Former Married at First Sight groom Nathan Campbell made his red carpet debut as a couple with a reality TV star that he’s been linked recently at an event this week.
Nathan, 25, and former Love Island star Abi Moores, 26, were rumoured to have begun a romance after reportedly meeting earlier this year. The pair have since made their red carpet debut together at a party celebrating BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend this week.
Big Weekend will be held in Liverpool this year – with the line-up for the event in May announced just days ago – but a host of celebrities were at a launch event in London last night. The special occasion, which included a performance from headliner Tom Grennan, was held at the Standard.
Nathan and Abi were among the guests, with the apparent couple posing for photos together at the venue. Nathan – who appeared on MAFS last year – opted to wear a black top, jacket, trousers and shoes. Abi – who was on Love Island in 2023 – coordinated in a matching black jacket dress for the star-studded event. They also shared content from the event on their respective Instagram Stories but didn’t show each other.
The pair were joined at the event by the likes of Nathan’s former co-stars Emma Barnes and Hannah Norburn, as well as Love Island’s Wil Anderson and Uma Jammeh. Several BBC Radio presenters were among the other guests, including Greg James, Melvin Odoom and Vick Hope.
Abi Moores (left) and Nathan Campbell (right) posed together at the press launch of BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend this week (Getty Images)
Nathan has been linked to the Love Island star following his appearance on the MAFS reunion last month (Getty Images)
Nathan going public with Abi comes following speculation of a potential relationship recently. It was reported by the Sun last week that they have been “quietly dating” after meeting earlier this year and the outlet teased that they had been going from “strength to strength” in the relationship.
Amid the rumour, it was claimed that his ex Lacey Martin, 27, was not impressed. A source told the Sun: “Lacey can’t believe after Nathan making out she was the fame hungry one he’s now seeing a girl from Love Island. She feels like this is what he always wanted and that’s fame. […] She thinks the whole thing is for publicity and proves her point that it wasn’t a one way street he wanted a showmance too”.
Nathan and Lacey had been matched on the latest series of MAFS UK, which aired on E4 just last year. They began a romance on the show but later decided to part ways after leaving the experiment. During a reunion special, which aired last month, Nathan claimed that Lacey wanted a “fake” relationship after they split up. He told her at one point in their tense discussion: “I didn’t come here for a showmance”. Lacey replied: “Neither did I”.
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China has said it will convene talks with Russia and Iran as the United States increases pressure on Tehran to agree to a new deal on its nuclear programme.
Beijing announced on Wednesday that it would host officials from Russia and Iran to discuss the issue later this week. The meeting will follow a closed-door session of the United Nations Security Council called by Western nations.
The increased focus on Iran’s nuclear programme comes amid renewed pressure from the US to push Tehran to agree to a deal that would prevent it from taking any steps towards acquiring nuclear weapons.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that the trilateral meeting on the “nuclear issue” would be held in Beijing on Friday. Iran and Russia will send their deputy foreign ministers.
A spokesman from Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the talks would focus on “developments related to the nuclear issue and the lifting of sanctions”.
Ties between Iran and Russia have deepened since the start of the Ukraine war in 2022, with a strategic cooperation treaty signed in January, and both have maintained good relations with China.
Last week, Russia said Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov discussed international efforts to tackle Iran’s nuclear programme with its ambassador, Kazem Jalali, after reports that Russia agreed to help the Trump administration in communicating with Iran.
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Tehran has long denied wanting to develop nuclear weapons, but concern remains high among Western countries.
During his first term, President Donald Trump withdrew the US from a landmark 2015 deal between Iran and leading Western powers that had placed strict limits on Tehran’s nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief and imposed a “maximum pressure” campaign.
Since taking office for his second term in January, Trump has expressed an openness to a new deal with Tehran, which would require the support of Beijing and Moscow.
However, he has also reinstated an aggressive sanctions campaign and openly threatened military action as an alternative, provoking anger , in Iran.
Iran has officially ruled out direct talks as long as sanctions remain, with President Masoud Pezeshkian declaring on Tuesday that his country “will not bow in humiliation to anyone”.
Last Friday, Trump said he had sent a letter to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, urging negotiations and warning of possible military action.
On Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters after a cabinet meeting that Tehran is expecting a representative from an Arab country to deliver the letter.
The Foreign Ministry spokesman then said that Anwar Mohammed Gargash, a United Arab Emirates diplomatic advisor, was due to hand the missive over in a meeting with Araghchi later on Wednesday.
The meeting in China will follow a closed-door UNSC gathering in New York on Wednesday regarding Iran’s expansion of its stocks of uranium.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN atomic watchdog, has warned that Iran has been “dramatically” accelerating the enrichment of uranium to up to 60 percent purity, inching closer to the weapons-grade level of 90 percent.
The meeting was requested by France, Greece, Panama, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the US, calling on the council to compel Iran to meet its obligation to provide information on its nuclear programme.
Iran reached a comprehensive nuclear deal with the UK, China, France, Germany, Russia and the US in 2015, which lifted sanctions on Tehran in return for curbs on its nuclear programme.
But since Washington quit the plan in 2018, Iran has moved away from its international commitments.
Goods worth millions of naira have been razed in a late-night fire outbreak at the popular Aleshinloye Market in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
The fire, which reportedly started around 9pm on Tuesday, gutted the Plastic Merchants area of the popular market and destroyed hundreds of shops and goods, disrupting livelihoods in the process.
The combined efforts of firefighters from the government and private companies within the state battled the fire all night and brought it under control but embers of fire continued to ravage affected areas.
READ ALSO: Two Dead, 12 Vehicles Razed In Tanker Explosion On Otedola Bridge
The Chairman of Ibadan South West Local Government Area, Kehinde Akande,  , under which the market falls was on an on-the-spot assessment of the area.
The contentious arrest of Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, who played a key role in organising the pro-Palestine protests at the Ivy League campus last year, has sparked outrage and raised concerns about free speech protections in the United States.
Khalil, a 29-year-old Palestinian student, was arrested from his university residence in New York’s upper Manhattan over the weekend by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, who said they would revoke his permanent residency – popularly known as a green card – at the behest of the Department of State. Though no federal charges have been pressed against Khalil.
“This is the first arrest of many to come”, President Donald Trump wrote on Monday on his Truth Social platform, describing Khalil as “a radical foreign pro-Hamas student”.
In his first week into the presidency, Trump had pledged to deport students who joined protests against Israel’s war on Gaza that swept US university campuses last year. Students demanded universities divest from companies linked to Israel and a ceasefire to end the war that has killed more than 61, 000 people, according to the Government Media Office in the Gaza Strip.
Trump has also threatened to halt federal funding for schools, colleges, and universities if they allow what he called “illegal protests”. Days before Khalil’s arrest, Trump axed $400m in federal funding to Columbia University.
So, can a green card be revoked? What kind of protections do its holders have? And how does this fit into the broader context of student protests in the US and free speech?
Khalil’s lawyer says her client was being targeted for his political activism]File: Jeenah Moon/Reuters]
Who is Mahmoud Khalil?
Khalil served as the lead negotiator for the pro-Palestinian student protesters at Columbia – a role that required him to speak to university officials and the media. Before his arrest on Saturday, Khalil told the Reuters news agency that he was concerned about being targeted by the government for speaking to the press.
“Clearly, Trump is using the protesters as a scapegoat for his wider agenda]of] fighting and attacking higher education and the Ivy League education system”, he told Reuters.
Khalil’s lawyer Amy Greer told the Time magazine her client was being targeted for his political activism and opposition to Israeli policies. She added that Khalil had not committed any crime or violated the terms of his residency.
In media interviews, Khalil has said his activism has no place for anti-Semitism.
“As a Palestinian student, I believe that the liberation of the Palestinian people and the Jewish people are intertwined and go hand-by-hand, and you cannot achieve one without the other”, he told CNN last year.
“I always say that we are the lucky ones that made it here to speak for our people who are under oppression in Palestine and across the refugee camps and the Palestinian cities”, he said.
Khalil completed his master’s degree from Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs in December 2024.
He was granted a green card last year. His wife, who is a US citizen, is eight months pregnant.
The Palestinian student was born and raised in Syria, where his grandparents moved after fleeing Tiberias, now in present-day Israel. More than 750, 000 Palestinians were ethnically cleansed by Jewish militias in the lead-up to the birth of Israel in 1948. The Palestinians remember their expulsion from their homeland as Nakba, the catastrophe.
He attended Lebanese American University, earning his bachelor’s degree in computer science, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Khalil previously worked at the British embassy in Beirut from 2018 to 2022, according to the Middle East Eye site. He was the local manager for the Syria Chevening Scholarship, a prestigious United Kingdom government scheme.
Can the US deport Khalil?
Yes, but it would face legal challenges. Despite being referred to as permanent residents and having similar rights to US citizens, green card holders are not entirely immune from deportation, and their status can be revoked for certain limited conditions, according to experts Al Jazeera spoke to.
These conditions include committing crimes, engaging in fraud, or being deemed a national security threat – and even then, the person may challenge the deportation orders in court.
However, political speech is not a valid reason for revocation, Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), said.
“Green card holders are entitled to the same First Amendment protections as US citizens”, she said. Whitson said Khalil’s arrest is a “clear effort to silence all speech in support of Palestinian rights”.
In Khalil’s case, the burden of proof rests with the government to prove that he violated US immigration laws and that he posed a national security threat.
Khalil was a prominent negotiator on behalf of student protesters as they demanded that the university divest from companies linked to Israel]File: Jeenah Moon/Reuters]
Zaha Hassan, a human rights lawyer, said it appears that Khalil is being “singled out because of the views he holds”.
“That would violate his right to free speech”, Hassan told Al Jazeera.
Hassan said the Trump administration appears to be arguing that Khalil’s involvement in the protests and his calls for a ceasefire in Gaza amounts to support for Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist organisation by the US government.
“A court will have to decide if speech that supports Palestinian freedom and human rights is the same thing as support for terrorism under the respective immigration statutes”, she said.
A federal court has temporarily blocked Khalil’s deportation. The next hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.
Jenin Younes, a civil liberties and free speech lawyer, said the government appears to be claiming that Khalil constitutes a threat to national security “on rather nebulous grounds: that the government has a policy of combating anti-Semitism around the world, and the protests at Columbia that Khalil helped organise fostered an anti-Semitic environment”.
Trump’s executive orders were designed to target alleged anti-Semitism on university campuses and even created a task force devoted to combating alleged anti-Semitic speech, which campaigners say has been used to target critics of Israel.
This speech includes “various types of criticism of the state of Israel”, Younes explained.
Khalil has not publicly said anything that would support such charges being levelled against him.
Since Khalil has not been charged with, let alone convicted of, a crime, that “cannot serve as the grounds for deporting him”, Younes said.
What protections do green card holders and foreign students have?
While green card holders have more rights than visa holders, they are not as protected as US citizens.
They can work and live permanently in the US, but certain legal infractions or government determinations can lead to deportation proceedings.
“The Trump administration seems to be testing the waters to see how far they can go in abridging civil liberties”, Hassan said. “Immigrants and vulnerable groups that have been the subject of discrimination and prejudice are easy targets in such cases”.
Foreign students, who typically hold F-1 visas, have fewer protections. They must adhere to strict immigration rules, including limits on political activity.
“There has been reporting that the administration intends to deploy AI technology to scan social media accounts of foreign students”, Hassan said. “That would facilitate the administration’s intention to go after many more individuals”.
What exactly is Khalil being accused of?
We do not know. The exact charges against him remain unclear, but US Homeland Security officials have suggested that his activism may pose a national security concern, though there is no clear evidence.
The Department of Homeland Security said “Khalil led activities aligned with Hamas” but did not charge him with a crime. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Trump administration “will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported”. However, authorities have yet to provide evidence that Khalil was a Hamas supporter.
Khalil is being held at the Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Jena, which Younes suggests could be a deliberate move by the government to separate him from his family as a means to “break him down emotionally”.
“I suspect the government transferred him to get before a more conservative]favourable] immigration judge. It also makes him harder to collaborate with his attorneys”, who are in the New York and New Jersey area, she said.
Jena is about 2, 187km (1, 359 miles) south of New York.
Khalil’s detention and the apparent attempts to deport him represent the most prominent instance of the US government crackdown on student protesters under President Donald Trump]Jeenah Moon/Reuters]
Accusations of anti-Semitism at Columbia
An encampment set up by student protesters on the Columbia campus last year became the epicentre of a nationwide campaign at US universities demanding that Washington stop its unconditional support for Israel, amid the devastating war on Gaza.
The protests resulted in mass arrests and student suspensions, ending in the resignation of the university’s president, Minouche Shafik, several months later.
The protests have faced allegations of anti-Semitism, but rights groups argue these claims are being used to suppress criticism of Israeli policies.
The protests focused on condemning Israel’s military actions in the besieged Gaza Strip and called for divestment from companies linked to illegal Israeli settlements that infringe on Palestinian lands. Students demanded that the university sever financial ties with organisations linked to the Israeli government and its defence industry.
Since Khalil’s arrest, the movement has shifted to include demands for his release. People have staged protests in New York, demanding his release.
More than 2.7 million people have signed a petition demanding Khalil’s release.
Is it an attack on free speech?
Khalil’s detention also raises serious ethical concerns about the limits of free speech and the role of universities when it comes to the protection of their staff and students.
Activists as well as media have been alarmed as they see the crackdown as an attack on the First Amendment protection of free speech.
The outcome of Khalil’s case could set an important precedent for other international students who participate in protests.
If the US government is ultimately successful in its mission to deport Khalil, that is a “harbinger of unprecedented authoritarian crackdowns on political speech”, Younes said.
His arrest has already created a “chilling effect on university campuses”, Whitson said, and has harmed countless students whose rights have been infringed.
“Universities have a duty to ensure free speech, freedom of protest and academic freedom”, she added.
“They should condemn the Trump administration’s sanctions against universities, permit students and academics to speak and protest according to their beliefs, and ban non-campus police from any role in ongoing protests”.
US Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib called for an immediate release of Khalil.
“We must be extremely clear: this is an attempt to criminalise political protest and is a direct assault on the freedom of speech of everyone in this country”, said an open letter signed by 13 lawmakers, including Tlaib.
Danny Jones felt compelled to break his social media silence on Wednesday, according to those close to him.
The McFly singer has stayed quiet following the huge backlash from his kiss with Maura Higgins at the BRIT Awards last month. The I’m A Celebrity campmates were filmed locking lips in a video captured at the Universal Music BRITS afterparty.
But he took to Instagram today to share his first posts since the controversial incident to thank fans for their support. It came as the musician received an influx of messages to wish him a happy 39th birthday.
Despite blanking any mention of his family life or the situation he is in, a source close to him has told the Mirror: “It’s been a really tough time for Danny and his family so he has kept his head down and tried to work things through.
Georgia Horsley and Danny Jones (Getty Images for the NTA’s)
Danny kissed Maura at an afterparty (itvsport/Instagram)
” He is so thankful for the love of his fans during all of this time, and wanted to acknowledge then after they sent him birthday messages. He is hopeful that him and Georgia can now work through their problems and look forward to healing together in private. They are very much together still. “
Among those sending touching messages were his bandmate Tom Fletcher. Danny shared Tom’s birthday post to his Instagram Stories. Alongside a black-and-white image of them performing, Tom wrote:” Happy birthday, mush. Looking forward to standing on stage with you soon. @dannyjonesofficial “
He also received posts from several of his I’m A Celebrity campmates, including Alan Halsall who shared a snap of the duo fist bumping. Coleen Rooney was also on hand to tell him to have a” great day”.
Danny and his wife Georgia Horsley were spotted out together on Tuesday as they tried to put on a public show of togetherness. The TV star and Georgia, a former Miss England, married in 2014 after meeting in 2009 at a Miss London event.
A source from Danny’s camp explained to the Mirror he has concerns that his long career could be coming to an end. They said:” Earlier today, Georgia broke her silence by posting a picture of Cooper, their son. But I don’t think we can get too excited. We need to remember that in the past 2 weeks, 2 videos have emerged online of Danny and Maura spending the night of the BRITs together.
“Georgia is likely trying to resume some normality because she has other engagements that she has to fulfil”. They added: “It’s time for Danny to explain to his fans and audience what has happened and to own his mistakes”.
Following the release of the second video of Danny and Maura, the Irish star broke her social media silence and revealed she had fled the country for a job in Los Angeles.
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The Federal Government has reaffirmed its commitment to creating an enabling environment for hydrocarbon investments to address energy poverty, emphasizing that Africa is not a net contributor to global emissions.
The Special Adviser to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Energy, Olu Verheijen, made this statement on Tuesday during a session at CERAWeek by S&, P Global, themed “Policy and People: Pathways to a Just Transition”.
The session, chaired by Vera Blei, Head of Market Report &, Trading Solutions at S&, P Global, featured key speakers including Scott Tinker, CEO of Tinker Energy Association, and Sunita Narain, Director-General of the Centre for Science and Environment.
Nigeria, along with other African and middle-income countries, continues to advocate for a just energy transition amid the global push for net-zero emissions.
Under its “Decade of Gas” initiative, the Nigerian government has adopted natural gas as a transition fuel to support economic growth while reducing carbon emissions.
Verheijen highlighted that Africa and other low-income countries contribute only about 3–4% of global greenhouse gas emissions, in contrast to China and the United States, which account for approximately 30% and 13% of global CO₂ emissions, respectively. Together, both countries are responsible for nearly 40% of global emissions.
Verheijen emphasized Nigeria’s commitment to fostering a stable investment climate and addressing climate-related risks through clear and transparent policies.
“In Nigeria, we are ensuring that we create an enabling environment for investments. On climate change, we recognize the importance of risk perception in our markets and are committed to transparent policies that stand the test of time, enabling the deployment of capital”, she said.
She also underscored the need for greater regional integration to attract capital and enhance market efficiency.
“We need to strengthen economic integration across African nations to create a larger, more attractive market for investment. By pooling resources, integrating markets, and leveraging collaboration across the continent and regional blocs, we can drive sustainable development”, she added.
Verheijen stressed the importance of better data collection and analysis in Africa to support informed decision-making and policy development.
“Even if Africa experiences exponential economic growth and reaches middle-income status, the continent will still not be a major contributor to global emissions.
” The bulk of emission reductions will have to come from developed nations, which must diversify their energy sources and invest heavily in carbon removal and reduction technologies, “she explained.
She further noted that a balanced approach is necessary to ensure that developing economies can utilize their natural resources to drive prosperity, while also adopting climate solutions that enhance adaptability and sustainability.
