1 in 10 women and those assigned female at birth, from puberty to menopause. In the UK, that’s over 1.5 million people from all walks of life. Endometriosis can cause severe pain, nausea, fertility issues, digestive problems, very heavy periods and more. For me, the main way the condition manifests is pain, which has been debilitating at times.”
She continued in the post: “There’s no cure, and for many, the effects can last a lifetime. On top of that, gynaecology waiting times in the UK are unacceptably long, many people are waiting over 18 weeks to be initially seen.”
Lucy added: “I’m working with @endometriosis.uk to help raise awareness because this is something that needs more conversation, more support, and more action. In 2023 Endometriosis UK found that the current average diagnosis time is 8 years and 10 months in the UK. That is unacceptable.”
She concluded by telling fans this week: “Keep your eyes peeled – once I’m healed up I’ll be hitting the road to raise some awareness (and funds!) for the charity. I am sending so much love to anyone else struggling with this.”
The post has amassed more than 7,000 likes on the platform since it was uploaded yesterday. Lucy was met with supportive messages and well wishes in the comments section of the post following the news of her recent surgery.
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One person wrote: “Wishing you a speedy recovery, sending love and hugs.” Another said: “Thank you for sharing Lucy. Stay strong.” A third wrote: “Get well soon.” Others shared their experiences with endometriosis and getting diagnosed.
‘I worked for Taylor Swift and this is what she’s really like’
Emily Poe Stumler, a former band member of Taylor Swift, tells her story in a brand-new Channel 4 documentary about her rise to fame.
In a new documentary series with the fitting title “Taylor Swift” it’s a channel 4 investigation into Taylor Swift’s rise to fame.
The documentary, which features the views of former popstars, industry professionals, and devoted fans, airs tonight (September 30) at 9:15 pm.
The documentary includes musician Emily Poe Stumler among those who spoke with her. Emily, who performed with the singer between 2006 and 2007, is already well known to the Swifts as Taylor’s ex-fiddle player.
The former band member describes her experience in the documentary and describes her firsthand account of the global artist’s rise to fame.
Emily recalled her former boss’s “incredibly driven and incredibly determined” at the start of her career in episode one.
She went on to paint a picture of their touring days. “In 2007, we did 300-ish shows. We lived on a tour bus that had been previously owned by Cher so it was decked out in leopard print,” the bandmate told Channel 4.
The pair shared bunk beds, with Taylor taking the top bed and Emily sleeping on the bottom, which was not particularly glamorous during the tour. Emily continued, “It kind of felt like having a little sister who was also your boss.”
Emily claims that Taylor would occasionally spend “hours and hours” signing autographs despite her status as a rising star.
Taylor, she continued, “was someone who always had her desires in mind.” She would frequently be being interviewed, speaking to radio stations, or signing autographs.
As long as people were willing to stand and wait for her, she would sign autographs for others. “Sometimes, that lasted for hours and hours.”
Elsewhere in the documentary, the pop icon’s former manager Rick Barker also shared positive words about her.
She wanted people to feel better when she left than before she arrived, Rick said in her final years before she became famous.
Taylor will examine the musician’s 20-year career, which saw her transcend the status of a pop star and create a unique cultural icon.
Continue reading the article.
The documentary examines the forces that have shaped her trajectory and the devoted community she has inspired through interviews with well-known commentators, industry insiders, and fans.
PSG Facing Injury Crisis As Barcelona Present First Big Test
The Champions League holders’ opponents in Paris Saint-Germain will face their biggest test of the season when they travel to Barcelona this week, but Luis Enrique’s side are currently dealing with a number of their biggest stars’ injuries.
Ousmane Dembele, who won the Ballon d’Or last week in recognition of his magnificent 2024/25 campaign, in which he scored 35 goals, is the headline absentee.
How Dembele would have preferred to face the Catalans, a team he left in 2023 after six years of dazzling but inconsistent performance and injuries.
Lamine Yamal, a teenager who won the Kopa Trophy for the best player in the world last year aged under 21, could have taken on the 28-year-old.
Dembele is recovering from a thigh injury that he sustained at the start of the month while playing for France on international duty, but he won’t be expected to return for at least another few weeks.
“It is proceeding well. Dembele announced on French television that he would return soon after receiving the Ballon d’Or trophy in the wake of Saturday’s 2-0 victory over Auxerre.
Desire Doue, a thrilling 20-year-old attacker who finished second to Yamal in the Kopa Trophy rankings, has not played since he injured his calf while on French duty with Dembele, who has also been missing.
Additionally, center-back Marquinhos and captain Joao Neves are both recovering from hamstring and thigh injuries.
Third-place Playmaker Vitinha of the Ballon d’Or came off just before half-time, and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was subsequently withdrawn.
PSG hopes both players were removed as soon as possible to avoid any long-lasting harm, but suddenly Luis Enrique’s options are drastically reduced.
After the win over Auxerre on Saturday, the coach, a former Barcelona player and manager, said, “We have to stay positive because we need to be able to manage this situation.”
“Not just the injured ones are Paris Saint-Germain.” With such a busy calendar, it is the case for every team.
Too many games are catching up.
In a season that lasted 11 months, the Parisians played 65 games in 2024/25. That included 17 Champions League matches and seven Club World Cup contests, which their marathon campaign came to an end with a 3-0 defeat to Chelsea in the middle of July.
Dembele has signed for PSG for just over two years, and he has also played 20 games for France in that time. This seems to be catching up with other players.
Since joining PSG in 2023/24, Vitinha has made 21 more appearances for Portugal.
Achraf Hakimi, PSG’s star right-back, has 131 games between the club and nation while he has the Africa Cup of Nations coming up this year and the World Cup of the following year.
These players need more of a rest, according to experts in the game, and playing too many games would harm the product.
Last week, FIFPro’s secretary general, Alex Phillips, made the point that “we think club owners are beginning to realize that this is bad for business.”
The newly crowned world champion should be appearing on a Champions League showdown between the reigning French and European champions.
PSG may need to invest more money in their resources, even though their squad depth is being exposed as perhaps not as impressive as it should be.
Despite that Luis Enrique’s side won their opening game 4-0 against Atalanta in Catalonia a fortnight ago.
In any case, a loss in this match may not be a significant setback for their main objective of reaching the knockout stage because more than enough games will be left in the league stage.
Magnitude 6.9 earthquake hits off central Philippines coast
Published On 30 Sep 2025
Off the coast of the central Philippines, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck, sending people into the streets and causing power outages in some areas.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology reported that the earthquake struck at sea on Tuesday off the northern tip of Cebu island and close to Bogo, a city of more than 90,000 people, and that it was expecting both damage and aftershocks.
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Due to a “minor sea level disturbance,” the institute urged residents of the provinces of Cebu, Leyte, and Biliran to stay away from the coast and to “be on alert for unusual waves.”
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center claimed that the tremor did not pose a tsunami threat.
In a video posted on social media, Cebu governor Pamela Baricuatro stated, “We are still assessing the damage.”
“But it could be worse than we think,” said Baricuatro, adding that she has spoken with the president’s office and is requesting assistance.
Joey Leeguid, a firefighter in Cebu, reported to the San Fernando-based AFP news agency that he felt the earthquake at his place of employment. “We observed the moving of our locker. We briefly felt a little dizzy, but now we are all alright,” Leeguid said.
The resort town of Bantayan, where the quake occurred, is home to Martham Pacilan, a 25-year-old resident. He claimed he was near a church when the earthquake struck.
“The church’s direction made a loud booming noise. Then I noticed rocks splintering from the structure. Thankfully, no one was hurt, he told AFP.
My body couldn’t move despite the fact that I was both shocked and in a panic. I was waiting for the shaking to stop.
Although no injuries were immediately reported, some buildings had damage.
The church in Daanbantayan, a town in Cebu province, according to the Archdiocesan Shrine of Santa Rosa de Lima, partially collapsed. Power also left Daanbantayan, citing rumors.
At least five people were killed and 60 others were hurt in a powerful magnitude 7 earthquake that struck the Philippines in July 2022, which was almost daily.
What does Trump’s plan mean for the state of Palestine?
According to analysts, the Palestinians’ long-hoped-for results might not be the results that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised to see from the US president’s proposal for a ceasefire, according to Al Jazeera.
The 20-point Trump plan contains essentially nothing else beneficial for Palestinian people, according to analysts, while the people on the ground would be greatly relieved if Israel’s vicious bombardment stopped, killing at least 66, 055 people, and injuring 168, 346 people since October 2023.
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According to Palestinian lawyer and analyst Diana Buttu, who served as a legal advisor to the Palestinian negotiating team from 2000 to 2005, “Ending the genocide is tied to this very colonial approach where the US, the party that carried out the genocide, and the US, who has funded it, decide the fate of the people against whom they are committing genocide.”
There are no guarantees made to the Palestinians, she added, if you read the entire agreement in its entirety.
The Israelis receive all guarantees, according to the statement.
Gaza is the focus, but there is no clarity.
In exchange for hundreds of living Palestinians taken by Israel, as well as the remains of hundreds of dead, the plan would end fighting in Gaza, and Israeli prisoners held there would be freed.
The “Board of Peace,” an international transitional administration led by Trump and whose members include former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, is then required to relinquish control of the Gaza Strip.
Amnesty for Hamas members who promise “peaceful coexistence” and “disarmament” will be granted. “All people who wish to leave Gaza will have safe passage to receiving nations,” said the statement.
According to reports, Israeli troops would resume aid deliveries after a set number of conditions were met, though it’s unclear who would impose their withdrawal, and an economic revitalization strategy would be developed by Middle Eastern experts who had developed “thriving modern miracle cities” (Middle Eastern).
Hamas has stated that the plan is being considered at the moment.
Trump warned that if Israel rejected his offer, it would have the right to take whatever course of action it saw fit in Gaza with the full support of the US. Israel’s actions in Gaza are already being compared to a genocide, according to human rights organizations and academics.
However, Muhannad Seloom, an assistant professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, stated for Al Jazeera that this leaves many questions unanswered.
For instance, the Palestinian Authority (PA) is mentioned in the plan, but it won’t have any immediate impact until a reform plan with various recommendations is finished. Trump both mentioned his 2020 peace plan and the Saudi-French proposal, but it’s unclear what he meant by specific reforms. In the past, the PA has been advised to overhaul its governance, address endemic corruption, alter the educational curricula, and overhaul the social welfare system to support Palestinian prisoners’ families.
According to the Times of Israel, Secretary of State Marco Rubio did not ignore the changes and criticize the PA for an outdated policy despite the fact that the PA has changed the prisoners’ families’ payment schedule.
Without any clear objectives, the PA will have to persuade Israel and the US that its reform efforts have been completed before it can rule Gaza. This could continue unabated.
The plan does not specify whether the notorious Israeli and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which has resulted in more than 1, 000 Palestinians being killed waiting for aid, will be disbanded. Instead, it states that aid will be provided by the United Nations and the International Red Crescent.
According to Seloom, “It seems like a rushed agreement that will be refined as they go along.”
What state is Palestine located in?
The state of Palestine was recognized on September 21 by Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Soon after, more European nations, including France and Portugal, followed suit.
Despite analysts claiming that the act of recognition was primarily a face-saving exercise, global leaders praised the “two-state solution.”
The UN General Assembly voted in favor of a resolution that would reinstate a two-state solution on September 12. The international community has frequently discussed a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine.
However, some analysts contend that the phrase “two-state solution” is unrelated to the reality on the ground and that this proposal raises a more pressing issue: Even if Israel’s two-year-long genocidal campaign is halted, in what kind of state would Palestine be in reality?
The West Bank and the Gaza Strip are frequently mentioned when discussing a Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital.
But Israeli policy is splintering and isolating those areas. Additionally, with international cooperation, illegal Israeli settlements exploded in the occupied West Bank, further reducing any potential future Palestinian state.
Before October 2023, this was the case, but since then, things have gotten worse: movement restrictions, land grabs, settlement expansions, settler- and military violence, and home destructions.
Before Israel’s war on Gaza, there was no longer a single stretch of Palestinian land in the Gaza Strip, but Palestinians could not travel there because of Israeli restrictions on their travel.
Analysts worry that this strategy will further sever Gaza from East Jerusalem and the West Bank. There is only one brief mention of a potential “credible path to Palestinian self-determination and statehood,” which depends on how the ambiguous PA reform program is “faithfully carried out.”
What resources are left over to create a Palestinian state in light of recent recognitions, analysts questioned.
Buttu remarked, “This is the one-million-dollar question.” The problem is that “everyone recognizes the state of Palestine as it is being erased,” according to the statement.
According to the plan, Trump’s plan also imposes a burden on the Palestinians from outsiders, including having no recourse if Israel does not withdraw from Gaza.
Netanyahu has, for his part, pledged to halt any attempts to create a Palestinian state on numerous occasions. Netanyahu signed a settlement agreement to proceed with the occupation of the West Bank a day before a UNGA vote that approved a resolution supporting the two-state solution and declared, “There will not be a Palestinian state.”
Netanyahu’s goodwill and US assurances that Israel will adhere to the agreement are two things that have long been in short supply, according to analysts.
Analysts are unsure whether Netanyahu’s past efforts to undermine the peace process and enshrine the occupation will actually be put into practice.
According to Seloom,  , the agreement is “workable on paper,” but “from experience, there are so many details that are ambiguous.”
Palestinians negotiating the end of their own genocide
Palestinians have previously dealt with Israel.
What ought to have been the foundations for a future Palestinian state in the early to mid-’90s were laid by the Oslo Accords, a pair of interim agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
Since the second accord was signed in 1995, though, little has changed in that regard. Instead, according to experts, Israel has repeatedly thwarted the establishment of a state in Palestine. The current situation appears to be worse than it has ever been, with years of Israeli-led exploitation of Palestinian land and two years of the Gaza genocidal campaign.
According to Buttu, who was the PLO’s legal advisor at Oslo, “this is worse than Oslo.” There was a Palestinian voice at least in Oslo.
We’re back to the days when other people were speaking on our behalf because of this.
No Palestinian leaders were present when Trump met with Arab and Islamic leaders on September 23 to discuss his plan.
The Palestinians themselves bear the brunt of the blame for ending Israel’s occupation of Gaza, according to the US. Israel’s genocidal war will continue and possibly even grow if Hamas rejects a deal that offers few guarantees to the Palestinian people.