Indonesia has named former president Soeharto a national hero, despite accusations of human rights abuses carried out by his regime.
Soeharto was named among 10 honorees given the title of national hero on Monday. The award, decided by President Prabowo Subianto, Soeharto’s former son-in-law, has stirred criticism among activists and academics who cite the deceased military leader’s record of mass human rights violations, corruption and nepotism during his three-decade rule.
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The award at the National Hero Day ceremony means that Soeharto shares the honour with a list of more than 200 people, including Sukarno, leader of Indonesia’s independence movement and the country’s first democratically elected president.
“A prominent figure from Central Java province, a hero of the struggle for independence, General Soeharto stood out since the independence era,” said the presidential military secretary, as Prabowo handed the award to Soeharto’s daughter, Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, and son, Bambang Trihatmodjo.
Every year, the title of national hero is awarded to Indonesians who have contributed significantly to the Southeast Asian archipelago’s development.
Soeharto, who died in 2008 aged 86, ruled Indonesia with an iron fist for more than three decades after seizing control from Sukarno in 1967 following a failed military coup.
Indonesia gained independence in 1945 from the then-colonial powers, the Netherlands and Japan.
A large portrait of the late President Soeharto hangs on the wall of the State Palace during a ceremony awarding national hero title to 10 figures, including the former strongman, in Jakarta, Indonesia, November 10, 2025 (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)
The former soldier used the military to dominate civilian affairs and crush dissent. He was also accused of huge corruption and nepotism, benefitting his family and cronies.
He steered Indonesia through a long period of rapid economic growth and stability, only to see much of his work unravel as the country was plunged into chaos during the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis.
No charges were ever proven against Soeharto, who escaped going on trial due to his failing health.
Betrayal
Last week, about 500 civil society members, activists and academics published a letter sent to Prabowo, requesting he not proceed with the hero designation.
The letter called the award a betrayal of Soeharto’s victims and of democratic values, and said it constituted a dangerous distortion of history.
The move is also viewed as a red flag regarding the current regime, which activists say is composed of people favoured by Soeharto.
Prabowo, who was a special forces commander under Soeharto and was married to the former president’s daughter, has rebuffed accusations of human rights violations in East Timor.
He has also faced a series of violent protests since sweeping to electoral victory last year, mainly prompted by discontent over economic inequality and lavish perks for lawmakers.
Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto has been accused of abuse and recently faced protests [File: EPA]
The Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS), a local rights group, said designating Soeharto a national hero was immoral and helped to normalise impunity.
“Soeharto, as someone suspected of being involved in human rights violations, state violence and various offences related to human rights abuses, does not deserve to be awarded the title of national hero,” KontraS coordinator Dimas Bagus Arya told the AFP news agency.
State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi defended the government’s decision.
“It is part of how we honour our predecessors, especially our leaders, who undoubtedly have made extraordinary contributions to the nation and the country,” he told reporters.
Popular YouTuber Nick Yardy revealed he was having two kids — with a mom, 44, as well as her daughter, 22 — yet that wasn’t the most shocking part of his announcement.
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A popular YouTuber has shocked the world with his news(Image: Instagram/ @nickyardy)
In February this year, YouTuber Nick Yardy, whose real name is Nicholas Hunter, made waves with a seemingly unbelievable announcement.
The 29-year-old internet sensation took to his social media platforms to announce what’s usually considered to be the best news in a person’s life. The public’s reaction? Utter disgust. So, what was the announcement which made people’s toes curl, as droves of social media users took to the internet to make note of their out-and-out repulsion? Nick announced he was going to become a father. To two children. At the same time. With a 22-year-old content creator. And her mother.
You read that right. The YouTuber revealed to millions of his fans that he had impregnated 22-year-old OnlyFans model Jade, as well as her 44-year-old mother Dani. The reaction to his news was as you’d expect. Curiosity and disgust. Famous for his antics on social media, this announcement was a little too much even for his die-hard fans to swallow.
Scores of ‘you’ve got to be kidding me’ and ‘oh my god this is disgusting’ comments infiltrated Nick’s social media and in true Nick Yardy fashion, the YouTuber doubled down and shared a gender reveal video on March 8 the following month. At the ‘gender reveal party’, which was seemingly attended by Nick, Jade, and Dani’s family and friends, the ‘throuple’ (three-person couple) announced that they were having a girl and a boy.
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The news spread like wildfire with media outlets picking up the outrageous story. And then Nick did the most shocking thing of all – he told the truth. In a tell-all interview with the Daily Mail, the YouTuber confessed: “There are no babies. It’s just, like, a skit. It’s not actually real.”
He added: “People that follow me, they’re just looking for entertainment and I don’t think they really [believe it].” Although he revealed the larger farce, Nick remains adamant about one thing – his relationship with Jade and her mother Dani is real.
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The content creator, who has 3.54 million subscribers on YouTube and a following of 2.4 million and 1.2 million on Instagram and TikTok respectively, frequently uploads different skits starring women on his socials. However, the South Floridian claims he’s been in a relationship with his live-in lovers, Jade and Dani, for nearly two years.
Taylor Swift admits her ‘hobbies could be categorised as hobbies you could have had in the 1700s’ in rare insight into her life at home with her fiancé Travis Kelce
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Taylor and Travis give an insight into some of the ‘weird’ things they do at home(Image: Getty Images)
Taylor’s love story with Travis was certainly unexpected – and it could almost have been a plot taken straight from Hollywood. “It was like a fairytale,” says Annie Zaleski, author of Taylor Swift: The Stories Behind The Songs. “We saw Taylor being wooed by this handsome football player, as if we were watching a movie unfold in front of us. There was something so irresistible about it, and it felt like she had been manifesting the relationship through her songs for years.”
It all began on 8 July 2023, when Travis attended one of her Eras Tour shows at Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Kansas City Chiefs. Keen to get acquainted, he tried to fix up a backstage meeting so he could give Taylor one of her hugely popular friendship bracelets bearing his phone number. However, his efforts failed, which he later admitted left him “butthurt”.
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He said, “She doesn’t meet anybody, or at least she didn’t want to meet me, so I took it personal.” But admitting he was “mesmerised” and “captivated” by her Eras performance, Travis then declared his interest in her on his and brother Jason’s podcast New Heights two weeks later.
Two years on, Taylor appeared on the same podcast with Travis and Jason, claiming Travis had thrown a “man tantrum” when he “didn’t get a meet and greet”. In the episode this August, which broke a Guinness World Record as 1.3 million people tuned in, she compared his pursuit of her to “an 1980s John Hughes movie”, and added, “He was just like standing outside my window with a boom box just being like ‘I wanna date you!’”.
Joking that Travis used his podcast as “his personal dating app”, she called it “such a wild, romantic gesture”, and said, “I’m glad it worked.” She also told how it was “sort of what I’ve been writing songs about wanting to happen to me since I was a teenager.”
Following Travis’s podcast confession, he and Taylor did meet. “We started hanging out right after that,” she revealed. “We actually had a significant amount of time that no one knew, which I’m grateful for, because we got to get to know each other.” One of their first dates took place in the Big Apple, with Travis later saying, “When I met her in New York, we had already kind of been talking, so I knew we could have a nice dinner and, like, a conversation, and what goes from there will go from there.”
In September 2023, Taylor was seen at a Kansas City Chiefs match with Travis’s mum, Donna, which many falsely assumed was their first date. “By the time I went to that first game, we were a couple,” Taylor later said. “I think some people think that they saw our first date at that game… We would never be psychotic enough to hard launch a first date.” As Annie says, “They were able to take the time to get to know each other in private, and I think that was so important. They realised they had a lot in common and that there was something really special there.”
The pair bonded over a love of cooking and watching movies, and Annie points out, “Both Taylor and Travis are very grounded and very family-oriented. They share such similar values.” Travis himself hails from Cleveland Heights, Ohio, where he and Jason were brought up by Donna and Ed Kelce. Although their parents are no longer together, Donna has said, “We’re very, very small. We’re tight-knit. We stay together and try to help each other as much as we can.”
Travis has drawn parallels between Donna and Taylor, highlighting their “kindness, their genuineness, their ability to say hello to everyone in the room”, and that they “show love and support, no matter what”. He also let slip one of the main things that drew him to Taylor, saying, “Why I really started to fall for her was how genuine she was around friends and family.”
Dad Ed believes his sons have never lost sight of who they are, either. “My boys know where they’re from,” he said last year. “Have fun while you’ve got it, but that doesn’t make you a better man. They fully understand that how you treat people is what’s important in this world.”
As boys, Travis and Jason, who is two years older, were both highly athletic. Jason played NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles for 13 years until he retired in 2024, while Travis joined the Chiefs in 2013, playing the position of tight end. He has also dabbled in TV, hosting the 2024 game show Are You Smarter Than A Celebrity? , as well as the 2016 dating series Catching Kelce , in which he dated women from each of America’s states. “The fact Travis knew the workings of fame meant he understood Taylor’s world,” says PR expert Lynn Carratt, director of E20 Communications. “They could treat each other as equals in that sense.”
As Taylor and Travis’s relationship gathered pace, she was regularly seen watching Chiefs games, often with her parents, Andrea and Scott, as well as her oldest friends and celeb pals. As you might expect, Taylor’s game-day outfits were on point from the get-go, and she made an art form of jazzing up a Chiefs sweater, T-shirt or jacket with her matching signature red lips. By the end of 2023, it was clear that Taylor and Travis were the real deal, and they were seen smooching at a party in Kansas City as the clock struck midnight on New Year’s Eve.
Then, at the Super Bowl in February 2024, photos of them kissing at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas after the Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers went down a storm. “That was the turning point in their relationship, I think,” says Lynn. “It looked spontaneous and warm, and it changed the narrative for anyone who had thought it was just a showmance.”
Meanwhile, Travis became a regular attendee at Taylor’s Eras shows, and he was spotted in the audience at least 14 times in various cities, from Buenos Aires to Sydney. As the ultimate Swiftie, he called Taylor “an absolute machine”, saying of her three-hour set, “It was something I could admire watching, and I think about it all the time.”
He also told how keeping the romance below the radar took great effort, saying in the US podcast Bussin’ With The Boys, “It’s like you want to keep things private, but at the same time I’m not here to hide anything, like, that’s my girl, that’s my lady, so I’m proud of that.”
Despite their work commitments, the pair spent as much time together as possible, splitting their time between their luxurious properties in New York, Kansas and Rhode Island. It’s an arrangement that still works today, and the couple appear to have settled into a life of domestic bliss. “My hobbies could be categorised as hobbies you could have had in the 1700s,” Taylor recently said. That includes sewing, painting, cooking and a passion for baking.
Admitting being “very deep in a sourdough obsession”, she said, “I’m really talking about bread 60 per cent of the time.” Travis has also referred to their unstarry life behind closed doors, saying, “Whenever I’m with her, it feels like we’re just regular people. When there is not a camera on us, we’re just two people that are in love.”
Annie believes their non-showy behaviour is one thing that draws fans in. “Despite all their fame, they’ve kept a sense of the everyday, doing things that normal couples do. It’s very sweet, and makes them so much more relatable.”
I’m A Celebrity hopeful Shona McGarty made a telling comment after touching down in Brisbane ahead of this year’s contest in the Australian jungle
As this year’s I’m A Celebrity campmates starting arriving Down Under, EastEnders star Shona McGarty had a few choice words. The actress, 34, who is best known for playing the part of Whitney Dean between 2008 and 2024 has landed in Brisbane ahead of next week’s start date.
She touched down wearing a bright pink shirt, black cycling shorts and a baseball cap after the long haul journey. However, there was one noticeable omission from her outfit.
Shona was clearly not wearing any engagement ring following a rumoured split from fiance David Bracken. The pair got engaged last year but are said to have called it quits due to apparently “wanting different things” and being “better off as friends”.
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Now, in a telling comment at Brisbane airport, Shona told us there was “not a lot” she would miss about the UK during her stint in Australia. She went on to joke: “I’ve got on the wrong flight.”
With the star still not officially able to confirm her I’m A Celebrity appearance, she said she must now ask for directions to get back home. She then admitted she would love to see a kangaroo. “I’ve never seen one in my life,” she said.
Shona’s arrival comes after Kelly Brook was also spotted at Brisbane airport. Speaking to the Mirror, the model and presenter said: “It was a long flight.
“I am going to miss my dog Teddy and my husband Jeremy, and my food in general. I am looking forward to seeing my Auntie Sheila and distant cousin – I haven’t seen her for a long time.”
The 45-year-old star added: “I am not sure how I feel about sleeping under the stars – hopefully I will have a spare room. I am looking forward to seeing koalas and the kangaroos.”
Taking part in the show marks a huge U-turn in her thoughts process. Kelly previously said in 2018 that there would be “a million” things she would rather do than head into the jungle.
Speaking on her Heart radio show at the time, she said: “I don’t want to eat eyeballs or sheep testicles and all the things they have to eat on there. Even if I had a huge tax bill and I had to pay it really urgently, I still wouldn’t do it.”
Emmerdale’s Lisa Riley has also already arrived in Australia, while other famous faces set to take the long trip Down Under include YouTuber Morgan Burtwistle, known as Angryginge. Musician Martin Kemp, comedian Ruby Wax, TV presenter Alex Scott and Jack Osbourne are also in line to feature.
They are expected to be joined by comedian Eddie Kadi, rapper Aitch, and presenter Vogue Williams. The formally announced line-up is set to be confirmed by ITV in the coming days.
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As per usuals, two names will be missing from the announcement. This is due to the latecomer selection that always rocks the camp days into their new adventure.
Sunderland earned a point against Premier League leaders Arsenal on Saturday with a dramatic late equaliser.
But while Brian Brobbey’s acrobatic 94th-minute strike took the headlines and Gunners boss Mikel Arteta talked of the “chaos” caused by Sunderland’s direct approach, one of the hosts’ more unusual tactics also caught the eye.
The Black Cats attempted to limit Arsenal’s threat from set-pieces – specifically long throw-ins – by moving the advertising hoardings to give the Gunners less room for their run-ups.
“It might have been the wind,” Sunderland boss Regis Le Bris joked after the game.
It didn’t stop Declan Rice trying to hurl the ball into the box, but given that the visitors didn’t score from a throw-in and the game finished all square, Sunderland can certainly argue it was a worthwhile ploy.
It is not the first time the tactic has been used, with Sunderland doing the same against Coventry in last season’s Championship play-offs, while Stoke’s long-throw specialist Rory Delap accused clubs of giving them the same treatment.
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Norwich’s pink away dressing room
There is more to winning a football match than just what goes on on the pitch – at least that is the theory Norwich went with in the 2018-19 season.
In a bid to get the edge over their Championship opponents, the Canaries painted the away dressing room “deep pink” because the colour is said to lower testosterone levels and have a calming effect on people.
“Pink has an effect, not because it is pink, but because it’s linked to childhood experiences,” said Dr Alexander Latinjak, a lecturer in sport psychology at the University of Suffolk.
“If it is true that pink lowers testosterone levels, then the coach should know exactly how to use that advantage tactically.”
It was an idea they took from the University of Iowa’s American football team, and while Norwich lost two of their first three home matches, the season ended in promotion to the Premier League. So maybe it worked?
The many tricks of Cambridge
Perhaps the masters of the dark arts, dirty tricks or marginal gains, depending on how you view such things, were Cambridge United in the early 1990s.
Under manager John Beck, there was little they wouldn’t try to give themselves the edge over their opposition, including making his own players take freezing cold showers before games.
“We’d make the away dressing room either as hot or as cold as possible,” former Aston Villa striker Dion Dublin, who played under Beck at Cambridge, told The Times in 2015.
“We’d put all their warm-up balls in the bath so they were heavy and horrible to kick about.
“We’d put as much sugar as we possibly could in their tea so they couldn’t drink it. We’d lock the dressing room so they couldn’t get in for ages.”
Beck also had ground staff keep the grass in the corner of the pitch longer to aid his side’s long ball tactics.
Crazy Gang kick up a stink
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Wimbledon were known for their various antics during the Crazy Gang era of the 1980s, finding all sorts of ways to try to intimidate more vaunted opposition.
It was enough to take them all the way to the 1988 FA Cup final, where they would face a Liverpool side who had swept all aside to win the league title.
A crunching tackle from Vinnie Jones on Steve McMahon early in the final is often cited as a signal of Wimbledon’s intent, but the distraction tactics had started long before.
Striker John Fashanu said the Wimbledon players did not shower or brush their teeth for a week before the game in an attempt to put Liverpool off with their stench.
Souness narrows pitch
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Forget moving the advertising hoardings, Graeme Souness brought in the actual touchlines.
In September 1987, during his time as Rangers manager, the Scot decided he needed to take drastic action after his side were beaten 1-0 at Dynamo Kyiv in the first leg of their European Cup first-round tie.
Souness, who was never shy of a tackle during his own glittering playing career, thought a physical approach might be the way to beat the Ukrainian side at Ibrox.
What better way to make it a more physical game than by making the pitch smaller and more condensed?
“At that time, the pitch didn’t have to be a fixed width as long as it was above a certain minimum. So I made it the absolute minimum,” Souness told FourFourTwo.
Not only that, he waited until after the Kyiv players had trained on the regularly sized pitch before changing the dimensions on the day of the game.
“It wasn’t purist stuff but it was within the rules,” Souness added.
West Ham made our bus park a mile away – Gerrard
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Liverpool travelled to West Ham in April 2014 with dreams of ending a then 24-year wait for a league title.
But while the Reds claimed a 2-1 win courtesy of two Steven Gerrard penalties, the Liverpool skipper felt there had been a few dirty tricks from the Hammers.
“They tried everything to upset us. A hot dressing room, a dry pitch and the bus had to park a mile away,” he said.
However, then West Ham chairman David Gold responded to the claims on Twitter, writing: “Mr Gerrard nobody force your bus driver to park a mile away from the ground, it was his choice.
Mourinho grows grass to thwart Guardiola
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Jose Mourinho has never seemed too concerned about upsetting opponents if it leads to victory.
The spring of 2011 saw the height of the rivalry between his Real Madrid side and Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona with four Clasicos in 18 days.
Before the first of those meetings, Mourinho is alleged to have instructed the ground staff at the Bernabeu to let the grass grow longer to combat Barca’s quick-paced, short passing style.
The game ended in a 1-1 draw but the incident just added to the bad blood between the sides going into the next three games.
Another nemesis of Mourinho’s, Arsene Wenger, has also had his issues with long grass.
Hundreds of protesters gathered to demand government action on the worsening air quality and pollution in India’s capital New Delhi. Protesters say the government must come up with a time-bound plan to address the pollution crisis.
