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Josh Kerr has confirmed that he suffered a grade two calf tear earlier this month in the 1500-meter World Championship final.
The Olympic silver medalist and 2023 world champion had been anticipated to be in the medal race, but he abruptly missed out on the final lap, with fellow Scot Jake Wightman finishing behind Isaac Nader, who had already won.
Kerr, 27, revealed that the problem began as a “minor strain” following a “overstretch” toward the end of his semi-final.
He continued, “Grade two is what I’m being told.”
You never know what might happen in these races, but I definitely did some more harm to that in those final 600 than right away. My goal is to get to the finish line as quickly as possible.
The journey back will be interesting, and it will be frustrating.
“I’m on my way back and getting better already. For 2026, we are definitely feeling the fire.
Kerr also shared videos of him working in the pool and images of his calf that were injured.
He explained that he had kept a low profile ever since the final to “process” the injury and to “keep the focus where the focus should be: on the winners and the medals of that race, not the sob stories.”
“Sorry, Jake, but what a great result for him, and it’s awesome to see him back on the podium,” Kerr said.
Donald Trump, president of the United States, has imposed severe new tariffs on big-rig trucks, furniture, and pharmaceuticals.
The Trump trade plan was resurrected late on Thursday, signaling a resumption of the Republican president’s trade war, and the announcement came on the heels of the shock announcement of reciprocal tariffs on virtually every US trading partner globally.
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On his Truth Social platform, Trump stated that “we will be imposing a 100% tariff on any branded or patented pharmaceutical product, unless a company IS BUILDING their Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plant in America.”
South Korean-based Samsung Biologics was one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in Asia with significant exposure to the US market on Friday.
Australia, which exported pharmaceuticals worth an estimated $1.3 billion to the US in 2024, was critical of Trump’s decision, according to the United Nations Comtrade Database.
Trump mentioned a 25% tariff on “all ‘Heavy (Big) Trucks’ made in other parts of the world” in a separate post to support US manufacturers like Peterbilt, Kenworth, Freightliner, Mack Trucks, and others.
Volvo and Daimler, two foreign companies that compete with these manufacturers in the US market, are from Sweden. In Europe’s after-hours trading, shares of both companies were significantly lower.
Trump claimed that the truck tariffs were “for a number of reasons, but foremost for national security reasons”!
The Trump administration “determined the effects of national security” by starting a Section 232 investigation into truck imports earlier this year, setting the stage for Thursday’s announcement.
A trade law provision called Section 232 gives the president the authority to impose tariffs or other import restrictions when they are perceived as a threat to national security.
Trump also stated that he would impose a 30% tariff on upholstered furniture and a 50% tariff on materials used for home renovations because he claimed foreign buyers were dumping these items into the US market.
Imports, primarily from Asia, made up 60% of all furniture sold, including upholstered furniture and 86 percent of all wood furniture, according to the US International Trade Commission.
In after-hours trading, shares of home furniture manufacturers Wayfair and Williams Sonoma, which rely on imported goods, dropped.
Trump’s administration has already imposed a bare 10% tariff on all nations, with higher individualized tariffs on those that have exported far more than the US.
Trump has also invoked his emergency powers to impose additional tariffs on China and Canada, both of which have trade agreements, citing concerns about fentanyl trafficking and undocumented immigration.
How these new tariffs would be integrated with the current measures was not yet clear.
The US-EU trade agreement, which was reached in July, shields the bloc’s drug exports from tariffs of more than 15%, according to the European Union on Friday.
Trade spokesman Olof Gill claimed that the clear, all-inclusive 15 percent tariff cap for EU exports is “an assurance that no higher tariffs will arise for European economic operators.”
A wave of recognition from Western countries – led by France, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada – means that 157 countries now recognise a Palestinian state.
The latest countries to recognise Palestine include strong allies of Israel who have tried to frame the recognition as an attempt to keep alive the idea of a two-state solution, which envisions a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
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“In the face of the growing horror in the Middle East, we are acting to keep alive the possibility of peace and a two-state solution,” Keir Starmer, the UK prime minister, said in a statement. “That means a safe and secure Israel alongside a viable Palestinian state. At the moment, we have neither.”
While diplomatically the recognition of Palestine is a major step forward, on a practical level, it does little to bring the possibility of statehood any closer.
Israel has only increased settlement construction in the occupied West Bank throughout its war on Gaza and responded to the recognition of Palestine at the United Nations General Assembly this week by doubling down on its commitment to never allow a Palestinian state.
So does recognition bring Palestine any closer to statehood, and what does a territory need to be considered a state? Let’s take a closer look.
What does it take to be a state?
There is no single definition of a state, but international law widely cites the Montevideo Convention of 1933. The UN has previously referenced the Montevideo Convention when discussing Palestinian statehood.
The convention does not require a state to be recognised by others. Instead, it specifies that a territory must have defined borders, a government, the capacity to enter into relations with other states and a permanent population.
So could Palestine be a state?
While many of the states that recognise Palestine are vague about its exact borders, most envisage lines close to those before Israel’s 1967 war, including Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Israel has occupied Palestinian territory since 1967 despite that being illegal under international law.
The Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinians in the 1990s were supposed to start the process leading to the formation of a Palestinian state and created the Palestinian Authority (PA).
The PA engages in foreign relations, maintaining diplomatic ties with numerous countries and operating various diplomatic missions, including embassies, representative offices and delegations
And in terms of its permanent population, millions of Palestinians live in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem and have done so for generations despite decades of Israeli policies.
However, the degree to which Israel allows the PA to operate as an independent state is disputed. While the PA exercises some governmental functions, international bodies have questioned its full capacity to govern.
A view of the West Bank separation barrier where it separates Bethlehem from Jerusalem [File: Wisam Hashlamoun/Anadolu]
For example, the UN Secretariat in 2011 and the International Criminal Court in 2020 noted that despite meeting all the other conditions for statehood set out in the Montevideo Convention, Israel’s control over the PA’s borders, movement within the territory – where Israel maintains a heavy security presence – resources and security operations undermine the PA’s ability to govern.
So, why isn’t Palestine a state?
Because international law can go only so far.
Since establishing Kfar Etzion, its first settlement in the West Bank after the 1967 war, Israel has created more than 160 settlements across the Palestinian territory and occupied East Jerusalem, housing about 700,000 Israelis. These settlements are illegal under international law.
During its war on Gaza, settlement construction has surged. Israel’s latest plan to build about 3,400 new homes would bisect the West Bank while linking thousands of existing settlements by roads for Israeli use only, making any future Palestinian state almost impossible.
In addition, Israel has constructed industrial developments, such as the Barkan Industrial Park, in occupied territory.
Israeli and international firms are encouraged to locate themselves in the industrial parks, receiving government subsidies, low rents, favourable tax rates and access to cheap Palestinian labour in return for supporting the settlements’ economies.
Among them, according to Amnesty International, are international companies such as Airbnb, Expedia and JCB.
Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on August 14, 2025, holds a map of an area known as E1, where Israel plans to build 3,400 settlement homes, after a news conference at the site near the settlement of Maale Adumim [Menahem Kahana/AFP]
How likely is Israel to give up its settlements?
Very unlikely.
Many settlers and their supporters in the Israeli government see their presence in Palestinian territory as ordained by Jewish scriptures.
According to them, in addition to settling Gaza, they hold a “divine mandate” to reclaim the West Bank, or Judea and Samaria as they refer to it, and even to potentially expand Israel’s frontiers to form “Greater Israel”, a territory that includes parts of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt.
Settlers themselves are being increasingly aggressive in seizing Palestinian land, facing little pushback from the Israeli state, and their agenda is openly supported by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party.
Many settler leaders are in government, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
An armed settler stands near Israeli soldiers during a weekly settlers’ tour in Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on August 23, 2025 [Mussa Qawasma/Reuters]
But what about international law?
Israel, with the absolute backing of the United States, has shown little regard for international law from the first ejection of 750,000 Palestinians in 1948 to the present.
In fact, rather than recognise a Palestinian state as others have done, the Israeli Knesset voted in July in defiance of international law and approved a motion to annex the West Bank, which constitutes much of one.
Just days after a deadly super typhoon caused chaos in the country, a tropical storm hit the Philippines, killing at least four people and causing hundreds of thousands of people to flee.
As of 05:30 GMT on Friday, Severe Tropical Storm Bualoi, the 15th tropical cyclone to strike the Philippines this year, was still ravaging the country’s central islands and was moving northwest with winds of up to 135 kph (84 mph) according to the weather bureau Pagasa. It issued a warning about the potential for heavy rain to fall in some places.
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According to Bernardo Alejandro, a civil defense official, about 400, 000 people have been evacuated from various islands during a news conference on Friday. A disaster agency official claimed that about 87, 000 of those were from the eastern Bicol region.
According to provincial officials, more than 73, 000 people have been evacuated and are now residing in government shelters in Eastern Samar and Northern Samar provinces.
Four people were confirmed to have died in the Bicol region as of 03:00 GMT, according to state television station PTV.
One victim was pinned down by a falling tree, according to Claudio Yucot, director of the Bicol regional civil defense, who told the station that three people had died on Masbate. In Camarines Norte Province, another was struck by lighting.
Governor Richard Kho stated in a news release posted on Facebook that at least 20 000 people have been forced to flee the island province.
The provincial disaster agency claims that a mudslide along a national highway was caused by heavy rains on the central island of Panay.
As floodwaters continue to rise, bulldozers in the province of Iloilo try to clear the path for drivers and residents who were being evacuated.
The government had to halt classes in some areas of the capital’s Manila because of it.
Corruption and climate change
According to Philippine forecasters, Bualoi, which is heading its way in the South China Sea, may turn into a typhoon as it heads its way to Vietnam.
Millions of people are constantly living in poverty in disaster-prone regions of the Philippines, where each year there are an average of 20 storms and typhoons.
As climate change warms the world, scientists have warned that storms are getting stronger in the Philippines.
In the wake of Super Typhoon Ragasa, which passed over the nation’s extreme northern border earlier this week and claimed the lives of at least nine people, thousands of people are still displaced.
This screengrab, taken from UGC video footage, shows people inspecting the damage to the Masbate province parish of the Immaculate Concepcion Church (Photo by Handout/Various Sources/AFP)
Bualoi hit at a sensitive time as corruption cases involving flood control and related infrastructure projects are being investigated, including those involving President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s allies.
Following student-led demonstrations against lavish perks for public officials in one of Southeast Asia’s poorest nations, lawmakers in East Timor have voted to end a law that provides lifetime pensions to parliamentarians.
A lifetime pension, equivalent to their salary, was provided for former members of parliament (MPs) and some government officials under a law from 2006, according to the law.
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However, 62 MPs unanimously approved a law banning former presidents, prime ministers, and cabinet ministers’ lifetime pensions on Friday.
Your demands have been met, to the benefit of all university students. After the vote, Khunto MP Olinda Guterres pleaded with the electorate to stop the demonstrations.
Jose Ramos Horta, an independence hero and Nobel Peace Prize winner, will now be sent the law to sign before implementing it.
After a budget item approved last year, approved in East Timor, $4.2 million was allocated to purchase Toyota Prado SUVs for each of East Timor’s 65 members of parliament for a price tag of $ 61, 500 per vehicle.
According to World Bank statistics, the plan sparked widespread outcry in a country where more than 40% of the population lives in poverty.
On September 15, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets to demand that the plan be canceled.
Later, protester demands expanded to include issues like ending public officials’ lifetime pensions.
On September 17, 2025, students in Dili, East Timor, demonstrate against the government’s plans to suspend its provision of lifetime pensions and health benefits to lawmakers.
When MPs agreed to end the three days of tense protests by which time students clashed with police and responded by firing tear gas, the students’ protests ended with the students’ agreement to end the car purchases and their lifetime pensions.
Fortunata Alves, a 23-year-old university student, told the AFP news agency that the outcome demonstrated that “our fights are not futile.
East Timor only became independent in 2002 after enduring a 270-year Portuguese colony and enduring a violent occupation by Indonesia, which led to its own nationwide demonstrations last month due to the country’s high cost of living and unhappiness with its economic policy.
Following reports that politicians received a $3, 000 housing allowance on top of their salaries, the protest that erupted in neighboring Indonesia quickly turned into full-fledged violence.
James Comey, the former director of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), is accused of lying to Congress.
He is the first former senior government official to face charges related to the 2016 election investigation into Russian interference.
According to the Justice Department, Comey could spend five years in prison if found guilty.
What we know is as follows:
James Comey, who is he?
From 2013 to 2017, James Comey served as the FBI’s director under President Obama.
Donald Trump fired him in 2017 as president while he was looking into whether Trump or his campaign had influenced the 2016 election, which Trump, the Republican nominee, won against Democrat Hillary Clinton, had influenced the outcome.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller took over the Russia investigation after Comey was fired.
Russia made significant efforts to influence the 2016 election, according to the investigation, which spanned nearly two years. In the end, it did not establish whether Trump or his team had engaged in a criminal plot, but Trump repeatedly fought back and called the investigation a “witch-hunt.”
Donald Trump (top) addresses a campaign event in Washington, DC as Hillary Clinton listens during a town hall debate on October 26, 2016. [File: Carlo Allegri/Shannon Stapleton/Reuters]
What allegations surround Comey?
Comey’s case does not involve the specifics of the Russia investigation. Only his 2020 testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee’s investigation into whether he lied to senators is the subject of the focus.
Republican Senator Ted Cruz questioned whether he had ever authorized anyone at the FBI to leak information to the press about Hillary Clinton’s emails and possible links to Russia at a hearing on September 30.
Comey claimed that he had never permitted anyone to use the bureau to provide an anonymous source for news reports. However, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe’s testimony, which claimed Comey had actually given such approval, conflicted with that statement.
Comey is charged with making false statements on the first count of the indictment, alleging that he knowingly lied while taking an oath at the time of the hearing.
He is charged with trying to obstruct the committee’s investigation by providing false and misleading testimony on the second count, which is obstruction of a congressional proceeding.
Overall, the Trump administration intends to use the Russia investigation as a tool to stifle the former president’s campaign-related efforts to stifle Russian alleged election interference and undermine Trump’s victory’s legitimacy.
What exactly did Comey testify about in 2020?
The FBI’s errors were being reviewed by the Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee at the start of the Russia investigation.
Senators inquired about the FBI’s use of a dossier that contained unsubstantiated allegations about Trump’s ties to Moscow. The dossier was used to obtain a warrant to secretly watch a former Trump campaign adviser, whose reputation has since been largely discredited.
Comey acknowledged that the warrant’s errors were significant. He defended the investigation as being “in the main, conducted in the right way” throughout.
In response to this, inquiries about whether he had authorized anyone at the FBI to discuss the Russia investigation in secret surfaced.
During a hearing to review the Crossfire Hurricane Investigation, James Comey, former director of the FBI, testifies remotely before the Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington, DC, on September 30, 2020. [Ken Cedeno/Reuters]
An indictment is what?
In the majority of federal cases, a grand jury finds that there is sufficient proof that a crime has been committed.
An indictment is issued as part of a formal written notice that a person is suspected of a crime and facing legal challenges, according to the US Department of Justice.
The accused person is informed of the charges brought against them by the indictment itself.
A grand jury is what?
A grand jury is a group of citizens set up by law enforcement to evaluate the admissibility of the evidence before a prosecution can file a charge. In terms of law, it is responsible for determining whether a crime has been committed.
Grand juries don’t decide innocence or guilt.
What transpires following the arrest?
The case moves forward in the court case if an indictment is approved by a grand jury. A summons may be used to bring the defendant to court or to be detained.
A court hearing where the charges are formally read and a plea entered is held before the defendant makes an appearance. Following that, the case goes through pretrial proceedings, including filing motions and exchanging evidence, and may be settled by entering a plea deal (a contract between the defendant and the prosecutor).
If there isn’t a consensus, the case moves on to trial, where the jury will determine whether someone is innocent or guilty. The judge places a sentence on the defendant’s behalf, which could include imprisonment, fines, or probation.
When will Comey’s arrest take place?
In Virginia, Comey’s arraignment is scheduled for October 9 at 10am local time (14:00 GMT).
His attorney, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, stated in a statement following the indictment that Jim Comey “denies the charges filed today in their entirety.” In the courtroom, we anticipate voting him.
What did Trump say in response to the indictment?
Trump praised the action on Truth Social, saying, “JUSTICE IN AMERICA! James Comey, the former FBI corruption head, is one of the worst people exposed to any human beings in history.
The president continued, “He was indicted by a grand jury today on two felony counts for various unlawful and illegal behavior.”
. “JUSTICE IN AMERICA” @POTUS “pic. twitter.com/polaL0r6ky
No one is above the law, according to Attorney General Pam Bondi, who cited the indictment as evidence of the Justice Department’s commitment to holding those responsible for abuses of power.
What has Comey said?
Comey stated in a video that appeared on Instagram that “there are costs to standing up for Donald Trump.” But we were unable to imagine living in another way. You should not either. We won’t be on our knees forever.
I’m innocent and have a lot of confidence in the federal court system. So let’s take a test and practice faith, he continued.
What are Comey’s indictment’s critics’ opinions?
Concerns have been raised by the James Comey case that Trump is using to attack his political adversaries by Bondi’s Justice Department.
Critics claim that the White House blurs the line between law and politics.
Trump later criticized Comey for not being prosecuted after publicly pressing Bondi to bring charges against him. Additionally, he announced plans to nominate Lindsey Halligan, a devoted assistant with no prior experience prosecuting federal cases, for the position of chief prosecutor in Virginia.
After its chief prosecutor resigned in response to pressure from New York Attorney General Letitia James, Comey’s case was thrown into the Eastern District of Virginia. Despite being warned against by experienced prosecutors, Halligan moved the Comey case to a grand jury.
Democratic Virginian Senator Mark Warner called this interference a “dangerous abuse of power.”
Trump is undermining one of the most significant US by replacing him with a partisan loyalist and ousting a respected, independent prosecutor. the country’s attorneys’ offices and deteriorating the law itself.
Legal experts warn that this action could lead to a dangerous precedent.
Trump has made it clear that he wants to use his position as president to exact revenge on those who he believes are his political foes or those who he genuinely dislikes, according to Sahar Aziz, a Distinguished Professor of Law at Rutgers University.
Because Trump is threatening a former senior official’s liberty through the criminal justice system, she continued, “This is unprecedented.”
![Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich holds a map of an area near the settlement of Maale Adumim, a land corridor known as E1, outside Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank, on August 14, 2025, after a press conference at the site. [Menahem Kahana/AFP]](https://i0.wp.com/www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/AFP__20250814__69HV6DR__v1__HighRes__IsraelPalestinianConflictSettlementPolitics-1755194568.jpg?w=696&ssl=1)
