Coverage on BBC Two and the BBC iPlayer starting at 14:30, BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra starting at 14:30, and BBC Radio Ulster and Foyle starting at 14:00, with text commentary from the BBC Sport website.
After resisting the urge to include her in Sunday’s final Pool C game against New Zealand in Brighton, Ireland head coach Scott Bemand says he is “confident” Aoife Wafer will be ready for a World Cup quarter-final.
Due to pre-tournament knee surgery, the back row hasn’t yet been able to play in the competition, and the Irish camp has erred on the side of caution. She was even considered for Sunday’s game against the defending champions.
Although Bemand acknowledged that the Black Ferns were tempted to introduce the Wexford woman, it is important to have the tournament’s women ready for either France or South Africa for the meeting the following week.
From the beginning to the moment Aoife joins the group a few days after we arrive, Bemand said, “everything is tracking and trending and has been a bit of a plan.”
“Aoife is desperate to be involved,” she says, “she’s back in training, doing well, and doing well.”
We considered picking her this week, but we decided that going into training again next week and seeing how that goes will help us the following week.
The World Cup is “ready for this game,” according to the statement.
Bemand anticipates the Ulster flanker’s return next weekend despite the fact that Fiona Tuite has been suspended due to a knock suffered last week against Spain.
She is ruled out for this weekend, he continued, “but she’ll be fine for the following week.”
She is playing really well, and we need her to reach the quarter-final, she said.
With victories against Japan and Spain already secured a spot in the last eight, Bemand said his players are “in the right place” for the New Zealand game, which “the World Cup is ready for”.
In theory, winning the group will set up a less challenging quarter-final, but staying in the lead will be just as crucial as winning the group.
He said, “You have more control over the fixtures and games that come in the knockout stages because you win the group.”
“The occasion should get the game it deserves,” declares New Zealand. “We’ve picked strong.” This game is ready for the World Cup.
We’ll both experience triumphant moments, so make the most of them. We are aware that we will reach the quarter-finals, and we can use this to create momentum.
Officials in the US city of Chicago were bracing for a possible deployment of the United States National Guard on Friday, as part of President Donald Trump’s wider crackdown on crime and immigration – notably, many point out, in Democratic strongholds.
Last week, CNN, citing unnamed officials, reported that the controversial military deployment could take place by Friday and that the National Guard might be ready to patrol the city on Saturday.
Recommended Stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
At the same time, a major federal immigration operation involving officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is also expected to begin in the city.
Last Sunday, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, a Democrat, claimed the Trump administration had not informed him of the deployment plans, and that such a move would amount to an “invasion” of the state.
On Saturday last week, Chicago’s Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order directing Chicago police not to collaborate with National Guard troops or federal agents. The order also urged federal agents to wear body cameras and reveal their faces rather than wear masks, as they have done during previous, “military-style” immigration raids under Trump.
Trump deployed the National Guard in Los Angeles in June, and in Washington, DC, in August, purportedly to fight surging crime rates, but residents and state officials have complained that such moves are undemocratic and say that over-policing will erase trust between local police and communities.
National Guard troops patrol the grounds of the Washington Monument with the US Capitol seen in the distance as part of President Donald Trump’s order to impose federal law enforcement in the nation’s capital, in Washington, on Thursday, August 28, 2025 [J Scott Applewhite/AP]
What is the National Guard?
The National Guard is a state-based reserve force totalling 430,040 soldiers and airmen who are serving part-time, rather than full-time. It includes the Army National Guard and the Air National Guard units. National Guard members often hold a civilian job in addition to their military duties.
Each US state and entity has its own National Guard unit, and all together make up the US National Guard. The Guard can be activated for federal missions, such as under Trump’s recent directives, meaning it is dually-controlled by states and the federal government.
The National Guard’s origins go back to colonial-era militias that formed during British rule, with the first colony-wide militia forming in Massachusetts in 1636. Those militias later evolved into an organised, national structure following US independence.
What happened in Los Angeles?
In June, Trump deployed nearly 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 US Marines to Los Angeles to quell public protests against ICE raids. California Governor Gavin Newsom described the move as “political theatre”.
A court ruled on Tuesday that the deployment was illegal. It was the first time since 1965 that a president had federalised National Guard troops to address unrest in a state without a governor’s permission. President Lyndon B Johnson, at the time, sent troops to Selma, Alabama, to protect civil rights protesters from violence.
What happened in Washington, DC?
On August 12, Trump announced at a White House press conference that he was temporarily taking control of Washington, DC’s Metropolitan Police Department under Section 740 of the rarely invoked District of Columbia Home Rule Act, which allows federal control of police during an emergency.
Government officials said the DC force would be in place till November, according to a report on Thursday from ABC News.
Trump additionally deployed 800 National Guard troops to the city to “rescue” it from what he said was a crime and homelessness surge.
“I’m announcing a historic action to rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor and worse,” Trump said in his announcement. “This is Liberation Day in DC, and we’re going to take our capital back.”
Trump has also said that his administration will seek the death penalty for murder cases in the city.
Washington, DC, is classified as a unique federal district and is a Democratic stronghold. As US president, Trump has direct control over the District of Columbia National Guard and can use the DC police force for 48 hours, or up to 30 days if he notifies Congress. However, Congress has not been formally notified of the recent moves.
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser initially criticised the deployment, describing it as “unsettling and unprecedented” on August 11. She added that although violent crime had spiked in the city in 2023, recent data shows crime rates have been falling and that violent crime is at a 30-year low.
Bowser has since tried to cooperate with federal agents by setting up an operations centre to coordinate communications between federal agencies and local law enforcement. The centre was established under Bowser’s “Safe and Beautiful Emergency Operations Center” (SBEOC), which is a play on Trump’s lingo.
One of the centre’s tasks is to ensure federal agents maintain policing practices that instil confidence in residents, such as not wearing masks, identifying their agencies and providing identification when interacting with people.
Despite that, on August 27, Bowser told reporters that there was a “break in trust” between communities and the police due to the presence of federal agents who wore masks and were not always identifiable. Bowser said she was “devastated” because some residents in the city said they were living in fear.
Demonstrators march as they protest against President Donald Trump’s use of federal law enforcement and National Guard troops in the US capital during a rally along the 14th Street corridor in northwest Washington, DC, Saturday, August 30, 2025 [Jose Luis Magana/AP]
Why does Trump say it is necessary to deploy troops to cities?
Trump has argued that it is essential to combat crime in Los Angeles, DC and other cities. Despite widespread criticism and legal challenges, he has defended his decision, saying some troublemakers have to be handled by soldiers.
“Frankly, they were born to be criminals,” Trump said on Wednesday, when he confirmed the Chicago deployment would happen but did not give dates. “And they’re tough and mean, and they’ll cut your throat, and they won’t even think about it the next day. They won’t even remember that they did it. And we’re not going to have those people.”
The president has also pointed to what he says are the positive results from the DC federal takeover. Speaking at a conference on Tuesday, Trump said the city was now safe and that restaurants were enjoying booming businesses.
“We have no crime,” Trump said. “You’re not going to be shot.”
Republican lawmakers have backed Trump’s actions, especially in DC, where some are proposing a “Make Our Streets Safe Again Act” to target crime and address homelessness.
“President Trump’s unyielding leadership and strength, coupled with proper congressional oversight, ensures that Washington, DC, will reclaim its rightful place,” US Representative Harriet Hageman, a Republican, said at a news conference on Tuesday.
Where else has Trump threatened to deploy the National Guard?
Trump and officials from his administration have floated possible plans to deploy the National Guard in Democratic-led cities including Chicago, Baltimore, Boston and New York.
On Tuesday, Trump stated at a conference that he has “an obligation to protect this country, and that includes Baltimore”.
On August 22, he told reporters in the Oval Office that “Chicago is a mess”, and that his administration “will help with New York”.
The day before, ICE’s acting director said agents would “flood” Boston to remove immigrants in the so-called “sanctuary city”, referring to municipalities that limit cooperation with federal law enforcement on immigration issues.
Officials in Baltimore and Chicago, meanwhile, insist that crime rates have fallen in their cities.
In July, Baltimore’s police department said there had been a significant drop in gun violence compared to last year. The city’s Mayor Brandon Scott also told reporters on Monday that by September 1, 2025, 91 homicides and 218 non-fatal shootings were recorded. He said it was the lowest yearly homicide rate in over 50 years.
Also on Monday, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said at a conference that overall crime rates had fallen in the city by 21 percent. “We will not have our police officers, who are working hard every single day to drive down crime, deputise to do traffic stops and checkpoints for the president,” he said.
How bad is crime in Chicago?
With a population of 2.7 million, Chicago has long had a national reputation linked with high crime rates, particularly gun violence. Legal experts say that reputation has some basis, but that crime rates are not unconnected to the era of racial segregation.
In reality, however, crime rates in Chicago vary depending on the crime type, and generally mirror those in other major cities, according to analysis by CBS News, which cited data from the Chicago Police and the FBI.
Last year, the city had 18,327 reported cases of violent crime, which translates to 695 per 100,000 people. In comparison, Oakland had 1,925 cases per 100,000; Detroit, 1,781; Little Rock, 1,672; and Baltimore, 1,606. Houston, which has a smaller population of 2.3 million, recorded a total of 26,628 violent crimes or 1,148 crimes per 100,000.
According to data from the DC-based Council on Criminal Justice (CJC), Chicago did see a 369 percent [nearly fivefold] increase in violent crime, property and drug offences between 2019 and 2023, driven mainly by a surge in vehicle thefts that was recorded in several other large cities in the same period. Many US cities similarly recorded high crime rates during the COVID-19 pandemic.
More recently, the CCJ reported that overall crime in Chicago by June 2025 was down compared to 2024.
In a year-on-year analysis, the CCJ noted that violent crimes such as homicides had reduced by 33 percent compared to last year. Aggravated assaults fell by 16 percent, gun assaults by 27 percent, robberies by 35 percent, carjacking by 51 percent and domestic violence by 10 percent.
An exception to the downward trend was sexual assault cases, which only reduced by one percent between June 2024 and June 2025.
What do critics of Trump’s hardline approach say?
Trump’s deployment of troops in Los Angeles, Washington, DC, and the looming Chicago deployment have faced criticism and legal challenges from law experts, officials and residents. Some say it constitutes the formation of a “police state”, the sidelining of state authorities, and overreach. Others say it is over-policing that could have an adverse impact on relations between communities and local law enforcement.
“This is an active military takeover of the capital,” protesters who assembled outside Congress in DC on Thursday wrote in an open letter to lawmakers, which they handed out.
“It is a textbook indicator of backsliding democracy and intensifying authoritarianism … This might come off as alarmist, but in the last 100 years of history, the pattern is clear and we are witnessing it in real time,” the letter stated.
California Governor Gavin Newsom and the state’s Attorney General Rob Bonta have also argued that Trump’s decision to deploy federal military agents violates the Posse Comitatus Act, which restricts the use of the military for civilian law enforcement.
This week, US District Judge Charles Breyer ruled that the Los Angeles deployment was unprecedented, an overstep of presidential authority, and ultimately, illegal. The case had been filed in June by the state of California.
“There were indeed protests in Los Angeles, and some individuals engaged in violence,” Breyer wrote, referring to Trump’s insistence that the anti-immigration-raid protests constituted a “rebellion” that needed to be quashed.
“Yet there was no rebellion, nor was civilian law enforcement unable to respond to the protests and enforce the law,” Breyer wrote in his judgement.
Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister of the United Kingdom, resigned after a probe revealed she had lied about paying her flat’s tax, leading to a wider cabinet reshuffle and furthering the Labour Party’s woes.
In a letter to Keir Starmer, the prime minister, Rayner said she “did not meet the highest standards” and would step down from her positions as deputy leader of Labour and housing minister.
Recommended Stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
Rayner, who admitted to underpaying a surcharge on the flat last week, “regrets a lot that I don’t seek additional specialist tax advice.” She claimed that she accepted full responsibility for the error.
Starmer responded that his party would be devastated to lose her from the government, but added that she would continue to be a significant force.
Starmer’s government has endured a number of crises since taking office in July 2024, and it now trails hard-right firebrand Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party in national polls. Rayner was popular with working-class voters and a skilled mediator between Labour’s left and centrist wings.
According to Birmingham-based Jonah Hull of Al Jazeera, Keir Starmer loses “perhaps the closest link the Labour Party has to its working-class roots” in losing her.
Shortly before UK media reported that Lucy Powell, the head of the House of Commons, and Ian Murray, the head of Scotland, both had been fired.
Powell claimed in a post on X that Starmer had informed her that he intended to appoint a new Commons leader.
The government has not had a good time this time. People want to see better and more difficult lives being led, according to Powell.
Pic, from me, to a Statement Twitter.com/Twitter/p/nmhJeKDRV
Complexity in the Rayner tax scandal
Following days of reports that claimed she had saved £40, 000 ($53, 000) by removing her name from the deeds of another property, Rayner admitted on Wednesday that she had underpaid the so-called stamp duty on a seaside flat in southern England.
Ethics chief Laurie Magnus acknowledged that Rayner had twice been informed that the lower rate of stamp duty was applicable and that the rules “entailed a significant degree of complexity” after looking into the case.
However, the fact that it was acknowledged to not be expert tax advice qualified that recommendation.
She “cannot be said to have met the highest possible standards of proper conduct” due to Rayner’s failure to seek further guidance, according to Magnus.
Rayner has frequently been projected to lead the Labour Party and has become a frequent target of political attacks from the Conservatives and the right-wing media.
On September 4, 2025, Angela Rayner’s second property in Hove, United Kingdom, is depicted in graffiti that reads “tax evader.” [Carlos Jasso/Reuters]
According to American media reports, members of the Trump administration have been considering appointing New York City mayor Eric Adams as Saudi Arabia’s ambassador.
The plan, according to reports from The New York Times and Politico on Friday, aims to persuade Adams to withdraw from the mayoral race in November in order to defeat Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani.
Recommended Stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
Adams, a Democrat in the first election, has been running as an independent for mayor. In response to allegations that he collaborated with the Trump administration to ease his legal issues, his popularity has decreased.
In the city’s Democratic primary in July, Mamdani defeated former Democratic governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, to claim a surprise victory. The Democratic primary victory in the fight to lead the city with its left-leaning ideology is regarded as the most likely outcome.
Cuomo has continued to run as an independent, but his support base appears to overlap with Adams’. Cuomo and President Donald Trump have historically engaged in contentious relations, but his administration has always favored him as the candidate.
The New York Times reported on Friday that Adams has been meeting regularly with Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special representative, to discuss possible diplomatic stance. Trump’s involvement in the process was undetermined, according to the newspaper.
Adams has stated in the past that he intends to remain in the race.
The mayor of the largest city in the US, which has a population of almost 8.5 million, has been accused of supporting Trump’s deportation drive in exchange for the Justice Department to drop a corruption and bribery case against him.
The quid pro quo has been denied by him.
Mamdani has adopted a number of left-leaning policies, including one that claims city officials will not cooperate with federal immigration agents.
He referred to the Trump administration’s alleged interference in the election as an “affront to our democracy” on Thursday.
Mamdani, a vocal supporter of Palestine and a critic of Israel’s occupation of Gaza, has expanded the scope of the campaign.
For the Italian Grand Prix, Formula 1 travels to Monza. Harry Benjamin of BBC Sport and Alice Powell of CBS Sports list the top five things to watch out for before Sunday’s race.
Ferrari’s one-two is in contention for more in the Monza practice.
The birth of their son Albert was announced earlier this week by Olly Murs and his wife Amelia Murs, who have seen their daughter Madi meet her new brother.
Singer-songwriter Olly Murs has now shared a glimpse at his daughter Madi meeting her newborn brother for the first time. His post about the “special” moment comes following the news earlier this week that his wife Amelia Murs had given birth.
Olly, 41, and Amelia, 32, announced the birth of their son in a joint post on Instagram yesterday. The couple revealed to their followers that they have chosen to call their youngest child Albert and the baby’s nickname has since been shared too.
Olly made the announcement in a post that was posted to the platform this morning. A photo from the radio host’s update to fans showed his eldest child, Madi, one, being introduced to her newborn after he arrived.
READ MORE: Olly Murs tears over first baby as he vowed not to make the same mistake with baby AlbertREAD MORE: ‘I got deadly sepsis breastfeeding my baby Charli,’ says Capital FM’s Aimee Vivian
Olly Murs (right) and his wife Amelia Murs (left) have shared a photo of their eldest child Madi being introduced to her newborn brother Albert(Image: Instagram)
It comes after the couple announced Albert’s birth in a joint post on social media yesterday(Image: Instagram)
Amelia was seen lying in a bed with Albert in her hands. In the family photo, Madi was seen waving her arms toward her brother while Olly was holding her over the bed.
When Madi met Albie, Olly wrote in the caption of his post, which he and his wife Amelia shared. The caption also revealed that they are nicknaming the tot Albie and that he had a blue heart and a teary-eyed emoji in it.
The post has amassed 70,000 likes on the platform. Several celebrities were among those who liked it, including Olly’s pal Mark Wright and his wife Michelle Keegan, as well as fellow Heart Radio presenter Amanda Holden.
What a special moment, such a perfect little family, one fan wrote in the comments section. Another expression was “Absolutely precious. Such a lovely image captures the most adorable moment. “Special memories for ever” was a third phrase.
Later, he later uploaded video of Madi using a walking aid while her baby sibling slept on a table. In the post’s title this afternoon, Olly, who was heard encouraging his daughter to retrieve a ball from the other side of the room, wrote, “Current situ…” next to a laughing emoji.
It comes after Olly and Amelia announced Albert’s birth yesterday. The couple shared a photo of themselves walking out of hospital together, with Olly cradling Madi whilst also holding a baby carrier in the corridor. They wrote in the caption: “Walking out as four. Welcome to the world, our little Albert.”
The couple had previously disclosed that they would have a second child when Madi turned 18 in April. We’re so excited to share this, another baby murmurs are on the way, according to Olivia and Amelia in a joint post at the time.
They celebrated their daughter’s first birthday just a few days earlier. Can’t believe our Madi is 1 today, Ollie wrote in a post that marked the occasion. The most adorable laughs come in twelve months. I just adore her so much.
Continue reading the article.
While his wife Amelia said, “One year of our little lady,” in her tribute to Madi on the occasion of the occasion. How did having a daughter like yours be so blessed? Happy birthday, angel chops! I adore you.
