Video shows the aftermath of drone and artillery strikes on a shelter in the besieged city of el-Fasher in Sudan’s North Darfur state, which killed at least 60 people. The attack was carried out by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), according to a Sudanese medical advocacy group.
Thomas Skinner’s wife has revealed that after his affair, she kicked him out of their family home. He made headlines for all of the wrong reasons prior to his short stint on Strictly Come Dancing after admitting to having a “fling” behind his wife Sinead’s back, and now Tom’s other half has revealed exactly what happened when he came clean about the affair to her.
One week before his first appearance on the BBC One show, The Apprentice star, 34, confessed to a “two-week fling” with a beauty clinic boss and said, “it was the biggest mistake of my life.”
Speaking about her husband’s infidelity for the first time, Sinead admitted she kicked him out of the family home after being left devastated by the news. She explained: “When he first told me what had happened, I made him leave. I was devastated.
“I will never forget Thomas telling me. I remember thinking, ‘I never thought this would happen to me’. It was one of the worst days of my life. I only told one friend, nobody else.”
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Sinead added to The Sun: “But we eventually worked it out. I just knew how much I love him and I wanted to work it out. He made a mistake. It was a tough time. One of his friends had just died.”
She explained that the cheating was in the past for them and they are now “stronger than ever”. Despite his scandal, Sinead admits that the couple are stronger than ever and have gone on to welcome their twin daughters together. But it was his stint on Strictly which brought the cheating to light. “It has been hell,” she revealed.
The mum-of-three went on to explain that it’s been “horrendous” having to re-live that chapter all over again, especially since the pair had put it behind them in an effort to start again.
Back in September, the BBC star said that he had a two-week fling with Amy-Lucy Rourke, 35, and “it is the biggest mistake of my life.” He continued: “I met her in a pub. She was a single mum. We chatted on the phone, and she offered me some kind of cosmetic slimming treatments.”
He told The Sun: “It was nothing more than that. It was the one time; it was a mistake. I woke up feeling absolutely terrible about it. I felt so guilty. I told my wife. I let her down in that brief moment of madness where I wasn’t thinking, where I didn’t appreciate what I had. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”
However, just days after he went public with the affair, Amy came forward and claimed he had told her she was the “love of his life” and the fling had actually been three months long.
She claimed to the Daily Mail: “We were originally friends, but with his sweet-talking and his lies, he made me believe we were in love. He would stand in the mirror with me and say, ‘Look, we’ll be Mr and Mrs Skinner’. That is actually traumatising to me.
“You don’t say that to someone when you’re already happily married. I fell in love with him, but Thomas is nothing but a liar and a cheat.” Thomas and Sinead first met at a bar in London in 2018 and got engaged two years later. The fling occurred shortly after their wedding in May 2022, when they were already parents to their son, now four years old.
The pair also now have identical twin daughters who are two years old. Tom and his Strictly partner Amy Dowden were the first to be eliminated from this year’s show after landing in the bottom two with Chris Robshaw and Nadiya Bychkova. All four judges unanimously decided to save Chris over Tom.
During his exit interview with Tess Daly, he gushed: “Thank you, Amy – sorry that we haven’t done too good, ’cause you’re a different class.
“I’ve never danced before and my stay was short, but Amy’s amazing. It’s been great fun and I’ve enjoyed it. I can’t really dance that well but I’ve had fun!”
Strictly Come Dancing continues on Sunday night at 7:15pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
Polls have opened in Cameroon in an election that could see the world’s oldest serving head of state extend his rule for another seven years.
The single-round election on Sunday is likely to return 92-year-old incumbent Paul Biya as president for an eighth term in the Central African nation of 30 million people.
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Biya, in power for 43 years, faces off against 11 challengers, including former government spokesman Issa Tchiroma Bakary, 79, who has generated unexpected momentum for a campaign calling for an end to the leader’s decades-long tenure.
Bakary – a close ally of Biya for 20 years, who resigned from the government in June to join the opposition – is considered the top contender to unseat the incumbent after another leading opponent, Maurice Kamto, was barred from the race.
But analysts predict Biya’s re-election, given his firm grip on state machinery and a divided opposition.
“We shouldn’t be naive. We know full well the ruling system has ample means at its disposal to get results in its favour,” Cameroonian political scientist Stephane Akoa told the AFP news agency, while noting that the campaign had been “much livelier” in recent days than previous versions.
“This poll is therefore more likely to throw up surprises,” he said.
Francois Conradie, lead political economist at Oxford Economics, told the Reuters news agency that while “a surprise is still possible”, “a divided opposition and the backing of a formidable electoral machine will, we predict, give the 92-year-old his eighth term”.
“Biya has remained in power for nearly 43 years by deftly dividing his adversaries, and, although we think he isn’t very aware of what is going on, it seems that the machine he built will divide to rule one last time,” Conradie said.
Biya – who has won every election in the past 20 years by more than 70 percent of the ballot – ran a characteristically low-profile campaign, appearing in public only on Tuesday for the first time since May, AFP reported.
His sole rally in Maroua, the regional capital of the strategic Far North region, drew a crowd of just a few hundred people, far smaller than a rally in the same city by Bakary this week, which drew thousands, AFP said.
Cameroon is Central Africa’s most diversified economy and a significant producer of oil and cocoa.
But voters in a country where about four people in 10 live below the poverty line, according to the World Bank, complain about the high cost of living, high unemployment and a lack of clean water, healthcare and quality education.
“For 43 years, Cameroonians have been suffering. There are no jobs,” Hassane Djbril, a driver in the capital, Yaounde, told Reuters.
He said he planned to vote for Bakary. “We want change because the current government is dictatorial.”
Herves Mitterand, a mechanic in Douala, told Reuters that he wanted to see change.
“For me, things have only gotten worse,” he said. “We want to see that change, we want to see it actually happen. We don’t want to just keep hearing words any more.”
The vote takes place in the shadow of a conflict between separatist forces and the government that has plagued the English-speaking northwest and southwest regions since 2016.
World Cup qualifying: Northern Ireland v Germany
Venue: Windsor Park, Belfast Date: Monday, 13 October Time: 19:45 BST
Until he was 19 years old, Maik Taylor had never played a game in goal.
Until he was 24, he had not been a professional footballer, but a lance corporal in the British Army.
Until he was 27, when he appeared for their under-21 side as an overage player, he had never even set foot in Northern Ireland.
Yet, when all was said and done, with assistance from the likes of Ray Clemence, Graeme Souness and Kevin Keegan, the man who is now Birmingham City’s goalkeeping coach made over 500 appearances across England’s top four divisions and won 88 caps for his adopted country.
Taylor was born in the city of Hildesheim just south of Hanover to a German mother and an English father who was serving in the British Army’s Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers regiment.
Raised in what was then West Germany until he was a teenager, his footballing upbringing was decidedly anglicised with Southampton’s victory over Manchester United in the FA Cup final of 1976 his earliest sporting memory.
How fanciful it would have seemed then to the four-year-old Taylor that the Wembley showpiece featured not one but two of his future international managers in Saints boss Lawrie McMenemy and United midfielder Sammy McIlroy.
As an aspiring striker he had played representative football for his local county in Germany but it was not until the family moved to England, and Taylor had followed his father’s footsteps by joining the army straight out of school, that he first donned a pair of goalkeeping gloves.
“It was after we’d finished basic training and there was a notice on the board that anyone who thinks that they’re good enough to compete for the regiment team was to come along to training,” he tells BBC Sport NI.
“There was a big puddle in the goalmouth and the goalkeeper wouldn’t dive so, just for banter really, I said to give us the gloves and got myself wet and dirty.
With big hands and a body more suited to the high jump than the 100 metres, Taylor says he always had the genetics of goalkeeper. The combination of discipline drilled into him by the army and the competitive streak developed as a second-born child then allowed him to maximise his talents despite the late start.
While still serving in his regiment, he turned out part-time for Farnborough Town and it was there that he came on to the radar of professional clubs.
Glenn Hoddle’s Swindon showed an interest, and there were trials at Portsmouth, Bristol Rovers and Sheffield United too, but ultimately it was the late England legend Ray Clemence, then in charge of Barnet, who took the punt after running the rule over his fellow goalkeeper.
“For one reason or another I fell a bit short, and then Ray was the only one that showed faith in me,” says Taylor, before dryly noting that Barnet were the only interested club with a former keeper in charge.
Barnet paid £700 to secure the 24-year-old’s release in June 1995. Eighteen months later, Southampton manager Souness paid £500,000 to bring him to the Premier League.
A fan of the club dating back to that FA Cup final win two decades prior, Taylor’s stay at The Dell lasted just 11 months with Souness departing at the end of his first season in the top flight.
After his childhood hero Keegan signed him for an ambitious Fulham side seeking promotion from the third tier, it was at Craven Cottage where Taylor’s international potential came to the attention of McMenemy, who had become Northern Ireland manager in 1998.
Through a since closed loophole, at the time, a British citizen born abroad was eligible to represent any of the Home Nations. McMenemy, who had been Southampton manager when Keegan had played for the club in the early eighties, enquired about Taylor’s interest before the man himself even “had any idea” he qualified.
“When Kevin approached me and said that he’d been contacted by Northern Ireland, I thought it was a fantastic opportunity to go and represent a country and play international football,” he says.
“I was in my late twenties playing in League One. Put it this way, it didn’t take me long to decide.”
Taylor was not the only player Northern Ireland approached on such grounds with a lengthy courtship of Birmingham City’s Nigeria-born striker Dele Adebola ultimately proving fruitless.
As such, there was a degree of scepticism around Taylor’s level of commitment given he had never set foot in Northern Ireland before being included as an overage player for an under-21 fixture against Switzerland in April 1998.
“Initially, because we lost some bad games and we were poor in certain games, when you’re not born and bred in the country some things are said in the stands that aren’t pleasant to hear.
“I kind of understood that, but then I was determined to repay the faith through my dedication and availability whenever I was called upon.
In March 1999, Taylor made his debut against Germany in Belfast, a fixture that will be repeated in 2026 World Cup qualifying on Monday evening.
While noting the “irony” of winning his first cap against the nation of his birth, having grown up with a greater affinity for the England sides of Keegan and then Paul Gascoigne, for him the opposition represented nothing more than the remarkable culmination of a journey that took him from the rank of lance corporal to sharing a field with the likes of Oliver Kahn and Lothar Matthaus in less than four years.
Taylor would go on to win 88 caps for his adopted country, with a particular highlight his clean sheet in the 1-0 win over England on the night his two sons were team mascots in 2005.
When his job at St Andrews allows, he enjoys returning to Northern Ireland and seeing more of the country than he ever managed during his whistle-stop visits as a player.
Taylor still maintains a treasured connection with Northern Ireland supporters too.
“Your playing career is over in a flash and I’m forever grateful and humbled that people can still remember it this far down the line,” he said.
Step into any top football club and you’ll see players receiving elite-level coaching in facilities to match.
Clubs employ large backroom teams covering a variety of roles to keep their prized assets in the best possible shape.
Footage of footballers being put through their paces by private coaches has become increasingly common on social media.
Ryan Hopper is one such coach, with Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes and team-mate Diogo Dalot among those he has worked with.
Hopper has also coached long-time United player Marcus Rashford – now on loan at Barcelona – two-time European Championship winner Ella Toone, and a clutch of Championship players.
He is one of dozens of private coaches in the UK who have made a career training elite footballers.
Everton forward Jack Grealish, Chelsea attacker Cole Palmer and Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins are three of the other high-profile players to have been coached outside of their club set-up.
But why, when they have access to the best coaching facilities, do players also feel the need to employ people like Hopper?
“At clubs like Manchester United, their sessions are tailored towards getting three points on a Saturday,” he told BBC Sport.
“There are some fantastic coaches and they wouldn’t be at football clubs if they weren’t great at what they do.
“In a group setting, though, there could be five players behind you – and if there’s a little detail you need to work on, then you’re stopping the five other people from getting their repetitions. When it’s private, you can really go into the fine details.
Before they step on a pitch together, Hopper analyses a client’s matches. He spends hours watching them back and identifying scenarios they typically face.
“Marcus Rashford came to me during an international break having not made the England squad,” he said.
“I could see he was getting into some fantastic areas but once he was getting into those positions, he wasn’t always doing the right things to get shots off.
“I recreated those scenarios in training and executed it over and over again. When he went back to United, he scored three goals in two games.
“It’s massive for confidence building. It’s so important that they are working on areas they want to improve, and if they can improve after a session with me then my job is done.
Private coaching isn’t always welcomed by the players’ employers. After all, their valued assets are in someone else’s hands.
Former Newcastle, Blackburn and West Ham manager Sam Allardyce told BBC Sport clubs must be made aware of it.
“You’ve got to admire somebody who’s paying somebody else in their own time to try and help them play better,” he said.
“But if it’s kept quiet and the club doesn’t know about it, then that’s extremely dangerous. You could be putting the player under more pressure, expending more energy and opening them up to more injuries.
“While I’m not against it, it must be in conjunction with the club.”
Hopper agrees.
“Collaboration is so important,” he said. “If the clubs are on board with it and the staff are on board, everybody wins.
“Some clubs don’t want to know and don’t want to have that dialogue with you – and that’s fine. As long as they trust you to keep their players safe and to learn and develop then they’ll get results from it.
Tom King knows only too well about freak accidents.
King was criticised by Preston manager Paul Heckingbottom in August, when forward Daniel Jebbison was injured during a private session.
Heckingbottom was “really angry” when Jebbison sustained an ankle injury.
“There’s a growing trend of footballers to work with people from outside,” the manager said. “It’s an accident, I get it, but it’s not happening any more with any Preston players.”
King said he understood Heckingbottom’s frustration as it “affects the whole club” but added: “It affected me too.”
“It was an unfortunate accident involving an interaction between his foot and a piece of equipment,” he told BBC Sport.
“Injuries during training are unpreventable, and this one in particular was close to impossible to avoid.
Thankfully, Jebbison’s injury was not serious.
“I only work with full club consent in open communication with staff,” said King.
“Every session is designed to complement and never compromise their training and match schedule.
“I won’t work with players at a level of competitive football unless people at the club are informed and involved.”
Hopper acknowledges the “worst thing that could happen is a serious injury”.
“I would take responsibility for that,” he said.
Seven years ago today, Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank tied the knot in a stunning ceremony at Windsor Castle in front of the entire royal family. On the same day, a secret held by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle was shared, making the day memorable in more ways than one.
Standing in the wedding reception at St George’s Hall, the Duke of Sussex dropped a bombshell on his brother Prince William : that he and his wife, after being married for just five months, were expecting their first child. Harry recalled the moment he told his brother of their happy news in his autobiography Spare, revealing William’s telling reaction.
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He wrote: “We were in a big room, suits of armour on the walls. Strange room, strange moment.” Harry recalled William’s response to his news and said he smiled and uttered just four words: “We must tell Kate.”
Harry also detailed the Princess of Wales ‘ reaction and said she was overjoyed to hear the news, as he wrote: “She also gave a big smile and hearty congratulations. They both reacted exactly as I hoped – as I’d wished.”
Meghan and Harry also told King Charles about their pregnancy at the wedding, as the Duke of Sussex said the monarch was “delighted” when he found out he would be welcoming another grandchild.
Harry wrote: “Just before a drink reception for the bride and groom, we cornered Pa in his study. He was delighted to learn that he was going to be a grandfather for a fourth time; his wide smile warmed me.”
Meghan Markle gave birth just six months later to Prince Archie on May 6, 2019 at the Portland Hospital, London. Harry also wrote about the birth of his first child in his memoir and admitted he was very nervous ahead of the birth.
The Sussexes have since gone on to welcome a second child, Princess Lilibet, who was born at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital in California on June 4, 2021, one year after they quit their royal duties and relocated to America.
Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank tied the knot on October 12 2018, exchanging their vows in St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle in front of the entire royal family, including the late Queen Elizabeth.
More than 850 people, including Robbie Williams and Cara Delevigne, packed into the chapel to see Eugenie and Jack get married. Since their big day in 2018, Eugenie and Jack have welcomed two children – August, who was born in February 2021 and Ernest, who arrived in late May 2023.