England’s World Cup campaign kicks off right off right when they defeat South Africa in their opening match by bowling their rivals for 69 without falling short of their winning target in 15 overs.
MATCH REPORT: Ruthless England thrash SA in the opening match of the World Cup.
Taylor Swift has released her brand new album The Life of a Showgirl. The singer details her love for Travis on The Fate of Ophelia and Opalite and details her struggle with ‘The Man’ in her track Father Figure.
The singer’s new album comes off the back of a string of successful re-releases of her previous LPs including Speak Now, 1989 and Red under her Taylor’s Version re-records. In 2024, Taylor released her hotly anticipated album The Tortured Poets Department, which formed the basis of the second leg of her record breaking Eras Tour.
Taylor recently got engaged to Kansas Chiefs star Travis Kelce in a romantic proposal at his home. The NFL star had been dreaming to meet Taylor for years, and finally the pair came face to face, where they struck up a great bond and are now set to say I do.
Here’s the biggest bombshells from Taylor’s new album including a dig at a fellow pop star, an explicit track about her husband-to-be Travis Kelce and the terrible loss of a good friend.
Taylor certainly isn’t hiding her romance with Travis Kelce, including some rather explicit references to their time in the bedroom.
Wood is the raciest song on the album and features lyrics referencing manhood and New Heights, Travis’ podcast he has with his brother Jason Kelce. It is a playful song full of word play and double entendres.
She sings: “Forgive me, it sounds cocky / He ah-matized me and opened my еyes / Redwood tree, it ain’t hard to see / His love was thе key that opened my thighs,” amongst other references to sex and their bedroom antics.
Taylor doesn’t mince her words on the track Actually Romantic, where she seemingly references her feud with Charli XCX.
In the track, she sings: “I heard you call me “Boring Barbie” when the coke’s got you brave / High-fived my ex and then you said you’re glad he ghosted me / Wrote me a song saying it makes you sick to see my face / Some people might be offended.”
The song also references that the person it’s about “doesn’t wanna see her backstage at my boyfriend’s show”, which seemingly fits as both pop stars were dating members of The 1975 at the time.
Charli also has a song called Everything is Romantic, which makes the song of Taylor’s track even more telling.
Taylor has seemingly referenced the devastating loss of her former school friend in a new track. In Ruin The Friendship, she sings: “When I left school, I lost track of you / Abigail called me with the bad news / Goodbye, and we’ll never know why,” and later says: “But I flew home anyway / With so much left to say … But I whispered at the grave / Should’ve kissed you anyway.”
The song is believed to be about Jeff Lang, a friend from high school who died at the age of 21. Taylor also paid tribute to him at the 2010 BMI Country Music Awards, where she said: “Yesterday, I sang at the funeral of one of my best friends. And he was 21, and I used to play my songs for him first. So I would like to thank Jeff Lang.”
Taylor might be the owner of her master recordings now after buying them back from her former management, but she wants one more opportunity to hit back at them in a new song.
Her famous fall out with her former record label is well documented, and she references this when she sings about how the men who helped with her career only wanted to see her “rise” rather than “reign”.
At the end of the song she shows herself getting the power back as she sings “this empire belongs to me”, referencing that she now owns her masters once again and was able to purchase them back with the money she got from The Eras Tour.
Taylor is entering her new era with this new album – but could a baby be on the cards for the singer? In Wi$h Li$t, she speaks of her desire to have kids and settle down with the love of her life.
“I just want you / Have a couple kids, got the whole block looking like you / We tell the world to leave us thе f*** alone, and they do,” she sings, adding: “Got me drеaming about a driveway with a basketball hoop / Boss up, settle down.”
The United States’s 20-point plan to end Israel’s war in Gaza is not the same as the draft proposed by a group of Arab and Muslim countries, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has said.
“I made it clear that the 20 points that President (Donald) Trump made public are not ours. Changes were made to our draft. I have the record,” Dar said, speaking to politicians on Friday, according to remarks carried by Dawn news.
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His comments come after the White House on Monday released a plan with fanfare that would include a ceasefire, the return of all captives, Hamas disarmament, and a new political architecture for post-war Gaza – one that would exclude the Palestinian group.
Its release came a few minutes before Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stood next to each other at the White House to announce the plan. There, Trump told Hamas it had 72 hours to accept the proposal. On Tuesday, he gave the Palestinian group three to four days to agree to the plan.
Meanwhile, Hamas political bureau member Mohammad Nazzal told Al Jazeera on Thursday that the group was discussing Trump’s plan and would soon announce its position on the proposal. “We are not dealing [with the plan] under the logic that time is a sword pointed at our neck,” Nazzal said.
The published document was presented as a joint effort between Israel, the US and a number of Arab and Muslim countries. Last week, several leaders from the Arab and Muslim world discussed the plan at a meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
But while there are no official records of what was discussed at that mini-summit, Axios reported that the proposal announced by the American and Israeli leaders earlier this week contained “significant changes”, requested by Netanyahu, to the draft that had been agreed on by the Arab leaders and Trump.
The amendments were made during a six-hour meeting between Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Netanyahu, the report said. The revised version ties Israel’s withdrawal to Hamas’s disarmament and allows Israel – after a withdrawal in stages – to remain within a buffer zone inside the enclave until there are no risks of any “terror threat”, it added.
A group of eight Arab and Muslim countries, including Pakistan, Qatar, Turkiye and Saudi Arabia, welcomed Trump’s announcement in a joint statement.
Qatar has said that it agrees with the aims of the plan, and seeks further discussions on its details.
“If we speak of the main objectives, there are objectives that it [the US plan] achieves, such as ending the war, and there are things that need clarification, which certainly need discussions and negotiations,” Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani told Al Jazeera.
Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty also said that more talks were needed. According to the US proposal, an international body chaired by Trump would have oversight, while a Palestinian technocratic committee would handle civilian governance until the Palestinian Authority reforms itself. To take care of security, according to the proposal, a stabilisation force would be deployed.
“There are a lot of holes that need to be filled; we need more discussions on how to implement it, especially on two important issues – governance and security arrangements,” Abdelatty said on Thursday.
Experts pointed out that there are sticking points. There are questions on whether Hamas will agree to disarm since it has repeatedly said it would not, as the main face of Palestinian armed resistance.
The current proposal also nods vaguely at how reforms may open a pathway to Palestinian statehood, which is not recognised as a right but as the “aspiration of the Palestinian people”.
The plan does not mention the forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza – a significant shift from Trump’s earlier lambasted position when he suggested the relocation of the population outside the enclave to turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East”, which was heavily criticised as ethnic cleansing.
It also ruled out the occupation of Gaza and the annexation of the occupied West Bank – actions that Netanya’s far-right coalition members are pushing for.
Israel has intercepted the Global Sumud Flotilla sailing to Gaza and detained hundreds of crew members. The UN’s Francesca Albanese is calling it an abduction. Soraya Lennie asks, does Israel have the legal right to do any of this?
Nine US universities have been asked to accept a number of demands by the US government in order to gain “preferential access” to federal funds.
The universities were informed on Wednesday that a memo from the government had been sent to them instructing them to reduce foreign enrollment and repress institutions that “belittle” conservative ideas in order to be funded.
The White House has not made the memo public or provided an explanation of why these nine institutions were chosen in particular.
What are the new requirements for universities seeking federal funding, as revealed by this information.
The 10-point memo has the title “A Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.”
According to the terms of the memo’s terms:
Universities who choose not to adhere to the outlined standards may lose federal funding, but those who do will be compensated and rewarded.
On Wednesday, the following universities received notice of this agreement:
The universities have largely stated that they are still reviewing the memo.
Local news outlets in Arizona reported that Arizona University spokesperson Mitch Zak said in a statement: “The university first learned of the compact when we received it on Oct. 1. We are reviewing it carefully.”
The University of Texas system is pleased that its flagship, the University of Texas at Austin, was chosen by the Trump administration as one of only nine institutions in the US for potential funding advantages under its new Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education, according to Kevin P. Eltife, the chairman of the University of Texas Board of Regents.
Eltife continued, “We enthusiastically look forward to engaging with university officials and immediately reviewing the compact.”
Brown University announced on Thursday that it would set up an ad hoc committee on diversity and inclusion to develop the recommendations as well as a draft action plan to maintain and advance diversity and inclusion on campus over the next ten years.
The American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the second-largest teacher’s union in the nation, criticized the demands in a statement released on Thursday.
The Trump administration’s proposal to give colleges and universities with court-appointed patrons favor favoritism, patronage, and bribery in exchange for allegiance to a partisan ideological agenda, the statement read.
The American Association of University Professors (AAUP), a group that has opposed White House interference in higher education in the US, joined the AFT in supporting the group.
Todd Wolfson, president of the AAUP, told Reuters: “This seems to be the administration moving toward a carrot approach, but the stick is embedded in the carrot.”
Additionally, concerned professors from the targeted universities have weighed in.
In a statement to the university’s student-run newspaper, The Daily Pennsylvanian, Kermit Roosevelt, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, stated that “it seems to have a pretty broad theory of what foments political violence.”
The Trump administration’s most recent attempt to alter the political climate of higher education institutions in the US is represented by the memo.
Trump began retaliating against US university students who had last year participated in marches and camps against Israel’s occupation of Gaza shortly after his inauguration in January.
The administration claimed that these students were “pro-Hamas” and anti-Semitism propagating on campus. Trump also alleged that universities were “illegal and immoral discrimination” through diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI) programs.
Trump signed an executive order on January 29 that mandates that any actions federal agencies take against anti-Semitism on campus within 60 days of the incident.
To all the resident aliens who joined the pro-jihadist protests, Trump was quoted as saying in a fact sheet the day after that: “We put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you. I’ll also immediately revoke all Hamas sympathisers’ student visas on college campuses, which have experienced unprecedented radicalism.
Several students have since been subject to deportation and visa revokes, including Columbia University alumnus Mahmoud Khalil, who was detained and arrested in March. A US immigration judge ordered Khalil, who is married to a US citizen, to be deported to Syria or Algeria on September 12.
In honor of six-year-old Hind Rajab, who was killed alongside her family by Israeli forces in Gaza in January 2024, Columbia University took center stage during the pro-Palestine encampments last year on US campuses.
Trump revoked $ 400 million in federal funding for Columbia in February, citing “a failure to protect Jewish students from anti-Semitic harassment.”
Columbia received a letter from the Trump administration outlining the requirements for resuming funding negotiations in March. Within a few days, Columbia responded, accepting the government’s demands.
In April, Trump also frozen Harvard University’s funding.
After months of deliberating about Harvard’s educational policies, Trump announced on September 30 that his administration was close to reaching a deal with Harvard. Trump claimed Harvard will pay about $500 million for an undisclosed reason, without providing any further information about the deal.
With exceptions to religious and medical reasons, the university now requires protesters to present university ID when asked to do so. Additionally, it has employed 36 security personnel who, with the assistance of the New York police, are authorized to arrest students.
Kimberley Woods of Great Britain won the canoe slalom world championships for silver.
Klaudia Zwolinska, from Poland, came in behind her in Penrith, Australia, finishing in the bottom half of the course.
Woods, who won bronze in the 2024 Olympics’ kayak cross and K1 competition, managed to finish in third place behind Australia’s Katie Ekhardt.
Any part of the paddler, boat, or paddle that touches one or both poles of a gate will be subject to a two-second penalty.
Woods said, “I believe that touch will leave me a little haunted for a while.”
“I’m pleased with how it turned out, even though it was very minor.
I wished I could go there and give it my best. After the touch, I really enjoyed how I reset, and I really enjoyed how it turned out.