Ireland defeat Japan 1-0 in their first women’s rugby world cup match in Northampton, scoring first with flying winger Amee-Leigh Costigan’s first try in eight years.
Women’s Rugby World Cup: Ireland vs. Japan in Pool C will be broadcast live.
I woke up one morning in July to a flurry of messages lighting up my phone. Every news channel, every social media post, every conversation buzzed with cautious optimism. “Negotiations progressing well”, the headlines declared. “Truce imminent”, “Massive aid convoy preparing to enter”.
At that moment, we were deep in the throes of famine; some days, we ate nothing at all. You can imagine the cautious joy that flickered in our hearts, the way hope travelled through our messages. Friends wrote to me, their words trembling with tentative relief. “Could this really be the end?” one asked. “Will we remember what safety feels like? Will there finally be bread?”
We dared to dream. We imagined the silence of ceasefire, the taste of warm bread, the comfort of a full meal. Some shops tentatively reopened. Prices dipped slightly. For the first time in months, bread seemed almost within reach. For a fleeting moment, life seemed to return to the streets.
In Gaza, even the most battered communities breathe differently when hope appears – even if it is for a few hours.
My neighbour – a war widow raising seven children alone, including an infant who cries endlessly from hunger – told me how her children weep from empty stomachs while she cries from helplessness. When the truce rumours spread, she dreamed of feeding them properly, of ending their suffering. Like all of us, she watched that hope disintegrate.
By the next morning, everything had collapsed. A new headline, cold and final, sealed our fate: “Negotiations fail. No truce.”
Shops that had barely reopened were shuttered. Flour vanished once again. Prices soared beyond reach. Outside Gaza, the media still spoke of aid convoys “on their way”, but on the ground, there was nothing. Empty words. Empty trucks. Empty hands.
You can imagine how hearts broke that day. How the spirit of a people dreaming simply of bread was crushed. How mothers searching desperately for food for their children felt.
The fragile hope that had lit our eyes vanished, leaving only hunger, fear, and silence.
This was not the first time it happened. It had happened many times before. And it happened again afterwards.
Just last week, we found ourselves waiting, this time for a single word from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after Hamas reportedly accepted a ceasefire proposal. The uncertainty was unbearable. After several days of silence, the Israeli government made impossible demands, effectively killing the latest attempt at negotiations. The news plunged us back into yet another cycle of despair as hunger, displacement, loss and grief take their toll.
I believe these repeated bouts of ceasefire headlines are not unintentional — they are another form of punishment for the people of Gaza. Another form of torture. We are bombed, starved, displaced and then the news finishes us off.
Hope is dangled in front of us, only to be ripped away, leaving us weaker each time.
It is a deliberate, systematic policy aimed to wear off a defenceless population. It is designed to break our spirit, to make us live in constant uncertainty, to strip us of the basic human right to hope for tomorrow. This cycle – hope raised then shattered – leaves deeper scars than starvation.
While we wait for the news, the hunger tightens its grip. Walk outside and you see it etched on faces: men wiping tears, women collapsing in the streets from exhaustion, children too weak to play. Hunger is not just a physical state – it is an unbearable weight that crushes the soul.
Mothers stop planning meals because they cannot promise they can put something on the table. Children learn early that good news often sours by morning. Families sell their last possessions when aid is announced, only to be left with nothing when it fails to arrive.
This repeated devastation breeds more than mistrust of governments and the media; it erodes the very concept of hope. Many here no longer ask, “When will this end?” but “How much worse can it get?”
According to the World Food Programme, 100 percent of people in Gaza now suffer acute levels of food insecurity, with all children aged below five years facing acute malnutrition. Famine has been officially announced.
Israel continues to claim that its blockade measures prevent supplies from reaching Hamas, even though the US government – its biggest ally – and Israeli officials themselves say there is no evidence of resistance fighters looting aid.
Amnesty International calls the Israeli siege of Gaza “collective punishment” and “a war crime”. The Geneva Conventions explicitly prohibit collective punishment and forced starvation.
And so, I cannot help but ask: Where is the world in all of this? How can an entire planet watch two million people be starved, bombed, and stripped of dignity, and still do nothing?
This silence is heavy; it crushes the spirit as much as hunger does. It tells us that our suffering is acceptable, that our lives can fade away without consequence.
History will condemn those who committed these crimes, but also those who stood by and allowed them to happen.
Love Is Blind UK star Sam Klein has revealed he’s all set to become a dad for the first time, just weeks after announcing his engagement to fiancé Shani Goldstein. The 31-year-old took to Instagram to share a series of pictures of the pair on a beach.
The two of them holding their hands over her stomach in the snaps captured the two of them hugging in the photos, with Shani sporting her baby bump. He exclaimed, “I went through my toughest times coming off of love is blind and it wasn’t easy,” and that is how he described it.
I locked myself in my room after giving up on everything. BUT I’m engaged to the love of my life, and we’re expecting our first child.
READ MORE: Love Is Blind UK fans ‘fuming’ as spoilers ‘reveal’ who’s still together before finale
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Life is a journey, but keep in mind that even when you’re down and out, you can always come back stronger! Thank you to everyone who gave me the chance to believe in me.
Their announcement comes just weeks after the pair revealed their engagement on Instagram with a series of sweet snaps. In the pictures, Sam was seen down on one knee in front of Big Brother Israel star Shani as the couple were surrounded by candles on a rooftop overlooking a city skyline.
The two were pictured embracing one another in the engagement ring emoji in the second image, which he had added as “Here goes nothing.”
It’s safe to say that Sam had a rough ride on the show when he appeared on Love Is Blind UK’s first season last year. While in the pods, he made a connection with Nicole Stevens, and she responded with “yes.”
However, Nicole ended things after they got to Greece for the couple’s trip and ended up getting with Benaiah Grunewald-Bridey and got engaged to him. Viewers questioned Sam’s motives for being on the show and thought he was a producer plant and coined him a villain as well as a “red flag”.
Sam felt as though he “didn’t want to be around anymore,” which triggered a very dim and uneasy state.
Speaking to The Sun last year, he bravely admitted: “The first few days…yeah, the first few days I questioned everything, and I fell into a very dark place, I have to be honest.
I made an effort to be very brave and declare to everyone that I was fine, but I ended up staying in my apartment for a few days and sort of locked myself up in my room.
I made an effort to simply say “I’m fine.” I just broke down on the phone when it got to Friday and someone from production welfare called me.
I told myself, “I can’t do this any more. I must admit that I’m struggling.
He claims that speaking out, “I think in hindsight, I wish I did it on day one and not wait three days.”
However, it’s difficult because I would get hurt or commit a crime if I actually did it. Just a little too much of it, I thought.
The second series of Love Is Blind UK is currently airing on Netflix, with four engaged couples living together, ahead of their make-or-break weddings.
On Wednesday (August 27), viewers will have to tune in to the streaming service to see which of the pairings will actually tie the knot and demonstrate that love can be truly blind after making connections without realizing it.
Strictly Come Dancing Chris Robshaw’s wife Camilla Kerslake has thanked fans for their support after their stalker ordeal. Taking to social media Camilla admitted that they have been “navigating a lot behind the scenes” after it was revealed that the England rugby legend has been has been targeted by a female stalker.
Writing on Instagram she said, “Hi loves, I just want to say the biggest thank you for all your kind words and messages this week. Chris and I are so grateful to the press for handling a very difficult situation with such sensitivity.
“It’s meant we can focus on keeping our little family safe. We’ve truly been overwhelmed by the kindness shown. From here, we’re choosing to move forward. This won’t define us and instead, we’ll be focusing on our family and the exciting journey ahead with Strictly!” It comes after Strictly Come Dancing confirms rugby player Chris Robshaw as eighth star in 2025 line-up.
Camilla then explained that they are pushing forward with trying to enjoy Chris taking part in Strictly despite what is going on privately. She continued, “I don’t know about you, but I’m very ready for the sequins and spray tans to take centre stage.
“Let’s hope it’s more snake hips and not hip replacement for our boy! If you see us goofing around on socials, know that while we’re navigating a lot behind the scenes, we also want to share the joy, laughter and magic of SCD with you.
“Strictly is our happy place right now and we’re embracing that fully. Thank you again, from the bottom of our hearts, for lifting us up and surrounding us with so much love. Bring on the sequins!”
Chris reportedly met the woman who has subjected him to a campaign of harassment twice during work events last year, with initial abuse starting six months after their first encounter. Chris is said to have called in the police after the woman reportedly threatened him with violence and spread false allegations.
According to reports, the woman appears on the National Police Wanted List. She has reportedly left the country and is being sought by police. A spokesperson for Chris told the Mirror, “This is an ongoing police investigation, and therefore we are unable to comment at this time. Chris will not be commenting further.”
Chris’s pals have allegedly said the BBC is aware and is supporting him. A friend close to him told The Sun: “Chris almost turned down Strictly because of what this woman has been putting him and his family through.
“She’s made some disgusting threats. It has been awful for them. Chris and Camilla have been told by the police they’re not alone. This woman has form for what she’s been doing to them and has done it to other people too.
“Chris and Camilla are just the latest victims in a string of lives she’s tried to destroy.” They added that Chris has only gone ahead with Strictly because of his son Wilding.
Chelsea have given permission to Borussia Dortmund to fly Carney Chukwuemeka and Aaron Anselmino to Germany to complete moves that will take player sales at Stamford Bridge this summer to beyond £270m.
Chukwuemeka, 21, spent the second half of last season on loan at Dortmund and is set to sign on a permanent basis for a fee rising to about £24m, with a significant sell-on clause included.
The England Under-20 international was keen to move back to the Westfalenstadion despite interest from RB Leizpig and is in the process of finalising his return.
That deal would take Chelsea’s income from player sales this summer to a league-high £273.4m, which almost balances out the £277m spent on incoming transfers.
Uefa have told Chelsea they must record a positive transfer balance this window in order to be allowed to register their new signings for this season’s Champions League.
It follows them having been fined £26.7m for a breach of Uefa’s football earning rules and having had a squad cost ratio – the proportion of their income paid out in wages – above 80%.
Meanwhile, Anselmino has agreed to join Dortmund on a season-long loan deal without any option to buy clauses included.
The Argentine defender was told by manager Enzo Maresca that he needed a loan move to play the minutes he needs to develop amid competition for places in the Chelsea first-team squad.
But he remains an important part of future planning at Stamford Bridge, and moves to Dortmund to cover the recent injuries of defenders Niklas Sule, Emre Can and Nico Schlotterbeck.
Chukwuemeka has played 32 matches for Chelsea since joining in a £20m move from Aston Villa in 2022, while Anselmino made a single substitute appearance at the Club World Cup having joined the west Londoners from Boca Juniors in January for £15.6m.
Chelsea hope to sign to more players in the nine days remaining in the window, with Manchester United winger Alejandro Garnacho and RB Leipzig midfielder Xavi Simons targeted.